Strategy 2: Know, Want, Learn

This is a strategy for engaging diverse cultures where I will have the students say what they know and what they want to know before I teach it to them, and then after the unit is finished I will have the students tell me what they have learned.  Students all have different ideas about the history of music depending on their background, and this would allow me to see how their background had affected their viewpoint.  This is most appropriate during discussions of music history, as this is one of the subjects in music where students seem to have the most misconceptions.  It is a valuable tool for me as the teacher to know what lessons should be structured around and it is a valuable tool for the students as it challenges them to think critically about their learning.

I would present this to my students by introducing the activity and then giving the students a broad prompt like, "Beethoven, tell me what you know and what you want to know."  Then I would compile with a group discussion a list of what the students had said on something like a trifold.  Once the unit on Beethoven was done, we would go back over the list.