THE CANADIAN ATLAS ONLINENORTHWEST TERRITORIES – GRADE 9

Water Music: A Creative Exploration Dedicated to the Importance of Rivers and Lakes in Our Regional Watersheds

Lesson Overview

This lesson will explore the vital use of language (oral, written, musical, rhythmic) to convey the important role water plays in our lives. Students will be given the opportunityto explore a range of musical/lyrical/multimedia expressions to describe their understanding of the role that water/waterways/bodies of water/watersheds play in our everyday lives.

Grade Level

Grade 9 (but can be easily adapted to younger or older students)

Time Required

Teachers should be able to conduct the lesson in one or two classes. The presentations will require additional time to for research and to present the final product (this can be arranged outside of class time).

Curriculum Connection (Province/Territory and course)

Northwest Territories Grade 9 media literacy and eco-systems in science

Additional Resources, Materials and Equipment Required

  • Appendix A: Creating a Water Music Presentation (attached)
  • Appendix B: Rubric for Oral Presentations (attached)
  • Video cameras, still cameras, recording equipment, art supplies, etc. according to their projects’ needs.
  • Watersheds of Canada poster-map
  • Computer and internet access for student research

Websites:

Protect Your Watershed: An interactive guide to taking action

Canadian Atlas Online Watershed Awareness theme

&lang=En

Main Objective

To create a poem, song, and/or multimedia presentation featuring water and the role it plays in our lives.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

  • appreciate the importance and role of water in everyday life;
  • recognize the role of watersheds in the provision of water and sustenance of life on Earth;
  • use textual cues to construct and confirm meaning;
  • use textual cues to construct meaning and express them as:
    - music / sounds,
    - volume,
    - colour,
    - movement,
    - opening shots to videos,
    - lighting (time, mood, feelings),
    - composition
    - theme
    - perspectives

The Lesson

The Lesson

Teacher Activity / Student Activity

Introduction

/ Introduce the topic of water in our lives and emphasize the important role it plays in our daily life. Divide students into small groups and ask: List all the uses of water in our daily lives – examples: washing, cooking (household uses) – but also for fishing (food source/survival), boating (transportation) and reflecting sunsets (aesthetics/beauty).
Ask students to work in a group to organize the different uses of water into categories (as in the example above). See how many categories the class can create. Ask groups to report back to the class.
Combine the categories and lists into a master list on an overhead or chart paper and post the list in the room. / List ALL of the uses for water in our lives.
Each group reports to the class and a master list is compiled.

Lesson Development

/ Water is vital to the survival of all living things on this planet. Without water all humans would perish, therefore, protecting clean water as a resource is important to all living things.
Assign students to work in small groups (max 4 to a group), in pairs or individually.Instruct students to brainstorm methods of communicationthat could convey the message that water is vital to our lives.
Ask students to choose a method of communication and then let them compose a “message” which expresses their views on the importance of water (e.g. Compose poetry or lyrics to a song, present images in a slideshow with background music plus narration).
DistributeAppendix A: Creating a Water Music Presentationas guide and review the instructions with the class. Each group will research an aspect of water/watersheds and begin to create a body of material.
Work with each group to clarify their objectives. Point them to helpful webpages/resources which demonstrate the important qualities of water. Help them to explore the multiple uses of waterways/watersheds (aesthetic, environmental, commercial, etc). Direct them to use a medium which will use their gifts/skills and which will assist in communicating their argument.
Distribute video and still cameras, recording equipment, art supplies, etc... according to their projects’ needs. Encourage each group to be as creative and unique as possible.
Give the students a reasonable length of time to complete this project. They will need ample class time to research background information for the aspects of water/watersheds which they wish to include in their presentations. Time will be needed to create their unique form of communication (e.g. if music is to be added to lyrics/poetry). / Work in small groups/pairs/or individuals. Brainstorm methods of effective communication (music/poetry/visual representations/posters).
Choose a method of communication to express an opinion on the importance of water.
Review the instructions inAppendix A: Creating a Water Music Presentation.
Begin research.
Use video/digital equipment, art supplies, to gather material which will be refined into the final presentations.
Use assigned class time and time outside of class to refine the presentation.

