The basics in education are important, no doubt, but students are growing up in a time where one can continually be connected to the world, and all it has to offer, from the touch of a finger on a small portable device. This means students can bring their culture, music, interests everywhere and anywhere, even in school. It is a reality that students have iPods, mp3 players, and other mobile devices on them at all times that play their music, connect them to popular culture, and the world. Since students are constantly connected, and obviously interested in popular music, why then shouldn’t educators jump at the opportunity to use these interests to intrinsically motivate students in traditional, subjects? Why shouldn’t educators use student’s prior knowledge of popular music as a way to improve the “basic skills” and meet the standards our education is based on? Here I will discuss how bring youth culture into classrooms will help students to achieve the standards and move beyond.
Educators have a great opportunity. They have something students are already extremely invested in on a daily basis – music. Right before us, students don’t hesitate to pop in their ear buds during passing time. Often times I hear students discussing new music and comparing/debating about whether or not the new X-men movie is worth seeing. Listening to these conversations between students, an educator can see the high level of skills students are already using. Students are using argumentative language without even knowing it. This Arguespeak, as Gerald Graff (2003) calls it, is something that students do naturally with mediums they are most comfortable with, music and popular culture. Students may not be completely aware of the skills and high level of thinking they are engaged in, but that’s where educators come in. We can jump on this opportunity to show students what they already know, how to argue about music, and how they can use those new skills towards literature or how to use those skills in writing argumentative essays. In this case, the popular music provides a middle ground for students to learn the academic language of what they are doing, and understand how what they are doing is a high level of thinking.
As students are already familiar with music, music can also be used to introduce students to issues, themes, and events that occur in literature to help improve their comprehension of various texts. Music often tells stories, expresses the voice of a generation, shows different point of views on events, expresses emotion, and much more. In schools, we can use music to introduce students to historical eras, to prompt students to think about issues and themes in literature, and to helps students see different viewpoints. In this case music acts as a scaffolding mechanism. Students can use a medium they are well accustomed to in order to discuss issues and themes and build a knowledge base before applying the themes to literature and other texts. Jumping into a text with this prior knowledge will help students in better comprehending a medium that is not as big a part of their lives as we hope.
During my student teaching experience I used music as a way for students to gain a better understanding of a theme – identity. During this time students read a memoir about a boy growing up with an identity crisis as his mother was white and he was black. To help students think deeply about identity and bring the unit to a personal level, I incorporated popular music. Students were to bring in a song of their choosing, play the song, explain what the song means, how they connect to the song, and a way it relates to the book. This allows students to bring the topic of study to a personal level, make a connection between the song and the book being studied, and use analytical skills. This activity proved to be very motivating for students as it gave them the opportunity to bring in their own culture and learn more about one another while learning more about the topic being studied. This activity also helped students get a better feel for the unit topic, identity, as they used music to form their own identity. Doing this activity allowed following discussions on identity to be more involved as students had personal connections and a prior knowledge base to draw from. Had I not done this activity and jumped directly into discussion about identity, I feel students would have had a difficult time grasping an idea as big as identity as they had no personal tangible experience from which to base their discussion.
As you can see, popular music has a place in the English curriculum. Popular music is something the students are already interested in and can be a way educators help students to be interested in traditional academia by introducing themes, ideas, historical events, etc. with music. The students’ natural desire to argue about the best new music can easily translate to making arguments about literature and as a way to formulate student writing. Music can also be an important scaffolding tool as students can explore issues in a medium they are already interested in and familiar with. Incorporating music into the English classroom will help students in having the motivation and interest to develop their skills and meet the standards that are set.
Graff, G. (2003). Clouding the issues. Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind. Yale University Press.
"This is the end..."
15 years ago
I can only think of a few times in my school days where teachers had us bring in our own music. Usually the connection to the lesson was, well, sort of weak, and we didn't really have the opportunity to talk about WHY we chose certain songs over others. Using music as a means to tackle a topic as complex (and even emotional) as identity is a great idea. Not only does it really get students thinking about their choices, but really facilitates a deeper discussion of what "identity" is.
ReplyDelete