kyle mc lpa 5

8/3/2019 Kyle MC LPA 5

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Midnight's Children Day 15: Book 1 Reflection:

Saleem Sinai's Infinite Playlist (Computer Lab)

Time

50 minutes

Setting

This course is a Senior elective entitled "Literature from Around the World." It consists of 25

students, 10 male and 15 female. 10 students are white while 8 are African America. 6 are

Latino/a, and one student is Asian. Five of the Latino students are bilingual Spanish speakers, but

they are not classified as ELL. One student has ADHD. All students are of varied ability.

Theory into Practice/Background

Students have now finished reading all of Book One of Rushdie's Midnight Children, and it is

time to reflect on what they have read. In order to do this, I decided to devise a fun project that

would incorporate technology and have students create something interesting that still requires

them to engage in a thoughtful analysis of the text. Students will use the Audacity software to

mix together a song of their choosing that relates to the text with a quote taken directly from the

text and a brief explanation of their song choice and how it reflects some aspect of Rushdie's

work. Students will work in small groups, each group member having been assigned the same

chapter of the book from which to draw their inspiration. Together, they will create the playlist

that best constitutes the soundtrack of Rushdie's work. This allows students to hit on each of the

four components that Burke describes as constituting effective teaching and learning. Students

will be engage in a constructive act with actual authenticity. (9) Once the playlist is compiled, it

will be played in the class room during individual work time and students can receive MP3 CD

versions of the playlists for their own use. While this may not be the grandest form of socially

conscious authenticity, it is important to note that music is an important way in which people


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connect with their environment and each other. The act of sharing music with others and

assigning meaning to music is an integral part of our social behavior and one of the most

powerful ways in which we formulate relationships both with concepts and with people.

Students will also be occupying this process by utilizing skills with interdisciplinary

applications. Audacity is great audio editing software that can be used to make podcasts, mix

together music, and achieve a whole range of goals both inside and outside the classroom. This

activity is an easy introduction into the software that establishes a zone of proximal development

to build upon in later classes and activities. (11) Students will also have to negotiate meaning

with their peers in order to produce a playlist that effectively expresses something about

Rushdie's work. Will they arrange their songs chronologically? Will they chose to target their

focus toward a thematic arrangement? Or, will they arrange their entries based on the aesthetic

relationships between the songs? In answering these questions, students will be engaging with

key questions of the text in an unexpected format. (15) Finally, the final playlist will open the

door to a larger conversation about the text where students can interrogate each other's choices

and have access to another person's interpretation of the text that is at once deeply personal and

appropriately public. (19)

Objectives

Students will, as a class, compose a playlist of music that serves as an appropriate soundtrack to

the first book ofMidnight's Children supplemented with audio recordings of the students reading

selected quotes from the text and explaining how the songs relate. Students will be able to use

the Audacity software.

Materials

This lesson will be conducted at the computer lab. Every student will need to bring a selection of

songs on a CD or flash drive that relates to one of the chapters of book one and a copy of the


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lyrics. The teacher will need to have writable CDs for students to use, microphones for all of the

computers, and Audacity software installed on all of the computers.

Preparation

The teacher will need to ensure that all microphones are connected properly and are functioning.

They will also have to check to see that all computers have a working copy of Audacity software

on the computer.

Procedure

During the previous class period, the teacher will have distributed the Saleem Sinai's Infinite

Playlist assignment sheet and provided students who needed them with writable CDs to copy

their music. Students will meet in the computer lab to work on completing their playlists.

The teacher will begin the class by demonstrating how to use Audacity by importing music from

the desktop and recording audio. The teacher can also show how to apply various effects to

recordings. The teacher will also show how to remove sections of audio where the speaker made

a mistake or there was interrupting noise. Students are instructed that if they mess up or are

interrupted, that it is better to pause while the microphone continues recording and take it again.

They can simply edit out the problematic audio which is easier than having to start the recording

over or edit in other components later. The teacher will take any questions students have about

using the software. 10 minutes

The teacher will turn the students loose to follow the instructions on the sheet and create their

mixed recordings. However, students should spend at least a couple of minutes rehearsing their

parts prior to recording. During this time, the teacher will circulate to help individual students.

The teacher should avoid addressing the class as a whole as it may interrupt recordings. He/she

should keep track of the time remaining in class on the board. 30 minutes


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With ten minutes remaining in class, the teacher should have students begin wrapping up their

activity by finalizing their song orders and submitting their playlists. If students have finished all

criteria of the activity, the teacher should gauge the sentiments of students as they expressed in

their reflections. What did they feel were the benefits of this activity? Would they like to do it

again. 10 minutes

Discussion Ideas

Why is music a good way of accessing aspects of character, theme, and tone in a text?

