Hip-Hop in the Heartland Educators' Conference!

The final schedule was just posted...this summer looks to be a powerful set of intersections--between the Allied Media Conference and this Hip-Hop Ed con, we can explore myriad avenues for using popular culture and media resources in the classroom and for community work.

andSummer Institute Final Schedule09.doc

My students are finishing up a music video project, follow the link for more details...

2009 Student Media Projects

John

See Frank Baker's blog post The Music Instinct: Science & Song on PBS sounds very teachable!

RRG:)

Frank Baker made another blog post re: music I forgot to highlight:
We Need Music to Survive

And remember, if you dig the resources you're finding here please do invite fellow teachers who love to teach with music to join this group. Just click on the

button to bring more musically minded friends into the MC Pop community.

Enjoy! Ry:)

Howdy Pop People!

If you didn't get a chance to check out yesterday's blog/ MJ Lesson Idea Challenge please do take a hot minute to check it out. This experiment - putting raw materials out for lesson plan ideas - is something I'd like to develop further. That being said, your feedback on that post would be helpful since y'all are the pop music people round here :)

Keep things funky!

RRG:)

William S. Burroughs and Kurt Cobain come up in a post in the Graphic Novels and American Lit group here that you might be interested in (audio part at the bottom).

I have a copy of a paper that I co-authored entitled "The message of “The Poverty of Philosophy”: Rap-inspired critical communication in non-minority classrooms" for anyone interested. It provides some background on pedagogy and ideas on how to use it in several contexts.

Lynn, that type of resource is great - you can just feel free to post it in the discussion forum above as that allows ideas and resources to be indexed and searched by those that join after us. Thanks for sharing. Ry:)

Popular music and social studies media projects are finished, posted PSA videos created by public affairs students too...

2009 Student Media Projects

Music fans might get a kick out of this Mythbusters clip in the science group where Adam and Jamie use heavy metal singers and Ella Fitzgerald to discuss and test the myth that it is possible to break glass with he human voice.

Check out this musical learning activity that was inspired by President Obama's back-to-school speech ...

"My Education, My Future"

Jonathan,

Hey man if you want to copy and paste some of your website (the rationale) into a discussion forum above and link out that would be really cool as your wonderful work would be good projects to NOT bury in the comments. As always great work with your MS crew! Thanks for sharing!

One of my favorite Music to Literature resources is Lit Tunes, www.littunes.com . The site has lesson plans and a database of over 600 text to music connections.

Hi, all! Glad to find this group...

I just re-activated the MUSIC blog for my classes here in NH:
http://www.marekbennett.com/music/
It's maybe a little un-pop for this network, focusing mainly on folk traditions and all-ages music, but I'll definitely use this network to add some pop spice now!

Marek - it has been collected in a very pop medium - thus totally pops - thanks for sharing!

Shelbie thank you too for sharing that site - you might also dig this old discussion post...

You collectively rule!!!

RRG:)

Follow up on yesterday's Mr. Duey post - Mr. Duey is now in the MC POP mix! If you like his stuff or want to know more about this work send him a shout out via the Ning! Great to have you here Mr. D!

You might be interested in reading about UNESCO's call for an international Media Literacy Curriculum in the Media Education Discussion Forum - there's also an interesting blurb there about a French proposal to put warning labels on photoshopped models in magazines. Both articles were forwarded to me via Media Literacy Clearinghouse guru and MC Popper Frank Baker.

Enjoy! RRG:)

Hi all! I posted this with the Poetry group, but this could be a great resource for anyone looking to use popular music with collages/remixes/mashups/etc in the classroom:


Enjoy!

Check this out - great geography/US History lesson. After each verse, stop the song and ask the students questions - where are they? why is the schoolmaster writing the letter? why don't they visit? what trouble is Michael in? I found that this gets at their emotions. I used it with 7th graders. GREAT IMMIGRATION lesson! The link below will take you to the lyrics and part of the song, but I believe the musician is Peter James, not Peter Jones.
http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/lyrics/kilkelly.html
I found it on itunes, but not the original musician.

Andrea - cool song...haunting and complicated (for students) narrative - love it.

Frank McCourt would approve :)

If you get a chance you should copy and paste your post into the American History discussion forum so all the history teachers can check it out - you can title it something like "SONG: Immigration / Geography Tune."

Thanks so much for sharing!

RRG:)

Not so teachable, but funny and interesting - check out this art/music project -

What do we sing about, when we sing about the body? The chart below, based on a sample of thousands songs, tells the story. The size of a circle corresponds to how often that part is mentioned in each genre. Click on a genre name to see a close-up that shows exactly what words were used.

http://www.fleshmap.com/listen/music.html

Hey all! So I have to start a Poetry unit to my 10th grade English class and the first lesson is poetry terms that students need to know...I was asked to do a list of 20 Selected Poetry Terms. I was asked to have the kids define them by looking them up in the text and then have them give an example of each, but I think thats kind of basic and boring...does anyone have any suggestions how to spice this up a bit? They are words like Simile, metaphor, speaker, end-stop, ballad, literal, figures of speech, etc...maybe through music or magazines or something more fun?? ... :) Thanks! -Dana

I would love to be able to include music in my classroom. There seem to be many great ideas on how music can be a great tool in the classroom, and I hope to try some of them in the near future.