Conclusion

/ Set aside a class period for the presentations. Each presentation will be scored according to the attached rubric. / Each group will present their creative “composition” to the class.

Lesson Extension

  • Take students on a fieldtrip to a wilderness area near their community. Use video and digital cameras to gather originalimages for their presentations.

Assessment of Student Learning

  • Students will be assessed usingAppendix B: Rubric for Oral Presentations(attached).

Further Reading

  • The Source of life
    Canada’s watershed protection action guide
  • RBC Bluewater Foundation
  • Water, Art, and the Canadian Identity: At the Water's Edge:

Link to Canadian National Standards for Geography
Essential Element #3: Physical Systems

  • Components of the Earth’s physical system (hydrosphere)

Geographic Skill #3: Organizing Geographic Information

  • Use a variety of media to develop and organize integrated summaries of geographic information.

Appendix A: Creating a “Water Music” presentation

  1. Background information (to be handed in with your presentation):
  1. Research the importance of water to the survival of all living things. Use the master list of the importance of water, from the beginning of the lesson, as a starting point for ideas about a specific theme/topic.
  2. Research in more detail how watersheds play a vital role to ecosystems in a region.
  3. Make a special note of watersheds in your area. Which watershed is your community a part of? Where does the water flow from the rivers and lakes within your watershed? (Refer to the Watersheds of Canada poster-map)

Resources:

  • Watersheds of Canada poster-map
  • Protect Your Watershed: An interactive guide to taking action
  • Canadian Atlas Online Watershed Awareness theme
  1. Create one of the following“Water Music” presentations based on the information you have gathered about water and watersheds. Include a storyboard of the key aspects of your presentation showing the sequence of the slides in your presentation:
  2. Write a song with lyrics that refer to some aspect of your research. Perform or describe your song in detail in your presentation to the class. Use a medium like MS PowerPoint or another web-based presentation tool to add visuals which help to present what you have created.
  3. Create a poem or series of poems about water/watersheds and use a medium with video or images to present to the class.
  4. Discover current music about water through the internet and include the lyrics in a MS PowerPoint presentation with appropriate visuals which help to describe why these songsare important to you or your team.
  5. Other: Design your own way to present the importance of water/watersheds to the class – this must be previously approved by your teacher.

THE CANADIAN ATLAS ONLINENORTHWEST TERRITORIES – GRADE 9

Appendix B: Rubric for Oral Presentations

NONVERBALSKILLS
4 / 3 / 2 / 1
EYE CONTACT / Holds audience’s attention with direct eye contact, seldom referral to notes. / Uses direct eye contact with audience, but refers frequently to notes. / Reads mostly from notes with little eye contact with the audience. / Reads totally from notes with no eye contact with audience.
BODY LANGUAGE / Displays relaxed, self-confident nature. / Displays little or no nervousness. / Displays mild nervous tension with a few distracting gestures. / Tension and nervousness is obvious with many distracting gestures.

NOTES:

VERBAL SKILLS
4 / 3 / 2 / 1
ENTHUSIASM / Demonstrates a strong, positive feeling about the topic during the entire presentation. / Occasionally shows positive feelings about topic. / Shows some negativity toward topic presented. / Shows absolutely no interest in topic presented.
ELOCUTION / Student uses a clear voice so that audience can hear presentation. / Student’s voice is clear. Most audience members can hear presentation. / Student’s voice is low so that audience members have difficulty hearing presentation. / Student voice is so low or unclear that the majority of audience cannot hear the presentation.

NOTES:

CONTENT
4 / 3 / 2 / 1
SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE / Demonstrates full knowledge of topic by answering all class questions with explanations and elaboration. / Very knowledgeable of content. At ease with answers to most questions. / Uncomfortable with content and is able to answer only some questions. / Does not grasp information and cannot answer questions about topic.
ORGANIZATION / Presents information in logical, interesting sequence which the audience can follow. / Presents information in a logical sequence which the audience can follow. / Audience has difficulty following presentation. / Audience cannot understand the presentation because there is no sequence of information.

NOTES: