No Music = No LifeKnow Music = Know Life

Julie Byard, ELA 9th

Dorman H.S. Freshman Campus

A Lack of Learning: What’s Going On…In Our Rooms?

Counting the ceiling tiles Bathroom breaks Doodling Zoning Jack Sparrow Effect

In Our Rooms (Cont)

Learning Disabilities ADD ADHD Autism Apathy

They’re Not Gonna Take It…So What Do We Do?

Bury our heads in the sand… Stifle their complaints… Roll with the punches and try something

new…

Musical Detours: We Built This Classroom on Rock ‘n’ Roll.

When we run into roadblocks, do not abandon the path, rather find a new route

Music: the motivator, the connector—THE ANSWER

Music in Action: Come on Feel The Noise.

Rationale: – In her article published this past June, Margena Christian

cites Dr. Deforia Lane’s view that, “We are wired to respond to music. In the womb, we hear the rhythmic ticking of our mother’s heartbeat.”

– Within the same article, Neurologist Oliver Sacks concurs: “In addition to improving movement and speech, music can trigger the release of mood-altering brain chemicals and once lost memories and emotions.”

Rationale (Cont)

Health field utilizes music:– “Music therapy is an established healthcare

profession that uses song to address the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of patients, no matter their age” (Christian 98).

Rationale (Cont)

From the health field to the classroom:– While working with Jimmy, a nine-year-old

diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Dr. Martha Summa-Chadwick discovered that music helped with attention control: focused attention, sustained attention, selective attention, alternating attention, and divided attention. (40)

Rationale (Cont)

From severe disorders to hyper kids:– Susan Hallam and John Price completed a case

study with students identified as hyperactive found the following:

The introduction of background music “significantly lowered” the disruptive behavior in a class while simultaneously improving performance on Math tasks.

The introduction of “calming” music had the greatest effect on those children labeled “hyperactive” (90).

Teaching is a Highway…

My personal roadblock—Classical Texts:– “Like the study of geometry or the study of

physics, the study of literature is demanding of the reader. That is no reason to abandon it” (Jago 5).

– “Teachers don’t need to shy away from challenging work because they fear students won’t be able to do it” (Ray 91).

If You’re Going My Way…

My personal detour—Music:– “Music is universal and motivational. Motivation

leads to engagement and engagement leads to achievement” (Goering/Burenheide 7)

– “Let the lyrics of pop tunes provide the enticement and the melody then allow the works of the literary canon provide the footing and the foundation.” (Goering et al. 7)

Reality: Sad But True

Nowadays students increasingly fight any reading experience longer than a text message…Novels and even novellas at times confound the present generation of young readers, students coming into maturity fully wired to digital sound and text. (Goering et al 3)

Ray of Hope: Somewhere Over The Literary Rainbow…

Rarely do teenagers go without music. Whether it is in their cars, at home, or even on a portable player, music serves as the universal background to almost all adolescent lives.

When lyrics are used in the classroom, “they inspire critical thinking skills as they open thoughtful connections to the ‘classic’ novels, plays, poems, and essays that presently dominate the curriculum” (Goering 34)

Combining Passions: It Takes Two Baby to Make a Lesson Come True.

Types of literary/musical connections per Goering:– A song inspired by literature directly

– A song connects to a text thematically– A song’s setting connects to the setting of a literary work– Characters in a song mirror the characters from the literary

work– The tone of a song is similar to the tone of a piece of

literature– A song’s plot structure or narrative follows that of a literary

work

Practical Application: I Can See Clearly Now The Rain is Gone.

Thematic approach to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird—taken from Goering’s LitTunes website

Intertextuality— “The theory that readers are constantly connecting past texts to current texts during the act of reading” (Goering et al 8).

In her “Make a Little Music” article, Rae Pica asserts that “Both music and language arts consist of symbols and ideas; when the two content areas are used in combination, abstract concepts become more concrete” (74).

TKM’s Themes

1: Social Inequality—Judgments made by a society based on race, class, and other social traits (e.g., mental health).

2: Political Inequality—Political structures that support inequality, unequal application of the laws (e.g.,Jim Crow).

3: Moral Character—The commitment to live one’s convictions, as Atticus does.

4: Loss of Childhood Innocence—Development of the ability to experience life from the perspective of others.

Step by Step: Oh, Baby Gonna Get to The Theme

Whole class observations -- “Don’t Laugh at Me”

Group analysis Discussion—what did you see in regard to

theme? Putting it all together—text to text

connections (intertextuality)

Don’t Stop Believin’…Hold On to That Learnin’.

5 minute reflection & share: How could this work in your classrooms?

Ideas--

Resources that Rock

LitTunes: Free database with songs and literary connections

The Green Book of Songs by Subject: online subscription or hardcopy. 2,200 song topics; 116,000 tracks

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: information for classroom application and lesson plans

Final Thought…

NO MUSIC = NO LIFE

KNOW MUSIC = KNOW LIFE

Works Cited

Christian, Margena A. "sound therapy." Ebony 65.8 (2010): 98. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 June 2010

Goering, Christian. “Music and the Personal Narrative: The Dual Track to Meaningful Writing.” The Quarterly 26:4, (December 2004)

Goering, C. Z. & Burenheide, B. (2010). “Exploring the role of music in secondary English and history classrooms through Personal Practice Theory. SRATE Journal, information forthcoming.

Goering, C. Z., Collier, K., Koenig, S., O'berski, J. O., Pierce, S., & Riley, K. (2009). Musical Intertextuality in Action: A Directed Reading of Of Mice and Men. In Michael J. Meyer (Ed.), Essential criticism of Of Mice and Men. Lanham, MD:

Scarecrow.

Works Cited (Cont)

Hallam, Susan, and John Price. "Can the use of background music improve the behaviour and academic performance of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties?." British Journal of Special Education 25.2 (1998): 88. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 June 2010.

Jago, Carol. Classics in the Classroom: Designing Accessible Literature Lessons. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2004. Print.

Pica, Rae. "Make a Little Music." YC: Young Children 64.6 (2009): 74-75. Education Research Complete. EBSCO. Web. 15 June 2010.

Ray, Katie Wood. Study Driven. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2006. Print. Summa-Chadwick, Martha. "The Power of Music." Exceptional Parent

39.7 (2009): 38-42. Education Research Complete.EBSCO. Web. 12 June 2010.