Rose Couchon

Multicultural Lesson Plan for High School Choir Grade 11

Established Goals: - Students will learn a new piece of music to add to their repertoire for
their Winter Concert.
- Students will learn about the celebration and traditions of Christmas in Hispanic America based
on the choral work Navidad Nuestra by Ariel Ramirez.
- Students will compare and contrast the differences between the music and text seen in the
North American Christmas celebration and South American Christmas celebration.
Students will broaden their knowledge of multicultural music by listening to the text in
Spanish and reading along with the text in English.
They will learn about commonly used instruments in South America such as the gira,
marimba, and cajon.
Understandings: Students will understand that...
Holiday music is composed all around the world and that there are several versions and
interpretations of Christmas in different countries.
Instruments that are traditional to that country are used to create music that can be
compared and contrasted to that of North American music.
Essential Questions:
- Do you hear a steady pattern that you could imitate?
- Does the steady pattern ever change?
- What else do you hear? Do you hear voices, clapping, other instruments, or a foreign foreign
language?
- Can you guess what kind of occasion this music is being played for?
- Can you guess what country this music comes from?
Students will know: How to read SATB choral music.
How to read music with other instrumental parts (guitar, marimba, harp) written in.
Advanced musical concepts such as meter and tempo change, modulation, harmonization,
dynamic, theme and variation.
Students will be able to hear a theme through several other melodies and harmonies
happening at the same time. They will also be able to identify where they hear a change in
tempo, rhythm, meter, key, or harmony.
Follow a conductor while reading text in a language other than English.
Interpret the text and sing it as though they were performing this South American Folk
Drama.
- Be familiar with the unique Hispanic rhythms.
Performance Tasks:
Students will pronounce text clearly and appropriately.
Students will expressively and musically perform the Navidad Nuestra by
understanding the meaning behind the text and singing their vocal part accurately.

Students will stay focused in the music when they are not singing or when a solo is being
performed.

Learning Activities:
Introduce essential questions
- Discuss as a class what we hear in each movement and relate them to the essential questions.
- Students will break into groups and will be assigned a movement from Navidad Nuestra.
They will then write a short paragraph about their interpretation of the text.
Materials Needed:
Score of Navidad Nuestra for each student
A projector or SmartBoard for students to watch a video of Navidad Nuestra
Music Journal
Pencil
Percussion instrument such as a cajon or
Assessment: Students will be assessed by their weekly octets and the musicality of their
performance.
Do Now (10 minutes): Reflect on these questions and write down your response in your
music journal. Does the harmonization and rhythm make the piece feel different from the North
American holiday music youre used to? Why or why not? Do you think the text and music fits
Ramirezs setting for a Folk drama of the nativity? Explain.
Activity (15 minutes): Students will listen to a recording of Navidad Nuestra (14.5 minutes)
and will follow along with in their music. They will write down all of emotions and musical
phrases that stand out to them for discussion later.
Group Discussion (15 minutes): Students will discuss what stood out to them most.
Examples include a vocal line of their part, an instrumental section of marimba and spanish
guitar, a unique harmony, etc. We will further discuss how this is different from traditional
American Christmas music.
Classwork (10 minutes): Students will read through the Spanish translation of Navidad
Nuestra and will write in proper pronunciation for their part with their section.
Rational
1.
What are your goals for student learning, and why are they appropriate for these students
at this time? Include the big idea being taught and your rationale/context.
My goals for student learning is for students to be able to be aware of traditional holiday music
throughout multiple parts of the world. They are appropriate for student learning at this time
because there are several different beliefs and stories that are told through traditional music of
that culture. The big idea being taught in this lesson is not the well known nativity story from the
Bible. The idea behind this lesson is to take a well known holiday story and compare and
contrast the ways in which different cultures acknowledge, perform and celebrate it. They will

constantly use critical thinking to relate this music to other traditional hispanic rhythms and
traditions.
2.

What knowledge, skills and/or academic language must students already know to be
successful with this lesson?
Students must already know how to read SATB music and must be familiar with singing in
multiple languages. They must know how to follow a conductor and listen to their part along
with the parts of the other voices and instruments. This requires all four levels of thinking on
Webbs Depth of Knowledge chart.
3. Identify 1 or 2 goals for students; below your goals state how you will communicate the goals
to students.
Students will be able to learn and perform a work of music from another country and will
connect traditional American musical to traditional South American musical themes. I will
communicate this goal to students by teaching them a set of traditional South American rhythms
and improvising on them in different groups throughout the choir so that they can accurately
perform these rhythms. (Link to rhythms shown below)
https://www.teachervision.com/tv/printables/1565450973_142.pdf
4.

List the NY state/Common Core standards that are most relevant to your goals.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence,
conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of
reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization,
development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of
formal and informal tasks.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual,
graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance
understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language
functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

5. Identify academic language, particular words/phrases that are essential to understanding the
content of this lesson.
In this particular lesson students must be able to understand and respond to terms such as
harmony, meter, rhythm, texture, and instrumentation. They will learn about instruments such as
the spanish guitar, harp, marimba, cajon, and gira that will be accompanying our choral
performance.
6. How will you know and document the extent to which students make progress towards or
meet your goals? (Assessment and feedback?)
Students will be assessed by their weekly octets and the musicality of their performance. Each
student will have a scoring rubric so that they will know what the criteria is for their grade.

7.

How will you support students to meet your goals? (Will you use a hook for the lesson?
How will you differentiate instruction?)
Students will meet my goals by playing rhythms on their body or on the gira or cajon. They will
break into groups and play the assigned rhythms and then take turns improvising over them.
This would fall under Content Standard #2: Performing on instruments, alone and with
others, a varied repertoire of music.
8.

How will you address the socio-cultural aspects of your lesson? How will you guide
students to understand/value a new culture/musical experience through this lesson?
I will address socio-cultural aspects of my lesson by introducing traditional South American
instruments and showing how they can be used in music in North America and for uses that may
seem uncommon in religious music. I will guide students to understand/value a new
culture/musical experience through my lesson by keeping them engaged with the Spanish text,
the percussion instruments, and the use of spanish guitar in the choral work that they will be
performing.
9. How will you bring closure to the lesson?
I will bring closure to the lesson by making sure my students have used critical thinking to
further understand this new genre of music. It will be by active musicing that students will
further understand the rhythms and texts. My lesson will end with a group discussion about the
differences between North American religious holiday music and South American religious
Holiday music and how the two are festive in their own traditional ways.