Musical Musings 2

 As I mentioned in my first Musical Musings Post, I love working with music. I should probably start this  post off by acknowledging one of the perks of working with music: I like knowing what is "in." I can strengthen connections with my students by sharing songs. I usually find a couple of songs or even a couple of artists to jam out to as a result as well. It is a solid perk.

I am in the process of developing a small music-based unit. It is currently a three-week unit that plays equally well with 4 and 5-day weeks. Each week has the same format: teaching modeling, student research, drafting, and edits, and then student presentations. It hits a wide swatch of our standards. I focus on Language Standards with their writing and Speaking and Listening Standards for their presentations. Each week will have a Standard focus unique to it.

Week One focuses on tracing how ideas develop and change across artists and uses cover songs and hopefully the original. It focuses on ODE Speaking and Listening Standard 11th-12th: 3. Week Two focuses on how themes develop and build in culture and compares them across different artists and songs. Its main standard focus is ODE Language Standard 11th-12th: 5. Week Three tasks the students with creating a thematic playlist and uses ODE Language Standard 11th-12th: 2. The goal of this three-week structure is to give the students more intellectual, work, and research freedom and responsibility. The hope is that they are doing more difficult work in Week Three than in Week One without feeling that way. 

Week One: "Tracking Songs"

Day 1: Teacher Focused

            1.) Explain the unit and its goals briefly.

            2.) Layout the week.

            3.) Explore Cover Songs

Day 2-3: Individual Student Work

            Find a song with at least two school-friendly versions, and analyze and compare them,             

            musically and lyrically. 

Day 4: "Student Led"

            Students present their findings to the class. We listen to snippets of each song. 

Songs I use:

"The House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals, Leadbelly, Five Finger Death Punch (Be careful though, the video starts at the end of swear heavy song and is a fairly hard PG-13, I just use song no video), and Joan Baez. 

Week Two: "Tracing Themes (Songs about School by People not in School)
Day 1: Teacher Focused

            1.) Layout the week.

            2.) Explore the Songs I selected.

Days 2-3: Student Group Work (preferably in 3s)

            1.) Take two of the songs provided and Venn diagram them. 

            2.) Find another similar song. 

            3.) Find and analyze the connecting theme(s) of the three songs.

            4.) Find and analyze the song-specific themes

                All findings and analysis must be supported with lyrics. 

Day 4 :"Student Led" 

            The groups present their pairings, new song, and their findings. We listen to the third song as 

            much as possible to get through all the groups.

Songs I use:

"Fifteen" by Taylor Swift

"Letter to Me" by Brad Paisley

"I'm Eighteen" by Alice Cooper

"Growing Up" by Macklemore (This song needs replacing. I am thinking of John Mayer's "No Such Thing.)

Week Three (Building a Theme):

Day 1: Teacher Focused

            1.) Layout the week.

            2.) I briefly touch on last week's theme and tell them it is their turn. If they seem confused by 

                 the task, as a class we come up with a theme and quickly debate some songs that fit it. Once I               am satisfied that the students know what to do, I stop talking and they start working. 

Days 1.5-4.5: Student Group Work (Preferably 3)

            The students select a theme and build a 3-5 song playlist. Groups of 3+ must have 5 songs. 

            They write a 250+ word explanation of their theme, how their songs connect/build on the 

              theme, and cite lyrics. 

Days 4.5 & 5: "Student Led"

        The groups present their songs and playlists.