Post by Sunday, Dec. 20th; respond to each classmate by Tuesday, Dec. 22nd. at midnight.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Blog #2
After watching the three videos (Same Love by Macklemore, Truly Brave mash-up by Bareilles/Lauper, and People Like Us by Clarkson), I want you to pose at least two questions for the group about what you heard and saw, and I want you to come up with one lesson idea (written up in purely idea format; i.e. I could teach a lesson on making connections by having the students list personal connections they have to some lyric in one of the songs – you can get a little more specific and for younger kids, you’d provide a much stricter guideline). Examples of questions: How could you use this/these song(s) in your class/content area – target it to a specific content area. Your goal: What deeper messages are at play in the songs and how could you use this to get kids to think/write/react? When might you use one or all of these songs in your classroom? Why would you use one or all of these songs in your classroom? Be specific and answer ALL questions!
Post by Sunday, Dec. 20th; respond to each classmate by Tuesday, Dec. 22nd. at midnight.
Post by Sunday, Dec. 20th; respond to each classmate by Tuesday, Dec. 22nd. at midnight.
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Questions:
ReplyDelete1.For the first song, “Same Love” how would you as the teacher, explain the meaning of the song if a student of yours didn’t quite understand the concept of being “gay.” I question this because if some students hadn’t heard of this or if they aren’t comfortable about talking to their parents about it, then you might be their next trusted source and get several questions from your students.
2.IF you had a situation where a student had lost a brother, sister, or loved one to cancer, how would you handle the emotion that might come from showing the video “Truly Brave”?
Lesson Idea:
I could teach a fifth grade lesson on how all students are exceptional in their own way. I could start by asking students what exceptionalities they think they have and what makes them different from one another. Then I could show the video “Truly Brave,” and have the students silently think for a few minutes after the video. After the students have had time for the video to sink in, I could ask them how they can relate their exceptionalities to the video and what verse in the song really sticks out to them or what scene they believe makes the children in the video, exceptional. This would be a good way to explain that just because a child might be ill (or have another exceptionality), they are still children that want to have just as much fun as all other children and they should all be treated equally.
My goal:
The message of the song Same Love is that everyone is equal and needs to be treated that way. At first the boy in the video thought he was going to be judged for being different so he was questioning it but then once he realized that people were going to love him regardless, he became himself and ended up marrying a man with all of his family and friends there at the wedding. I wouldn’t show this exact song in my classroom only because I am doing elementary and I am not sure that it is completely appropriate. The second songs meaning to me meant that children with cancer and any other medical problem need to be given any opportunity they can to get out and have the childhood experience they should be having and not tied up to machines all the time. I loved that song and it really makes me miss nursing and being able to give children these memories that they will hold onto forever. I could get my students to react to this song by finding a specific lyric that they can relate a personal experience to. Maybe they will have an exceptionality that has kept them from doing “regular” kid activities that they felt was not fair. This would be a good time to discuss this. The third song People Like Us gave me about the same message as the Truly Brave song. A little girl who was possibly ill was broke out of the hospital by Kelly Clarkson and brought to a beautiful view of the world. When doctors showed up to get her there was a whole group of people not letting them take her back to the hospital. With this song I could have students think of where they would bring the girl if they had one chance to let her have a fun experience. This would be a good idea to bring back ideas to students of fun things they have gotten to experience so they can see that they have had a good life so far and need to be thankful for everything they have because their life could always be much worse (like the girls life in the video). I would use the last two songs in my classroom like explained above but I would have to find a song that has along the same meaning of “Same Love” just with a different exceptionality.
Your probing question about the concept "gay" and if students didn't understand that concept yet is something that is common and hard for teachers. A lot of newer songs are focused around different concepts that are above students head or are inappropriate for students to learn about in school setting. This I believe is what makes it hard for teachers to play music in the classrooms in today's society. I really like your lesson idea over exceptionalities that the students all have and have them talk about it.
DeleteMy answer to both of your questions is pretty similar. Teaching at the high school level, the students can grasp the meaning of both issues so that brings up another set of concerns if one were to show theses videos in the classroom setting. There may be some students that are or have experienced either of these and will shut down in any discussion verbally or written. The students at this age too tend to speak their mind a little more than perhaps a grade school student so that could lead to someone saying something causing hurt feelings or feeling of being bullied. One of my classroom rules is that everyone should treat others as if they were their brother or sister, parent or grandparents (in relations to teachers/subs). I feel everyone tends to stick up for their family and if they have that outlook on others then it tends to make them treat one another with more respect. So with that classroom rule, I would hope I wouldn't have any issues of someone saying something offensive but I am also not naive enough to know it won't. We had an incident just recently where a high school student killed another student and her sister. Some of my students were friends with those involved and it makes it very challenging to think of every emotion they are experiencing and to be sensitive on everything you say, even just asking them to focus on their work. So addressing very controversial issues is a hard to do. I do like your lesson plan and think that will provide many benefits! I had my computer applications students do an excel project on stats of anything of their choice and apply the functionality of excel they had learned. I then had them share that with the class and although my objective was to have them demonstrate what they have learned and see the variety of mastery, something else happened. We saw what interested each student and it opened conversation of common interests between the students that they did not realize existed thus forming new bonds.
