Final Reflection

 

Final Reflection

    When I started this inquiry project, I had a very vague idea of combining music and history, but the more I looked into the idea, the more ideas I started to have on how I could accomplish it.  I realized that it was not such a crazy idea after all. 

    The biggest realization that I had was the different kind of media that I could use, as well as the different kinds of primary sources that I could use and have my students analyze.  I went from only looking to use the actual songs to seeing that I could use the lyrics, interviews, live performances, and even photographs of the artists themselves.  This expanded the types of lessons that I will be able to create while still being able to incorporate musicians. 

    Not only did I start having more ideas, but I found more lessons that other educators have used and other topics that they have covered.  I think that this is only the beginning for me finding new ways to incorporate music into my history classroom and hopefully a few years from now I at least have one musically influenced lesson for each unit that I teach.  I am hopeful that I will be able to expand this idea into World History as most of my current ideas are for a US History classroom.  If I plan on using this in a World History or New Mexico History class, I will have to do more research in the music of those eras and locations, but that will only give me greater insights into music and history. 

    

This project led me to many helpful resources that I will surely be using during my first years teaching, and I hope that I am able to continue building upon my list of resources.  I really enjoyed this whole project from start to finish as it allowed me to see that it is possible to combine two of my passions and hopefully I will be able to show my students that older music can still be cool if you give it a chance.