Soundtracking Your Life

As promised, a continuation of yesterday's post about soundtracks. Teachers, you're going to love this. I've written before about the private school I worked at early in my teaching career. Besides the great people, one of the best things about that job was I got to teach all subjects and integrate them whenever and however I wanted. I was guided by the state standards but I made my own academic plan. I did a ton of thematic teaching, and sometimes I just took concepts and skills I thought went well together and created multidisciplinary lessons to engage my students. Because back then, teachers were trusted and allowed to do what they thought was good for kids. Here's the evolution of my soundtracking lesson and what we actually did with it:

Throughout my career, I have found students have learned a lot of the same historical ideas and events over and over. Yes, at each level there may be more depth. But essentially U.S. History classes beginning from the Civil War, often do not get to modern history before the school year ends. Let me tell you something. Kids want to learn about modern history. They can look up "really old stuff" in a book, but they want to hear about the time their great grandparents and grandparents lived- in some cases their parents too. Lucky for me, I did not have a blow by blow academic plan like they do in public school, and EOCs did not yet exist in Florida. I had the freedom to bounce a little (all teachers should have this freedom) and I decided to hook them in with what they wanted for a unit.

1. It all started with timelining. We explored modern history, and then looked at recent history and current events from just before they were born, to present time. (For my teacher friends who can't help themselves to ask, social studies skills in reading a timeline, chronology, primary sources- among other things.)  They wrote down the year they were born, and the current year, and created a two tier timeline of things going on in the world and things going on in America.
2. Next, they did some deeper research about the events they selected for their timeline, and wrote brief summaries. Sometimes they found connections between events going on in America and events going on in other parts of the world Are you catching the additional social studies connections here?
3. Throughout the research phase, we all engaged in quite a bit of discussion. The authentic kind. Like when a student reads something, or finds something out, or questions something, and we all stop what we're doing and engage in a discussion. Remember the elephants in the classroom from the article I wrote about in my post, I Agree from a couple of days ago? Most real learning happens informally. This is the kind of learning that went on in my classroom daily, because no one was forcing a pacing guide on me or scheduling all my assessments for me.
4. Once the research was done and the dates and summaries were completed, students physically created their timelines and added a third tier. The third tier would be significant events in their own lives. Most of them began with the day they were born, others included earlier dates of when their parents met. As short as their lives might have seemed, they had a tough time selecting events. Some of them found once they selected personal events in their own lives, they wanted to go back and revise their world and country timelines to reflect things that happened at the same time as their personal events. This was a true learning experience for them as they sought after their place in the world during these events. They got outside their own lives and connected to what else was going on around them.
5. When the three tiered timelines were completed, I asked students to try and remember music associations with these events and other significant times in their lives. I asked them to list songs, albums, and artists they loved and try think about why they liked the music so much. Then I asked them to consider if any of the music was associated with certain experiences, people, or times in their lives. We thought about songs we might not like and how they may also exist on our soundtracks because whether we actually liked the songs or not, they seemed to be an important part of the soundtrack. I gave them a limit of 15 songs, and they had to be able to explain beyond "because I like it" as a reason to include it on their soundtracks. By the way, I did not prohibit them from selecting songs with explicit lyrics. This was a choice I made not to censor them. However, they knew they would not be able to play those songs aloud in the classroom, as the language might offend others. 
6. Finally, when the deliberation was over and they were able to compile a list of just the right songs, they had to write a brief paragraph for each one, explaining the significance of the song or a reason why it was included on their life soundtrack. They peer reviewed, I conferenced with them multiple times, and they revised throughout the process. After final edits, the timeline, the list of songs, and the written explanations would be put together for a final presentation. I told them if they had the music, they should bring it in for their presentation. But I did not require them to purchase any music, and I forbade them from illegally downloading it (think back, those were the days of Napster & Lime Wire).
7. The last requirement was to present the timeline, the music and a few of the notes about the music. But for extra credit (one of the very few times I actually offered extra credit- and with today's technology I would make this a requirement), I suggested students create jewel cases (yes, for CD's) with an album cover, a song list, and liner notes. The cover could be anything creative to title the project, and the liner notes would be excerpts from what they wrote about each song. The projects were truly fantastic and the kids learned so much about each other and different kinds of music. They also learned quite a bit about the role music played in their lives and how songs can just place us in certain moments in time. Additionally, there was an "ah huh" moment when the kids made the connection between significant events in the world and the popularity of certain music.

I can only imagine the artwork and designs that would come from students today, with so much technology at their fingertips for creating. This project was so much fun for this class, and they learned so many different things along the way. For students with language-based struggles, asking them to write about things they care about made for some of the best writing they had ever done. I'm pretty sure no one opted out. I can't say for certain. And true confessions: In order to prepare for the project, I did one of my own and I had a ball creating my own soundtrack. I'm not sure it would be the same today, if I did it again. Perhaps, a volume 2 instead?

I'll tell you what. I love creative projects and I love when kids are engaged in learning. This was one of the best lessons I ever did with high school students. Give it try, won't you?  

Here's one that made the cut on my Volume 1. It's a staple for a University of Miami grad, though I have to say I was never really a fan of the band or the song. It's a part of me forever, like it or not.

P.S. These are the students who gave me my email username, Rockinteach. That's how new email was. It started as my AIM screen name!