How does your song relate to the narrative? What aspect of the text is represented? How will

your group arrange their songs? Thematically? Chronologically? Why?

Accommodations

ESL: By giving this assignment to students the night before and allowing them to rehearse on

their own and in class prior to recording, it will lessen the stress on those who do not speak

English as their primary language.

ADHD: This student will have the opportunity to play around with the software and experiment

with different ways of presenting the information. It will be important to monitor the student to

ensure that he/she stays on track throughout the activity.

Assessment

The assignment sheet and rubric for this assignment is attached.

Extension Ideas

If students responded positively to this activity, I would repeat it at the end of each book in

Midnight's Children. I will also play the playlist in class during the individual work time if it is

not too distracting. I would also consider having students listen to the entire playlist and do a

reflection activity on how well we were able to capture the spirit of Rushdie's text through music.


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Source of Activity

I would like to thank Caitlin Stevenson, Liana Cabrera, and Jason Peterson for their support in

devising this lesson. I would also like to thank the makers of Audacity for producing such user-

friendly and effective software and making it available to anyone for free.

Resources and References

Burke, J. The English Teacher's Companion: A complete guide to classroom, curriculum, and

the profession, (3rd ed). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 2007

Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's Children. New York: Penguin, 1991.

Illinois State English Language Arts Goals

2.A.5b Evaluate relationships between and among character, plot, setting, theme, conflict

and resolution and their influence on the effectiveness of a literary piece.

1.B.5c Evaluate a variety of compositions for purpose, structure, content and details for

use in school or at work.

These standards will be achieved not only in the student's ability to demonstrate their

knowledge of the text, but the connections that they draw between the text and the songs will

demonstrate their ability to utilize techniques of literary analysis to non-literary media.


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Saleem Sinai's Infinite Playlist

Now that we have finished reading Book One of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children,

we are going to work together as a class to design the perfect musical soundtrack to accompany

the story. We will select songs that track the tone, themes, plot, and characters as they progressthrough this opening section of Rushdie's text. What you need to do is:

-Divide yourselves into groups of three with one group of four. Each group will be assigned a

chapter of the text.

-Select a song that you feel best represents the chapter you have been assigned. Try to be creative

and think of unique and original songs that connect to the chapters in unexpected and interesting

ways. It's very easy to select a run-of-the-mill pop song about love and relate it to Aadam and

Naseem's relationship, but in order to receive full credit, you will need to put a little more

thought into it. Consider a song that represents multiple aspects of the text. Remember the

themes that we have discussed in class: Fate and Determinism, Magical Realism, The IndividualExperience of History, etc.

-Once you have selected your song, select a quote from the text that most directly relates to the

song. Next, write a short description of your song, listing the artist, album, and release date, and

briefly explain how the song is related to the novel and your quote.

-Bring your song to class tomorrow on a CD or jump drive. I can provide those that need them

with writable CDs.

-Tomorrow we will work in the computer lab. You will upload your song to the computer,

import it into Audacity using the instructions provided below.

-You will make an audio recording of yourself reading the quote as well as a second recording of

yourself reading the accompanying description that you have written.

-Mix the recordings together with your song so that the quote leads into the song which is

followed by your description. Be sure to use "Fade" and other audio effects where necessary to

enhance the aesthetics of your recording.

-As a group, share your final recordings with one another and decide on the order of songs that

would work best for your chapter. Will you arrange things thematically or chronologically? The

choice is up to you.

-Send the final recordings and the order as email attachments to me. If the files are too large to fit

in an email, we will use the jump drive to transfer them.

-Finally, write a short reflection about this process. Did it help you to better understand the text?Did it make you consider anything that you had not thought about before? Would you

recommend that we do this project again? What would you change about this assignment?

Once all of the playlists are in, I will construct a master playlist that we can play during silent

reading or individual work activities. I will also make it available on MP3 CDs to students upon

request.


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Audacity Instructions

Upload the song to the computer desktop using iTunes or Windows Media Player.

Open Audacity and click on File > Import > Audio.

Select the file from the desktop.

Use the red button to record. The Selection Tool allows you to highlight sections of audio so

that you can copy, cut, or apply effects. The Time Shift Tool allows you to move audio

chronologically.

Grading Rubric: 17 points Total

All components (Quote, Song, Description) are present and arranged properly. 3 points

Connection between the song and text is both clearly defined and properly explained: 5points

Selection of the song and its connection are creative and show serious consideration: 4 points

The mixed audio sounds good. The volume of all components are balanced and the pieces do not

sound distorted or crackly: 2 points

The vocally delivery is strong. The speaker obviously rehearsed before recording. Their voicedid not falter too much. They sounded confident and enthusiastic in their presentation: 3 points

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