“What’s Your Name?”

How to Use This Study Guide

All the lessons in this study guide originate from a folklore perspective as defined by the Pennsylvania Standards for Folklife Education:

“Folklife education is not [intended] to teach students heritage or traditions, either their own or those of others. Rather it teaches the skills and concepts necessary for students to explore cultural participation, first in their own lives, and then in looking at others. In studying folklife by beginning with concepts of cultural participation as students experience them, “culture” is not relegated to "others” but becomes visible as a universal human characteristic.” [page one]

The lessons in this guide utilize basic folklife concepts that help us understand community-based traditions. For example, we all belong to several different folk groups defined by things we share in common such as family, religion, ethnicity, gender, occupation, or age. As members of these folk groups we participate in some type of expressive culture (music, foodways, dress, narratives, ritual, celebration, belief, and material culture) through which we define or identify ourselves. Despite popular notions about folklife, traditional culture is not simply the “old ways,” but rather a dynamic process that evolves with changes in social history. As many of the groups on the recording demonstrate, songs reflect both long-standing traditions and innovations, which comment upon and strengthen group identity in this country.

In designing each lesson plan, we felt it important to include a set of instructions for the teacher, and a separate reproducible page for the student. The lesson plans are separated by tabs, which identify the lessons and provide an easy code indicating grade level appropriate to each lesson.

The Teacher Page identifies:

• curricular areas and grade levels
• goals and objectives
• songs used
• background information pertinent to the lesson
• helpful terms for the lesson
• detailed steps to each of the suggested activities
• recommended follow-up activities
• assessment strategies, and
• additional resources for students and teachers

The Student Page provides background information, pictures, and space for the students to define terms and make notes. Feel free to duplicate it for distribution to your students.

We developed these lessons with an eye towards easy integration into current curriculum and cross-curricular teaming. To that end, there is an Index just before the lesson plans, which identifies the lesson plans by ethnic group, grade level and curricular area. While each lesson is designed to stand on its own, the guide progresses from student-oriented exercises to explorations into community research and beyond. You can use the lesson plans individually, or you can combine them to create a longer engagement with culture and music. Therefore, we encourage you to read through the entire collection before choosing specific activities. We also encourage you to adapt and expand these lessons, or borrow from one to enhance another, to fit the needs of your individual classes.

The guide also includes three appendices:

I. Student Fieldwork Guide

II. If You Want to do More: Working with Artists in the Classroom

III. A Glossary of Terms and Key to Pronunciation

Please refer to the glossary for pronunciation of unfamiliar words.

Because the guide works with music performed in many different languages, we have enhanced the Glossary of Terms to include a pronunciation guide. If you are uncertain how to pronounce an artists name, an instrument or a song title, you should be able to find it in here.

The first two appendices encourage teachers and students to seek local community connections. Since many of the lessons suggest student interview projects in their own communities, we have included a Student Fieldwork Guide that details good fieldwork procedures, including courtesy and safety. By also including a detailed guide about working with artists in the classroom, we hope to inspire teachers to invite members of the local community to the schools.

We have tried to offer sufficient background information on each ethnic group and musical piece on the recording. More information exists in the liner notes and even more can be found in the resources listed at the end of each lesson plan. We recommend several useful resources for teachers who wish to further develop innovative methods, which integrate curriculum and traditional culture:

A Teacher’s Guide to Folklife Resources for K-12 Classrooms, prepared by Peter Bartis and Paddy Bowman, available from the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

C.A.R.T.S. (Cultural Arts Resources for Teachers and Students) web page: http://www.carts.org

Culture Catalog: Resources in Folklore, History & Culture prepared by City Lore: The New York Center for Urban Folk Culture. Phone (212) 529-1955 or connect to their web page through C.A.R.T.S.

Standards for Folklife Education, developed by the Pennsylvania Folklife Education Committee, Box 678, Immaculata College, Immaculata, PA 19345

Teaching Tolerance, a teacher resource maintained by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Web page: http://www.splcenter.org/teachingtolerance/tt-index..asp

We have personally enjoyed learning about the wealth of traditional music in Pennsylvania and hope you are equally inspired to take notice of the dynamic art forms in your own town.

Amy Davis Jill Rossiter

Durham, North Carolina Arlington, Virginia

© 2001 On Tour Productions