DeleteIn Macklemore and Ryan Lewis song Same Love there are many connections students could make. For a lesson idea a teacher could do with this song is have the students write a journal write-up on a social issue they wish they could change and why. This song focuses on marriage equality to all and how he feels the society views gay relationships. Students could focus on all different topics they wish they could change and why and pair to discuss the two they chose and which one they would like to share with the class. This song is focused around a hard topic for some students so how could you use it in the classroom focused on the main idea rather than the individual feelings of students. Also, what other messages are found in the song other then marriage equality?
ReplyDeleteIn Sara Bareilles, Cyndi Lauper and Hoda Kotb’s song Truly Brave it focuses on many different songs about differences children may have and how they live with those differences being brave. These children in the music video are in the hospital for all individual difference but they come together and have a paint party being brave while going through a hard time. A lesson you could tie into this video is having student’s research different songs and their meaning and tie those lyrics together. The students can pull lyrics for multiple songs that go with on underlining main meaning. How do the two different songs relate to each other? Also, although the songs were written by different people at different times how can students use this as a connection to their individual differences but how they all connect back to each other.
In Kelly Clarkson’s song People Like Us she focuses on the struggles we all face but “keeping your head up nothing least forever”. A teacher can connect this song to a lesson in the classroom by having the students do team building activities and how they have to stick together in order to succeed and try different ways that might not seem the best to them in order to get to the top and finish the activities. What might students take away from this song with the underlining meaning of sticking together? Also, how can we as teachers and pre-service teachers build an environment of students working together in a community?
I like your idea of turning that first song, "Same Love" into having the students find their own social issue that they wish they could change. This takes the focus off of marriage equality which could cause some disturbance in the classroom if not handled properly.
DeleteIn the Macklemore song I had really only thought of it as a sing of homosexuality but after viewing the video, I did see it more as standing up for your beliefs. And I could see that theme in the other two videos, maybe not so much with beliefs as it is standing up for yourself. I really liked the lesson plan idea of a team building exercise. I had been looking at the individuality aspects of all the songs and haven't thought of them in the team aspect.
DeleteGroup questions:
ReplyDelete1. I've heard these songs before but had not seen the videos. After watching the videos some of my thoughts regarding the messages of the songs changed. Did that happen for either of you as well as we were given the visual message of what the artist was wanting to convey? Could we use this as an exercise for teaching literacy to our students? Perhaps have them read lyrics to a song then write or discuss reflections, then listen to the song and reflect and then watch the video and reflect. It would be interesting to compare the reflection differences.
2. I saw and heard a common theme of standing up for your beliefs and who you are in each of these songs/videos. Did you see those theme as well and did you see any other common themes?
Lesson idea:
Using the "True Colors/Be Brave" mashup in my Personal Finance class when we discuss career choices and goals. Our school district has an over 70% free and reduced lunch rate population. I feel a lot of our students don't see the hope and desire for post secondary education because of their surroundings. Hearing what some of these students have gone through in their personal lives has amazed me. I would say the students that have a traditional, stable home life is a minority. Many are raised by grandparents, single family homes, or extended family. I feel a desire to not only teach the students but also to try to inspire the students to look at the bigger picture and to push themselves to improve their situations. The words in this song as well as "People Like Us" both speak of overcoming adversity. I would center the lesson around these songs to inspire the students to really think about what career they really want to pursue, is it a viable choice for them (I.e. Are they capable of performing the duties of the profession), what steps can they take to achieve the short term goals needed to achieve the long term goal of their career choice, and how are they going to tackle road blocks (be brave!)
I felt the same way about watching the videos. I am glad I had the opportunity to actually watch these videos because it really makes you get into the song and realize what it's really about. I believe when asking students to relate to a song it is best for them to watch the video so they can really get a feel for it.
DeleteI like how you pointed out the common theme of standing up for your beliefs. While listening and watching these music videos I found it so interesting because they are all song I have heard of ans sang along to but never broke them down to think about their meanings and how they connect. I love the ideas of using them in the classroom for a literacy assignment. My idea is doing journalism after listening to a song and see what connections the students are finding.
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