Welcome to Class

Welcome to Class

Course Description:

Music is part of everyday lives and reflects the spirit of our human condition. To know and understand music, we distinguish and identify cultures on local and global levels. This course will provide students with an aesthetic and historical perspective of music, covering a variety of styles and developments from the Middle Ages through the Twentieth First Century. Students will acquire basic knowledge and listening skills, making future music experiences more informed and satisfying.

How long will it take?

You should complete this course in approximately 180 days, if you work 45 minutes per day

What does each unit look like?

The unit is made up of a series of lessons. Each lesson will have learning activities, a practice, and an application. If you do not pass the practice, you will have to complete a ?re-teach? activity and redo the practice before you can do the application. If you do not pass the practice the second time, you will be required to contact your teacher before you can move on to the next lesson.

You will not be able to continue through the course without teacher approval if you do not pass the practice the second time. Make sure you are completing all of the learning activities so you can pass the practices and move effectively through the course.

After you complete a practice, each lesson has a short application that must be submitted to me. These will be graded for completion.

At the conclusion of each unit, you will complete a project that will demonstrate your learning of all the unit material. This will be scored according to your mastery of the unit material.

Work In This Class

This page will go into detail about what kind of work you will be completing in this class and your teacher's expectations. English Skills is scaffolded to help support your learning. That means that you will complete similar activities relating to the same concepts that increase in difficulty. It is essential that you complete the smaller activities in order to be successful with the more complex ones.

Practices

Practices are always multiple-choice tests. You should complete the Practice for each lesson  after reading the lesson and completing your Learning Activities, but before you attempt your Apply. Practices will ask you to return to the lesson and read certain key passages very closely and be able to identify and define key terms from the lesson. You may use all your notes during your test.

A passing score (70% or higher) on your Practice indicates that you are ready to attempt the Apply for that lesson. If you do not pass, you should contact your teacher, send them your Learning Activities, and review the lesson.

Application Activities (Apply)

Your Application, or Apply, for each lesson will be submitted for a grade. Each will be a brief writing assignment (usually 100-250 words long) that asks you to engage analytically and critically with the lesson. Your writing should follow the Application instructions.  Usually, you will be writing one to two cohesive paragraphs that include a topic sentence, quotes from the literature you read in the lesson, and your own interpretation and analysis in complete sentences.

At this point in your learning, your teacher will want to check in on your progress and see what you are learning. Therefore, your purpose in your Applications should be to show your teacher what you learned in the chapter, and these should reflect your best work.

Your teacher will read your Applications, but they will not respond to these in-depth. If you want to discuss the concepts with your teacher in-depth, contact them through the message center. You will receive one of four scores on your Apply, detailed below:

  • 100% - This score means that you are showing good understanding of the lesson's concepts, and that your writing is clear, cohesive, and polished. Go ahead and move on to the next lesson.
  • 90% - This score means that you are showing good understanding of the lesson's concepts, but your work is lacking some polish. You need to practice careful proofreading skills over the lessons to come before attempting your Unit Project. Go ahead and move on to the next lesson.
  • 70% - Your thinking shows general understanding, but you may want to review the lesson before moving on. You are not required to ask for additional help, but you may want to check in with your teacher about anything confusing. Make sure that your Learning Activities are in your Course Journal. After appropriate review, go ahead and move on to the next lesson.
  • 10% or Deletion - You have done some work, but your teacher is concerned that you are not ready to move on to the next lesson. Review the lesson, and make sure your Learning Activities are thoroughly completed in your Course Journal. Do not move on to the next lesson.
  • Unit 1: The Elements of Music
    • Lesson 1: Introduction
    • Lesson 2: Pitch
    • Lesson 3: Rhythm
    • Lesson 4: Dynamics
    • Lesson 5: Melody
    • Lesson 6: Form
  • Unit 2: Pop Music
    • Lesson 1: Introduction
    • Lesson 2: Defining Pop Music
    • Lesson 3: Pop Music
    • Lesson 4: The Beginning
    • Lesson 5: Separating Rock and Pop
    • Lesson 6: The 80s
    • Lesson 7: The 90s into the Twenty-first Century
  • Unit 3: Ancient Music
    • Lesson 1: Introduction
    • Lesson 2: Ancient Music
    • Lesson 3: India
    • Lesson 4: Medieval Music
    • Lesson 5: Musical Notation
  • Unit 4: The Renaissance Music
    • Lesson 1: Introduction
    • Lesson 2: The Effects of Music in Society
    • Lesson 3: The Music of the Renaissance
    • Lesson 4: Instruments of the Renaissance
    • Lesson 5: Genres of Renaissance Music
    • Lesson 6: Important Composers of the Renaissance
  • Unit 5: The Baroque Period
    • Lesson 1: Introduction
    • Lesson 2: Characteristics of Baroque Music
    • Lesson 3: Ornamentation
    • Lesson 4: Opera
    • Lesson 5: Baroque Composers
    • Lesson 6: Vivaldi
    • Lesson 7: Bach
    • Lesson 8: Georg Friedrich Handel
  • Unit 6: The Classical Era
    • Lesson 1: Introduction
    • Lesson 2: Characteristics of Music from the Classical Period
    • Lesson 3: Forms of Music
    • Lesson 4: Sonata Form
    • Lesson 5: Symphony
    • Lesson 6: Joseph Haydn
    • Lesson 7: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    • Lesson 8: Ludwig von Beethoven
  • Unit 7: The Romantic Period
    • Lesson 1: Introduction
    • Lesson 2: Influences on the Romantic Period
    • Lesson 3: Characteristics of Romantic Music
    • Lesson 4: Characteristics of Romantic Music
    • Lesson 5: The Ballet
    • Lesson 6: Johann Strauss I
    • Lesson 7: Felix Mendelssohn
    • Lesson 8: Frederic Chopin
    • Lesson 9: Richard Wagner
    • Lesson 10: Johannes Brahms
  • Unit 8: Jazz
    • Lesson 1: Introduction
    • Lesson 2: Jazz and Classical Music
    • Lesson 3: The Birth of Jazz
    • Lesson 4: Hot Jazz
    • Lesson 5: Bebop
    • Lesson 6: Jazz Composers/Musicians
    • Lesson 7: The Duke and the Count
    • Lesson 8: Ella Fitzgerald

