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There’s Poetry in Those Lyrics:
Mary J. Blige is Just Fine
Name___________________ Artist’s name:___________________
Song title:__________________________________
Assignment: To provide a reader response to the lyrics of one of your favorite songs and present your findings to the class. This is a THREE part assignment.
1. Provide a 2-3 page reader response essay to the lyrics of your chosen song. This should be done similarly to what we did together in class with Mary J. Blige’s Just Fine.
2. Embed the music video and post your essay to your blog.
3. Give a 5-7 minute presentation in which you will be able to show a clip of your selected video and explain your analysis of the song lyrics.
Instructions:
Choose your favorite music video/song
a. Your song/video must be appropriate to view in a classroom setting.
b. Find the lyrics by conducting a search on Youtube.com, Mtv.com, BET.com, VH1.com or any other reliable source that you are aware of.
c. Print the song lyrics (double-spaced)
No vulgar language, nudity or depictions of drug use will be allowed. If you are unsure please see me to discuss your choice.
Some questions to consider:
What does this song mean? Is the title appropriate for the content?
What or who is this song about? How do you know? Why did you choose this song? How does it speak to you? Is there a certain message being conveyed? What is the mood or tone of the song? What genre of music is your selection from? Does it remind you of a special person, place or thing? How do the actions in the video measure up to the actual lyrics of the song? Do they seem to make logical sense? Why or why not?
*Please correct any grammatical or punctuation errors or deletions. Think about how this may have an effect on the overall tone, style and meaning of the song.
*Look for the use of literary devices as studied in our unit on poetry. If you are unsure of what these are, please refer to the poetry handbook that was given to you at the beginning of the unit. (metaphor, simile, alliteration, etc.)
You will be graded on:
Class participation 10%
Reader response essay 50%
Oral/video presentation 40% Written assignment due: 1 week from today (Fri)
Oral presentation: Begin Monday after the written
assignment is due
Grade: Ninth
Subject matter: This lesson will be taught in direct correlation with our unit on poetry.
I am a true believer that students will only read or learn what they are truly interested in. As such, adolescents are quite interested in their music and MP3 players these days. Relating all song lyrics as poetry is a concept that some students may indeed not be aware of. There is indeed poetry in music! Perhaps students may not have ever looked at poetry in that regard. This lesson will show how modern music—hip hop, R&B or rock (or other genres) can be used to mirror poetry and teach the fundamentals of what makes a poem a poem through the use of literary devices, meter, verse, rhyme, etc.. It is my hope that students will come away from this assignment with a better understanding and appreciation of how poetry (as music) really does play in important part in our lives.
At the point of this assignment, my students will have been studying poetry, literary devices and grammar and should be able to have fun with this assignment while composing the essay since they will get to choose a song that they personally feel a connection with for one reason or another. We will have conducted a reader response as a group of the lyrics to Mary J. Blige’s Just Fine.
Mary J. Blige is an artist that most students either have heard of or are familiar with the name or her music. This is a very positive song in that it is all about self-love, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-acceptance and having a positive attitude no matter what problems or circumstances may come our way. Adolescents are so self-centered and self-conscious and can greatly benefit from the message in this song.
Some possible challenges would be students choosing inappropriate song lyrics or video due to explicit content. I will combat this challenge by assisting those students in choosing a more appropriate song for classroom purposes. Another possible challenge might be that students do not have internet access at home. I will allow time during class for these students to go to the media center to print their song lyrics and search for the accompanying video for the song.
Georgia Performance Standards:
ELA9RC4 The student establishes a context for information acquired by reading across subject matters. The student
a) Explores life experiences related to subject area content.
b) Discusses in both writing and speaking how certain words and concepts relate to multiple subjects
c) Determines strategies for finding content and contextual meaning for unfamiliar words
or concepts.
ELA9RC2 The student participates in discussions related to curricular learning in all subject areas. The student
a) Identifies messages and themes from books in all subject areas.
b) Responds to a variety of texts in multiple modes of discourse.
c) Relates messages and themes from one subject area to those in another area.
d) Examines the author’s purpose in writing.
ELA9RL2 The student identifies, analyzes and applies knowledge of theme in literary works from various genres and provides evidence from the works to support understanding. The student
a) Applies knowledge of the concept that the theme or meaning of a selection represents a universal view or comment on life or society and provides support from the text for the identified theme.
b) Evaluates how an author’s choice of words advances the theme or purpose of a work.
c) Applies knowledge of the concept that a text can contain more than one theme.
d) Compares and contrasts the presentation of a theme or topic across genres and explains how the selection of genre affects the delivery of universal ideas about life and society.
ELA9RC2 The student participates in discussions related to curricular learning in all subject areas. The student
e) Identifies messages and themes from books in all subject areas.
f) Responds to a variety of texts in multiple modes of discourse.
g) Relates messages and themes from one subject area to those in another area.
h) Examines the author’s purpose in writing.