Using Music to Teach English Language Arts

Using Music to Teach English Language Arts

I was recently excited to learn that March is Music in Our Schools Month. I am a big fan of music in the classroom, and I think that all subject area instructors, not just music teachers, should plan something to celebrate this month.

English language arts teachers can use music to help improve literacy. When teachers present students with a variety of texts and forms of expression, including song lyrics, it helps validates students’ own literacies and make them more willing to work on their reading skills. Students can find meaning in song lyrics and apply that skill to fiction texts. English teachers can also use music to engage students in lessons on literary devices such as figurative language, tone, and mood.

Here are some more specific ideas from the National Council of Teachers of English on how to bring music into the ELA classroom.

• Use hip-hop to teach literacy. The article, “Shades of Literacy: Hip-Hop as Authentic Poetry,” from Voices from the Middle, explains how hip-hop can have a role in middle-school literacy instruction. The English Journal article ,“Writing for Something: Essays, Raps, and Writing Preferences,” talks about how to bring hip-hop to the high-school level—for example, a student can write an essay and a rap on the same subject.
  
• Have students make a soundtrack for a book they have read. The ReadWriteThink.org lesson, “On a Musical Note: Exploring Reading Strategies by Creating a Soundtrack,” has students decide what songs would be appropriate for the soundtrack of a novel they’ve read in class; students have to justify their choices. The assignment has students thinking critically about aspects of the book such as characterization, tone, and mood.
  
• Teaching Metaphor through music. ReadWriteThink.org’s lesson “Stairway to Heaven: Examining Metaphor in Popular Music” teaches students how to illustrate and explain metaphors they find in music lyrics. Students then make connections between this music and the literature they’re reading in class. I’ve done this kind of lesson before, and it does capture students' interest! The challenge is finding songs that students like and that have clean lyrics you can use in a classroom. Also, I remember that when I was a student teacher, I had students compare the lyrics to the Dixie Chicks song “Wide Open Spaces” to the lyrics of “Overprotected” by Britney Spears. Students talked about how the theme of wanting to break free from one's parents was covered by both songs but handled in different styles. And the teacher I was working with at the time did a lesson using Meatloaf’s "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" and Chekhov’s play “The Proposal.” Students compared the frenetic pace, rhythm, and themes of these pieces.
  

For additional ideas on how to incorporate music into the ELA classroom, check out the book From Dylan to Donne: Bridging English and Music by Brock Dethier

--Lauren