Culturally Relevant Lesson

Clark Elford

Hi Fu Mi Hachigaeshi

What makes the students within your classroom unique and diverse?

There are students in my classroom who are English Secondary Learners as well as
students who have difficulty with fine motor skills and general movement. In addition, I have
students that are from different cultures.

What are their linguistic and learning needs?

These students have some difficulty with more complex English language, so simpler
words and phrases need to be used as well as visuals to ensure that they can understand the
content. The students with movement difficulties need to have a way to engage with the musical
content that does not involve fine motor skills.

What factors did you take into consideration when planning this culturally responsive literacy
lesson?

I took the cultural background of the music into consideration when planning the lesson,
ensuring that students understand why the piece was played, the cultural significance it holds,
and some limited background on the culture itself. In addition, I took both ESL and mobility-
impaired students into consideration. For the ESL students, I incorporated images to go along
with what I was saying and utilize musical notation in much of the lesson rather than written text.
For the mobility-impaired students, anything involving fine motor control has alternatives
planned in to allow them to participate in much of the same ways as other students.

Lesson Plan”

“Hifumi no Shirabe Hachigaeshi", more traditionally known as "Hi Fu Mi Hachigaeshi no

Shirabe" or simply "Hifumi Hachigaeshi". This section of the piece is entirely non-metric to lend
a more meditative feel to the music. For K-6 students, this will be a bit out of left field since they
will likely not have been exposed to music that has no regular beat. This piece is a traditional
shakuhachi solo, so having students try to identify what type of instrument is playing may be odd
to them. The shakuhachi is tuned to a minor pentatonic scale, so if they have been working with
the pentatonic scale on Orff instruments, it may be somewhat familiar.

1) Attentive Listening: For the first listen through of this section of the piece, I would have them
listen for what kind of instrument is playing (not necessarily naming a specific instrument) as
well as if they can tap their foot or “sway” to this music.

2) Engaged Listening: For the second listen, I would have students try to breathe when the
musician does to get a feel for what they are doing and that their time is not just random. I would
also have them gently tap their leg or another object generally how fast or slow they think the
song sounds at the moment.

3) Enactive Listening: Provided students have recorders at this point, I would tell them what
notes of the pentatonic scale to play at what time on the recorder, still breathing when the
musician does. They would only do the overall longer notes, not the embellishment, and I would
have them play at a very quiet level. Some students would also be given drums to continue the
tempo exercise from before, still breathing along with those playing recorder.

4) Integrating World Music: For this section, I would explain a little about the background of the
piece, including the instrument, the Japanese school of music it came from, and some of the
meaning behind the piece. I would be using information and media from this site:
https://www.komuso.com/pieces/pieces.pl?piece=1909 , which is a website dedicated to
traditional shakuhachi music. Translated, the title means "One, two, three, return the bowl" and
was played by Komuso monks or priests when returning bowls to people after receiving
donations or alms. The piece was collected and arranged by Kinko Kurosawa in the 1700's, who
founded the Kinko Ryu school of shakuhachi.

https://youtu.be/FyTGCyYimIM

This is a brief video of me “teaching” this lesson for another class before some of the CRI
elements were added. This is a brief run down of how the lesson may go in a regular elementary
music classroom. Not included are the considerations for unique learners as this was not a
requirement when I recorded this lesson.

Reflection:

Refining this lesson plan to involve unique and diverse students was an interesting
challenge. However, I do feel that I was successful in bringing everything together for this
refined version. The modifications placed throughout allow for students to engage with the
material even if they may have struggled with what I put in the video. Allowing for alternative
methods of engagement will allow students with mobility difficulties to engage with the content,
and the visual materials and auditory aspects allow for ESL students to engage regardless of their
skill with English. This lesson also deals with the historical background of another culture and
treats it with significance and respect.