60 Minutes--The Virtuoso, Marcus Roberts segment
Journalist: Wynton Marsalis
Producer: David Browning and Paige Kindig
Original air date: March 30, 2014
Marcus Roberts, 51, is musical genius following the lead of Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. After becoming blind at the age of 5, Marcus gravitated to the piano, teaching himself the basics. Today, he amazes his audience not only with his masterful playing, but with his encyclopedic knowledge of America’s jazz heritage. Roberts has an uncanny ability to take other jazz greats’ music and give it his own unique twist. His fancy finger work connects listeners to the jazz of the past and present.
Quantitative: Flesch-Kincaid grade level--6.2 (Transcript of the segment was scored by Readability-score.com). No Lexile Level or ATOS available.
Qualitative: Although the structure of the segment is fairly linear with the language a Flesch-Kincaid reading ease score of 70.5, this piece would best align to high school level students since it is an extension of core content.
Content Area: English; Social Science--U.S. History; Music
Curriculum Suggestions: This segment can be used in both English, U.S. History, and music classes. Oxnard High School is lucky enough to have a jazz band. However, the likelihood of this being using in the classroom will most likely be applied to English. I was actually fortunate to share this segment with one English teacher whose class was conducting research on an aspect of African American Culture. Some ways to connect the segment are:
1) Research the musicians mentioned in the piece: Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Errol Garner, James P. Johnson, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington.
2) Connect the piece to the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance—how does Marcus Roberts maintain the jazz legacy established in 1920s?
3) Use the 60-Minutes piece as a visual model for constructing an essay. For the English teacher that showed the piece to his class, I recommended that the class discuss the information needed to create the piece and the structure of the information. How could the segment be transformed into essay format?
Common Core Standards:W.11/12.2; SL.11/12.1-6; RH.11/12.1-3
Additional/Digital Content:
Personal Thoughts: Showing students information in another format, other than writing, allows them to see the patterns required of sharing research. Video structure is just as important as essay structure if an audience is going to understand the content. Additionally, the segment relies on primary and secondary sources. It provides an opportunity for a teacher and teacher-librarian to work together in order to promote information literacy and 21st-century skills while connecting history to modern times.
*Meets the “Media Items” requirement
No comments:
Post a Comment