A few weeks ago I introduced a means of alternatively assessing my students understanding of The Lord of the Flies. The essence of the assessement was to see if they connect the ideas of the book to ideas that are foating around out there in the form of popular or contemporary music. Simultaneously, they will have experienced the same problems governing themselves that the boys from the novel did. I provided them with very little leadership. They had to figure out how to survive on their own and to be productive.
I thought it might be helpful to clarify that the assessment also teaches to the four learning styles that we all have. This is an important component to any extended project because it simultaneously stretches and comforts the students. For example:
The Imaginative Learners, those who fall in quadrant one of the learning styles wheel, prefer to learn through a combination of sensing, feeling and watching. Their favorite question is "Why?" The facet of the concept album most interesting to them is the drawing of the album art and the relational thinking neccessary to integrate art, fiction and music.
The Analytic Learners, those who fall in quadrant two, prefer to learn through a combination of thinking through concepts and watching. Their favorite question is "What?" The facet of the concept album most interesting to them is discriminating between two songs contending for the same chapter, planning a schedule, and defining key conceptual attributes to each of the novel's twelve chapters.
The Common Sense Learners, those who fall in quadrant three, prefer to learn by thinking through concepts and trying things out for themselves, by doing. Their favorite question is "How does this work?" The facet of this project that is most interesting to them is choosing the music that matches the idea in each chapter and recording it sequentially on a master tape. They also enjoy the prospect of getting the thing done by a certain deadline. They will be attracted to the leadership possibilities of the project and to the kinesthetic involvement.
The Dynamic Learners, those who fall in quadrant four, prefer to learn by sensing/feeling and doing. Their favorite question is "If?" The facet of this project most appealing to them would be to identify its constraints and work around them. If we use music without lyrics, can we get credit? They are actively engaged in editing paragraphs and revising other students work. They are attracted to assessing the quality of the overall product and will be upset if it is not of a high quality.
In a nutshell this is how a simple problem like recording and writing about a concept album can kill many educational birds, if you will.