Tuesday, June 7, 2011
If I Die Young....
For an assignment in an English class in a high school where YouTube is not banned, students need to find a song they like, play the YouTube in class, and then analyze the song as poetry. For instance, they have to find examples of alliteration, metaphors, similes, personification, and so forth. What value do you see in an assignment like this one? Does it suggest YouTube should be banned in schools? This is a song, "If I Die Young," with the YouTube, that one student chose, and she will be doing her oral presentation analysis in class tomorrow. Do you think it is a waste of time for students to analyze song lyrics and play a YouTube of it in class? Would you have enjoyed this assignment when you were a high school student?
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5 comments:
I have done a similar assignment. Using songs as poetry sometimes draws in students that may not like poetry, or think poetry is too difficult for them. Songs also shows that poetry is in more places than in books.
I think using music and watching music videos on YouTube is an excellent way to teach poetry because it allows students to make a connection between the content and their interests. Too often students become bored with poetry because they have difficulty understanding the language or are unable to see why something written a hundred years ago is worthy of reading today. Therefore, if watching a current and appropriate music video on YouTube allows students to practice identifying poetic devices then why wouldn’t you use it!?
When I read that a teacher used this song to teach poetry I was not surprised. Not only do the lyrics possess poetic language, but at the end of the video the young woman is laying down in the canoe with a book titled, Tennyson. Tennyson was a famous poet during the Victoria era and the fact that the producer of the video chose to incorporate this subtle detail into the video would make for an interesting discussion. This just enforces the fact that viewing appropriate material on YouTube can truly be educational and beneficial.
Interesting point, Melissa, about Tennyson. Actually, each student in the class selected his or her own song to use. This song was selected by one of the students in the class who discussed the song with me and rehearsed her presentation. As a 9th grader, the student probably did not know of Tennyson, but perhaps after the student presented, the teacher noted that. By the end of the unit of study, students will have heard as many songs as there are students in class, with each song analyzed as a piece of poetry. The teacher was approving all the videos in advance, and the YouTubes are to be broadcast from her computer, so there is some safety precautions involved. Students send the links to the selected YouTube to the teacher.
I think that this a great way for students to get involved in class. When I was in high school my English Teacher would pull out sound lyrics when we were working on a unit on poetry. This is the same concept, just a more modernized version of that lesson. Students of all ages know how to access Youtube, and it can be used a great resource if used correctly. I think that in an assignment like this one Youtube would be a great tool to ultilize.
When it comes to potery, I can't make any sense of it. Some may have this same difficulty, as I have. With the Youtube option, I think many students might gain an understanding of the material they might have missed if not taught to them using this important resource.
I have also used song lyrics in a poetry unit or even to inspire story writing with students. As I am exploring all of the ways that technology can improve what we already do in the classroom, I have realized that cell phones and tablets would be such an asset to our classrooms. Judy said that she puts many precautions into place with such an activity, and I guess it depends on the grade level. I think that discussing appropriate class guidelines in using technology for academic purposes, as well as the district policy (which recommends suspension for severe offenses in town where I teach) would be the starting point before such an activity. Afterward, I would probably let my high school students use their cell phones, ipods, and other devices to access song lyrics (while monitoring, of course). That way the computer labs are left open for students writing papers and completing research. What do all of you think? Is this the future of education? Using cell phones to access youtube for academic purpose.
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