Yo-Yo Ma Lesson Plan: Individuals’ Contributions and Identities
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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Yo-Yo Ma, and supports the standard of analyzing individuals’ contributions to society and culture. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Ask students:
- What musicians or artists do you enjoy?
- What do you appreciate about their art?
Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE
- Read the description on the Yo-Yo Ma topic page.
- Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
- Have students read one of the Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS
Students take the Yo-Yo Ma Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.
Step 4: EXTEND and DEEPEN
Students express what they learned about Yo-Yo Ma while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.
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- Make-a-Movie: Produce a mini-documentary about Yo-Yo Ma that describes how Yo-Yo Ma has contributed to society.
- Make-a-Map: Identify the timeline of events from Yo-Yo Ma’s early life and music career.
- Creative Coding: Code a digital museum exhibit featuring artifacts and figures from Yo-Yo Ma’s life and career.
- Primary Source Activity: Read about Yo-Yo Ma and cite details to answer accompanying questions.
More to Explore
Famous Historical Figures Unit: Continue to build understanding around individuals’ contributions to society by exploring more BrainPOP topics.
Teacher Support Resources:
- Modifications for Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
- Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.
