Music at the core: Making standards work

This online professional development course helps participants understand how to create lesson plans that include embedded standards in the music curriculum.

Course description

Music teachers set high standards for their students by the nature of what they do. Performances have to make audiences and performers alike happy. But just getting applause and a “good job” from an administrator doesn’t mean you can readily prove what your students know and are able to do.

No matter where you are, this class will show you how to “begin with the end in mind” and structure your teaching around State, National and/or Common Core standards. We’ll explore online tools, building authentic rubrics, and how to manage your data. More importantly, you’ll learn how to enhance what you already do while meeting your Standards requirements.

Course goals

Upon completion of this course, learners will understand how to create lesson plans that include embedded standards in music. Use of web-based technology will enhance this process and embed 21st Century skills throughout the course. This course also provides a component of each of the six Standards of the North Carolina Teacher Evaluation process.

Prerequisites

• Ability to use Microsoft Word, Pages or Open Office (word processing software).
• Ability to navigate the Internet using a web browser.
• Familiarity with State, National, and Common Core Standards applicable to your subject area.

Course objectives

• Collaborate with classroom or core subject teacher.
• Develop effective rubrics for both teacher and student.
• Adapt a lesson plan template to incorporate standards.
• Explore online collaboration and/or storage tools.
• Work collaboratively with peers to develop a standards aligned lesson and/or unit.

Purpose and rationale

This online course is designed to show music teachers how to align curriculum with standards (local, state, and national). Course participants will practice “Backward design” techniques, rubric building, and standards aligned assessment ideas. The skills developed will easily transfer to any lesson and/or unit in any classroom. Emphasis will be on developing the process of standards-based lesson plan creation. The final project will be completing a lesson plan to be submitted to the LEARN NC lesson plan collection.

Course information

Audience

This course is appropriate for music teachers at all grade levels.

Time commitment

Each week, students will be expected to spend approximately four to five hours working in the course.

Duration

Music At The Core: Making Standards Work runs for five weeks. Our weeks begin on Wednesday and end on Tuesday at midnight.

Credits and fee

The course costs $150.00 and upon successful completion the student will receive a certificate of completion for 20 hours to be converted to 2.0 CEUs by their LEA.

Evaluation

No formal test is used as a method of evaluation in this course. A final project will be submitted to the LEARN NC lesson plan reviewers for consideration. Successful participation in and completion of this course is measured by a student’s contributions within the online forums and timely completion and submission of the online exercises. Students should plan to post and respond to the posts of others in order to be considered an active member of the class. It can be expected that an average of four to five hours per week will be spent reading, contributing to the online forums, and responding to assignments.