About
Are you ready to bring popular music into your classroom?
OVERVIEW:
Because music is such a powerful motivator and such an important component of children's lives, it is essential to integrate music and music videos into classroom discussion and analysis with children ages 9 and up. There are many ways to approach the analysis of music videos depending on your students and your lesson goals. You might try screencasting, the process of recording your computer screen with a simultaneous voiceover. This allows your students to comment on music and music videos with planned or spontaneous analysis.
1. Start with Experience. Watch the video, Pink Stupid Girls excerpt. Use small group discussion to analyze the message using these question:
- How did this video make you feel?
- What is the overall main message of this video?
- Who is the author and what is the purpose of this video?
- What techniques are used to attract and hold attention?
- What aspects of this video do you like or dislike?
What's Appropriate and Inappropriate: Discuss the agreed-upon but often unspoken rules for what types of content can be shared in a particular context or situation. Why do such social norms exist? Why might educators want to explore media content in the classroom even though to some it might be considered inappropriate? What are some potential positive and negative consequences?
2. Explore Examples to Consider Adaptation to Learners and Contexts. View Rap Screencast 1, a short student-produced screencast, where students use a voice-over to comment on a sample from a rap music video. Notice the children's language use and ideas. Then watch Rap Screencast 2 and PVK Unity Screencast.
Compare and Contrast: After viewing, explore some similarities and differences you notice among the examples. Discuss: What do you like best about these screencasts? What value do they have for the kids who created them? What value do they have for viewers?
3. Compose, Create and Take Action. Review the Lesson Plan, Screencasting the Critical Questions. Then use the Pink Stupid Girls Excerpt and have teams of students make a commentary screencast using voice-over to capture their responses to the video. Conclude by sharing warm and cool feedback about each production.
GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
- What are the benefits or challenges of students analyzing popular music?
- How should teachers deal with students' different responses to popular music used in the classroom?
- What music might be appropriate or inappropriate in the classroom? How does your understanding on inappropriateness similar or different from your students'?
