EDSEC 455 Diversity Activity Plan

General Music Lesson: Chippewa Lullaby, Grade level: 3rd grade

Standards:
MU:Pr4.3.3a: Demonstrate and describe how intent is conveyed through expressive
qualities (such as dynamics and tempo).
MU Pr6.1.3a: Perform music with expression and technical accuracy.

Objectives:
● Students in 3rd grade will understand how lullabies are a musical cultural connection
● Students in 3rd grade will engage with the song Chippewa Lullaby through expressive
movement and/or singing.

Materials:
Video link: https://folkways.si.edu/gene-bluestein/chippewa-lullaby/american-folk/music/track/
smithsonian
Words to know in Spanish:
- Lullaby - la canción de cuna
- Flute - la flauta
- Peaceful - tranquilo

Introduction:
1. T: “Does everyone remember the song we learned a few class periods ago called
Chippewa Lullaby? Who remembers what I told you about it?” Let Ss discuss and share,
and then clarify what they couldn’t remember.
 2. T: “Chippewa Lullaby from a group of Native Americans called the Chippewa. That is
what they were called a long time ago, but today their group is called something different
- the Ojibwe or Ojibway. They are from the Great Lakes region near Minnesota.”
3. T: “Who can tell me what a lullaby is?” Let Ss discuss and call on them to share their
ideas. “That’s right! Lullabies are songs that parents usually sing to their young children
to help them go to sleep!”

Procedure for activity:

- Play recording of the song
- Model active listening by closing eyes, patting along, swaying/moving along with
song, etc.
- Discuss: what makes a song a lullaby?
- Tempo, dynamics, expression, etc.
- Play song again.
- Directed listening: what things do you notice about this song that make it
a lullaby?
- Play song one more time.
- Directed listening: What instrument can you hear? (recorder/flute) What
do notice about the tempo and rhythm of this song? (Not strict tempo or
rhythm, improvisatory)
- Have everyone stand up and play it again
- “I want you all to find a way to move around or dance along to the music.” Could
also offer them the little colored scarves to wave around as they dance.
- Let students dance to the music. If someone was doing something particularly
interesting, say, “I really like the way (name) was moving!” or “I like how
peacefully (name) is dancing. Can we all see how peaceful we can make our
dancing?” and play it again.
- Discuss: “What are some ways we can make our singing more peaceful so it sounds
more like a lullaby?”
- Some potential ideas could be: sing the song slower, sing it quietly, sing it all
legato, take bigger pauses between lines like they do in the recording. Let
students guide this discussion but offer these as suggestions if needed.
- If they decide to go with “take bigger pauses between lines like they do in the
recording”, ask for a student volunteer to signal to the class when they should
start the next line during those pauses. This student will be in charge of deciding
how long to pause for. Can also pick multiple students to try this.
- Performance activity: “Ok class, now we’re going to split into two groups. Group one,
we’re going to sing the song like we learned it on the word “way” and we’re going to sing
it as a lullaby to group 2. Group 2, I want you to keep moving and dancing while we sing
our lullaby to you.”
- Start group 1 and sing along with them. Once again, call out students who are
doing something particularly interesting. If some students start to pretend to “fall
asleep”, go along with this and play into the lullaby theme.
 - Switch groups! Group 2 sings the lullaby to group 1, and it is group 1’s turn to
move and dance
Closure:
- “Great job with that everyone! I love the creative ways you found to sing the song and
move and dance to it!”
- “Let’s review - who can tell me a little bit about what we learned about lullabies? (let
them answer) And who sings this lullaby? (let them answer) So all sorts of people in all
different cultures sing lullabies!”
- Assess:
- Do students understand what a lullaby is? Do they remember what we learned
about the Chippewa tribe? Do they understand that lullabies are a similar type of
song across many cultures and make this connection?
- Also assess:
- Were students able to move around expressively during the activity? Did they
change the way they moved or sang after the class discussion about how to
make it more peaceful?

Self-evaluate:
- Some of the strengths of this lesson are that I allow the students to engage with the
music in the ways that they are naturally drawn to, then use this to guide their
understanding and focus towards the key concepts. It will be a good lesson for young
students because they can get up and move around. Students who may be language
learners don’t have to know much about English to see that they can just dance around
and move when the music plays. It is also easy for them to sing along because the
whole song only uses one word. This is also a great lesson for students to connect to
music no matter what culture they grew up in because they will have likely heard a
lullaby before and have a personal connection with that type of song.
- Some things that might go wrong are that students might have an initial reaction towards
the song that is not respectful of the culture because they don’t understand it yet. I will
have to introduce the song in such a way that they keep an open mind to things that
sound different or use different words than they are used to. Some students may not be
capable of moving due to a physical disability or something like that. In this case, I might
offer them a silk scarf to wave around to the music to show expression still if they have
limited movement. If they cannot move at all, they can still sing along in a peaceful way.

Plan for future:

- This activity ties into my future curriculum because I will likely teach a diverse population
of students in my time as a teacher, and even if I don’t, it is important for students to
learn about the traditions and music of other cultures. Even though this is a lesson
meant for younger students, it could be adapted to use with older students as well. This
was a new song to me when I first heard it, so I think it is important to expose students at
any age to music from different cultures. This helps students feel more represented in
the classroom and develop cultural awareness. This is also a great opportunity to
practice how we talk about cultural differences. Older students could use an activity like
 this to find more musical connections between cultures, like how every known culture
uses drumming as a form of music.
- Some of the main things I learned in this class that will inform my future instruction are
about how important it is for your students to know the ways that you will be supportive
of diversity in your classroom. It is important to not just believe that diversity is important,
should be celebrated/respected, etc., but to actually talk about it in front of students and
model this behavior. It is also very important to enforce classroom rules consistently and
call out issues every time you see them. Letting a micro-aggression pass by without
addressing it may not seem like a big deal at the time, but to the student who had to
suffer for it, it lets them know that they aren’t completely safe in your classroom and their
identity is not important. There are so many effective and important ways to celebrate
diverse identities in the classroom, as well as simple instructional practices to make sure
everyone is included and given equal opportunities to really learn and engage with the
content. It takes more work on the side of the teacher, but is so worth it in the end. At the
end of the day, students need to understand that there are no identities (in terms of
gender, class, culture, ethnicity, race, religious beliefs, political beliefs, ability, sexuality,
etc.) that should be prioritized over others and the more we can understand and
celebrate each other, the better learning environment we will have.