Allison Grant

Synthesis Essay
Pre-K

In our Pre-K Curriculum, the students will create a musical zoo while
discovering movement in music. Along the way, they will learn how other
pieces and songs in cooperation movement and representation through
music. Our curriculum is generative because over the course of 10 classes,
we are adding skills one by one and combining them slowly in different
activities. First the students will discover movement to music with their bees
to move to Flight of the Bumblebee. This incorporates the first step to their
own creating of a representing piece with movement. Then, with Carnival of
the animals the students will discuss and respond to why the pieces
musically represent the animal they do. From this step the students gain skill
in how to compose to represent an animal. The will also do this when they
experiment with instruments and their brainstorming. In Ballet of the
Unhatched Chicks the students will gain an understanding of combining
representation through other art forms and movement to coordinate with
music. Throughout these activities and various movement engaging
classroom songs, the students gain skill with each day making the curriculum
generative. This curriculum is also vibrant in that the end product is a
creative representation of what they learned throughout the 10 classes. The
musical zoo gives the students an opportunity to be creative and imaginative

as they compose and move to show an animal. This is a vibrant experience

that we hope will be memorable for them and leave residue. I know that in
my experience, I am more likely to fondly remember projects that are more
creative and allowed me to express an idea or feeling through a new and
creative experience. In the Reading by P.S. Campbell, she writes Their
enjoyment is visible, while the depth of their aesthetic experience may well
lie below the surface of the physical manifestation. This tells us that we
know students will enjoy their curriculum by watching them and also that the
physical aspects of our curriculum will make it more exciting for the students.
Over this whole process, the students are assuming many roles in
music and even outside of music. In the final project, they will act as
performer, composer, critic, and interpreter of music through movement.
Being able to compose, preform and move based on sound assumes these
roles of a musician and gives students the experience of a musician from all
sides. In term of our curriculum being relevant, younger students have tons
of energy and they love animals. Animals are a huge deal in younger
curriculum across all subjects. By representing animals through movement
and music, students integrate their interests into the music that they are
studying. It is relevant also because of its movement aspect. Dancing and
movement is found in most all cultures and is used in ceremonies and for
enjoyment. A. H. Gregory describes in his article, that movement and music
are so closely related and used, that it is often hard to tell which is the
primary activity, the music or the dance? in this project students will have

the opportunity to experience both sides of this debate and make their own
opinions and ideas to use in their everyday life. Our curriculum is balanced
because it has an equal amount of performing, responding, and creating that
help students with their zoo project. These processes all go towards the final
product of creating music and movements for the musical zoo, making the
curriculum sequential as well. For example, we begin with the Flight of the
Bumble bee to get their movement minds going. We then add an example of
a piece similar to their final product with Carnival of the animals. They also
get the opportunity to act as composer before they combine movement and
music on their own. To finalize the sequence, we guide the students, one
step at a time toward composing and physically representing their animals
by the tenth week.
Overall I believe our curriculum will be successful and through the guidance
and criteria we were given this semester, I am excited to embark on this journey!

Allison Grant
Synthesis paper
4th Grade

Our 4th grade curriculum results in the students making an around the
world experience by creating a new culture and composing, preforming, and
moving to a piece to represent that culture. Over the 10 class period, the
students will experience many of the worlds cultures though music,
responding, and movement and then create their own culture represented
through music and movement. This is a generative curriculum because the
students are gaining skills and ideas from each activity, that leads to the
next to result in the creation of their own culture piece. In the Dragon
Dance students will learn about the Chinese culture and a celebration that
takes place that involves movement and music. They will respond to the
music and dragon example to first gain understanding of the context of the
piece. The next day the students will create their own movement to the

song, gaining the skill of understanding music through movement in another

culture. From here, the Hungarian dance will explore another culture and how
its music promotes movement. The students will move to how the music is
representing their movement. This adds to their skills of cultural movement
through music, interpretation of how movement can be interpreted
differently per culture, based on their music. On this day also, the students
will begin to create their culture and brainstorm ideas of how they picture
their world and how music might represent those aspects of their culture.
This is just the first few days of how the curriculum is generative and each
day adds on to the next with more skills and understandings to ultimately
create their own culture piece. This is a vibrant experience because the
students are given full range of creativity in this project by being allowed to
create their own culture and THEN representing it through music and
movement. This creative representation of their own culture through music
and movement is a vibrant experience that will also create residue do to its
unique experience. In education, students are drawn to freedom and
expression and the students in their project will get to experience both of
those things hopefully creating residue. In the reading by A. H. Gregory, he
explains in the Ethnic or Group Identity section that music is a powerful
source that can create a sense of belonging. I think that through this project
the student will definitely experience this feeling because they are creating
their own culture for them to love and belong in. through the music and
movement of their culture, the students will proudly represent their feeling of

belonging from the personal experience with their music. This belonging will
definitely create residue with the students.
Students will experience all musical roles by composing, preforming,
and moving to their own piece to represent their culture. If time permits,
they will even give feedback on other students work and cultures where
they would assume the role of critic, making this project comprehensive. This
project is very relevant to our students because of the cultural exposure that
this age group is starting to experience. For most of these students lives,
they have only been exposed to the culture of their families or community
and automatically adapt to what they already know. P.S. Campbell says
Children start out in the nuclear culture of their family and then graduate to
others. This exposure to other cultures through music and movement may
spark a students interest in another genre or culture that they may not have
been interested in before. In this curriculum we sequentially work through
many cultures to make the creating process of our cultural experience more
education and easier to follow. To work towards their final culture projects,
they begin by brainstorming and crafting what they want their cultures to
look like. They then experiment with instruments and how they can represent
their culture though sounds and music. They will then compose the piece
they want to represent their culture and with that piece begin brainstorming
and improvising movements to go along with their piece and culture. With
final choreography and compositions combined, the curriculum sequentially
build to their final project where they will share their cultures in an around

the world activity. Lastly, this is all balanced as is uses an equal amount of
performing, responding, and creating that will help students with their final
culture by the tenth class.
Based on the criteria and knowledge my teammate and I have gained
this semester, I believe that this curriculum will be beneficial and exciting for
the students to go through. I almost wish I was actually teaching it!