Course Communication

How do I communicate appropriately in an online classroom?

Unlike social websites and communication, this is a classroom. Our communications are a little bit more formal. Here are things to keep in mind when writing formally and academically:

  • All work submitted must be done in good taste. Nothing vulgar or offensive will be accepted.
  • Use polite language. This means using framing such as ?Please,? ?Thank you,? etc.
  • Use your best grammar. Avoid using slang, abbreviations, and check your writing for mistakes.
  • Be specific. Take time to explain as thoroughly as possible.
  • Reread your communications before you send them to be sure your tone is professional, academic, and polite.

How do I contact my teacher?

Generally, you will get feedback once you have completed a practice and again when you complete an application. In most cases, if you follow the lessons carefully, you should be successful.

If you need to reach me, you should use your message center. Select “Teacher of (this course).” The subject line should include the full course name and the name of the lesson you are working on. In the message, make sure you explain what you have done so far and what you need from your teacher in order to move on. An example message would look like the following:

Subject: Unit 2 Lesson 2 Practice

Ms. Smith,

Hi. I am in English Skills 1. I have been working in Unit 2 Lesson 2, and I scored a 50% on my Practice. I have attached my notes and activities for this lesson, and looked back over some of the material.

I think that I might not really understand the difference between a metaphor and personification. Sometimes it is confusing for me because I think that the phrase is comparing two things without using like or as, which would be a metaphor, and one of the things is a person. I am doing research on my own and reading a lot of examples of personification. Do you have any advice about how to tell the difference?

Thank you!

Jennifer Glossop

 

What is Plagiarism? What happens if I use online sources inappropriately?

In all of American High School, plagiarism is unacceptable. Plagiarism is any time you take someone else?s work and claim that it is your own. Some other terms for plagiarism include cheating and academic dishonesty. As an online student, you must be even more keenly aware of what plagiarism is so you can avoid doing it unintentionally. When you enrolled in the school, you signed an Academic Integrity form stating that you understand what plagiarism is and promising that you will not commit it.

You are plagiarizing if you?

  • Copy and paste work from any website, book, article, friend?s work, work you turned in for another class, etc.
  • Use ideas gained from research without significantly rewriting them and without proper citation.
  • Fail to quote and cite properly any phrasing you did not come up with on your own.

To avoid plagiarism?

Plagiarism in Creative Writing

For this creative writing course, there are no assignments that require quoting, citing, or evidence-based research reports. All of your writing should be your own creative work, written specifically for the assignments in this course.

Do not use any story of your own writing that you posted online in the past. Your teacher is not equipped to prove your online identity, so even if it is your own writing they may still view this as plagiarism. You may use ideas or characters from stories that you have written in the past or posted online, but every submitted assignment should be written specifically for this course.

There is one special case for citations: You may write fanfiction or retellings of fairy tales and myths; however, you must credit your source material.

If you are caught plagiarizing, the assignment will receive a 0%, and your parent or guardian will receive a phone call notifying them of your breach in academic integrity. After a parent-teacher conference, you will be required to submit to your teacher an assignment on plagiarism to show your teacher that you understand what you did wrong. Once your teacher has approved your plagiarism assignment, you may redo the failed assignment with a penalty of one letter grade. Once this process has been completed, you may move on with your coursework as before.

A second instance of plagiarism or academic dishonesty may result in suspension or expulsion from American High School.

 

How will you be graded?

Each unit contains several lessons, with activities, practices, and applications. You will be graded on successful completion of the practice and application tasks. The unit will end with a unit project. Your final grade will be the average of your scores on these assignments.

What is the Grading System?

  • A:100%-90%
  • B: 89%-80%
  • C: 79%-70%
  • D: 69%-60%
  • F: Below 60%