What a Wonderful World: Distantly Together

• Alexandra Robinson
• Posted 4/5/21
• 0 comments

A Distance Learning Approach to a Spring Concert 

Suggested Grades: 3-5

National Core Arts Standards 

#5 – Develop and refine artistic work for presentation. 
#7 – Perceive and analyze artistic work.  

Objectives: Students will learn and perform music for a showcase. 

Materials  

• What a Wonderful World by Tim Hopgood 
• Recording: What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong 

Suggested Teaching Process 

• Play the song “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong for students while showing the picture book “What a Wonderful World” by Tim Hopgood.  
• Before listening, ask students to think about the meaning of the lyrics. 
• After listening to the recording, use the popcorn questioning technique to gather students’ ideas about the song’s meaning.  
• Ask students to identify what they liked or did not like about the song and why. 
• Describe the historical significance of the song. 
• What a Wonderful World was explicitly composed for Louis Armstrong because of his ability to bring together people of different races. 
• Armstrong’s recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.  
• The 1964 recording of the song was downloaded over 2 million times in the United States when released digitally in 2014. 
• Many other music artists have recorded the song. 

Preparing for a Digital Performance 

• Inform students of the goal of rehearsals:  To showcase What A Wonderful World using American Sign Language in a digital concert. 
• Identify the number of rehearsals students while have to learn the sign language. 
• Discuss student learning expectations. 
• Teach the sign language and lyrics simultaneously. 
• Display the lyrics and bold the words that have corresponding signs. 
  I suggest watching a recording of the song with American Sign if you are not fluent in ASL. 

• Sing through each verse, ask students to identify the action words. 
• Teach the corresponding sign. 
• Repeat singing and signing until students have learned the first verse. 
• Repeat the process until students can sing all of the verses. 
• A fun way to add variety to your rehearsals is to have students sign to the song’s recorded version. 

Recording and Sharing a Digital Performance 

• There are a couple of options when creating a concert in a distance learning scenario. 
• Students perform American Sign Language to the recorded version of Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World.”  
• If you have the resources and time – students can submit a recording of themselves singing “What A Wonderful World.”  Mix the recording using music software like GarageBand or Audacity, and then you can have students use ASL and their singing. 
• Record the student performance on Zoom or in Google Meets and then email to video or upload it onto YouTube. 

References 

• Piquant. (2010, November 25). Louis Armstrong – What A Wonderful World (Lyrics). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE 
• Thiele, B., Weiss, G. D., & Hopgood, T. (2014). What a Wonderful World (Illustrated ed.). 
• Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). 
• We Play-Along. (2018, January 22). Sing “What a Wonderful World” in American Sign Language | ASL Song [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isMVH0ccQOY