Integrated Lesson Plan

      For my lesson plan, which I believe is more like a unit plan, my class will be learning about the music of Africa (sub-Sahara).  This unit, which I believe will take 8 classes, will cover the history of African music, traditional rhythms, what events they are used at (weddings, etc), compositional techniques, traditional African instruments and their culture.  Assessments will include a mid-unit test, which will include vocabulary and recognition of instruments, rhythm and form.  And a final project, which will be a composition of an original piece written, performed and recorded by the students.
     The technology that will be used in this unit, will be 1. research 2. veiwing /listening and 3. recording.  Within the unit, the students will watch you tube video's (which I have selected) of songs from different parts of Africa showing performers who use traditional African instruments.  Also, students will split into groups and research an instrument and one country which we heard a musical example from, in an effort to learn about their culture.  The students will also get a brief lesson in garage band so that we can record their final performance.
    Some of the essential questions that I want to answer in this lesson are - What characterizes African music?  How does it compare to western music? What is the history of African music?  What is the culture/social relevance of African music? Are there different types of African music?
    I hope this brief overview of my lesson is clear and detailed enough to give you an idea of what's to come.  If there is anything else that you would like to know at this point, please let me know.