I am planning on including music in my classroom on a regular basis. I feel like it can sometimes help me to concentrate and i would think that this would also flow over into the way my students would feel.

Siri & Logan - welcome to the Music group - please do take a hot minute to look through the discussion forum above for resources and ideas!

Dana, I actually have a great activity for you to teach lit terms in a fun way - it is two bucks over at the Mindblue store - it is called the Lit Term Game (it is a close relative of the Album Cover Game.

If you decide to pick one or both of those up here's a not so top secret link to a bunch of easy-to-print album covers FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY!

Hope these help!!

RRG:)

I gathered some music resources for parents I discovered recently on the internet, and wrote a post about them on my blog. Some might be useful to teachers in the elementary school.

Hey Terisa just got your broadcast e-mail - remember if you want folks to easily write back on-line you can always post your question above in the discussion forum - that way there is an online archivable thread.

Best source for music biography and reviews (IMHO) is the All Music Guide -

They also have these great genre maps -

from there you can link out to databases like...
British Folk-Rock
British Metal
British Invasion
British Invasion
Psychedelic

And Britpop
Merseybeat
British Blues
Mod
British Psychedelia
Freakbeat
Early British Pop/Rock

Hope this helps!

RRG:)

I always thought RS was a great mag too, but lately their language has gotten so salty. It would make sailors blush at times. So unless I am using only one article, I don't keep it in the classroom. I also like Billboard -- both the mag and the chart books.

That is interesting - I hadn't stopped to think about that trend. Matt Tabbi is a potty mouth, but you know the content is still very solid. I guess people say the same thing about the great writing in Playboy, eh? I guess it depends on the culture of your school/district, right. The strange thing is that the language is more of an issue in their political coverage rather than the music coverage.

I am not sure if the language is more or less the Lowest Common Denom. in political or musical analysis. It can be pretty rich and colourful at times in all areas. However, their point is to be the counter culture, so I guess the language is their ticket into the conversation.

Yeah, but while I'll never forget this line from The Great American Bubble Machine

"The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."

I do think they've probably felt pressure to use "Edgy" language to remain relevant in a Jersey Shore world. What do you think?

Ryan -- Interesting enough, the quote that you point out from the Rolling Stone article about Goldman Sachs is more than just edgy language. In fact, it's directly lifted from Nazi Propaganda against the Jews. Check it out: http://gawker.com/5407876/so-thats-what-a-blood+sucking-vampire-squ...

Apparently Tabbai didn't know the resonance, but has since apologized . . .

Brings up another side of hip and edgy language in journalism, though. The Nazis pioneered dozens of graphic design techniques, and were among the most successful brand-engineers in history...

Andrew - wow - great connection - thanks for sharing that! Ry:)

In my opinion, if you're not watching The Sing-Off...you should be! It's showcases amazing a capella talent which could only be so POPular because of Glee. I only mention it here because there is a jazzy group of music teachers from Seattle still in the competition and last week Ben Folds said "There's nothing cooler than teaching."

Anne, woza - great tip.  If possible could you copy and paste this above in the discussion forum so I can share the video with everyone (as those have URLs) on the week in review? 

RRG:)

Thought you all might enjoy this song about reality TV, by a former bandmate of mine.  At least one of us had some musical talent!

 

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_7720343

David - totally insults my deep passion for Jersey Shore :) Thanks for sharing!

Hi everyone,
I am taking an English course regarding film and media in the secondary classroom. As I ponder ways to capture the attention of my students and connect with what they know, or their culture, rap music a concept I keep coming back to.

I am beginning to create a unit plan that incorporates rap music. However,  besides putting it alongside poetry, I am having a hard time finding a place for it. How else could rap music engage students in a Language arts classroom? Also, would it be appropriate to somehow tie in how gender roles are depicted through rap music/videos?

Make it personal...narrative, I mean! Teaching narrative writing is difficult because students get bogged down with details and pronouns. Music, especially rap, is full of imaginative language. Find mentor lyrics, a line or two from a song, and incorporate them as prompts or examples ofgrammar skills. Select three different artists and have students connect archetypes, references and symbols along with themes in the writing. Ask selected students to read lyrics as prose, first. Approach the lyrics as literature, or a public speech, or a peer example long before you ever play the rap song. Choose an older rap song from the 90's, print in prose style and hide the title. Students experience a disconnect from predetermined musical patterns and you will have a greater opportunity to insert academic skills into the lesson. Then play the song, sort of like a cupcake for dessert.

Hi Emily (and Terisa) - this is a great question. Unfortunately, big questions on the comment wall are not easy for folks to respond to and get buried over time.

Would you consider moving this question above in the discussion forum? When you post your ? above your "affinity group" peeps can give you feedback. Because forum ?s have URLs it will be in there for the next person with a similar ? AND I can broadcast the question to the whole Ning on crowdsource Tuesday.

Thanks to both of you for getting in the mix - as always - please share more cool ?'s and ideas!

RRG:)

Reading your above intro, I understand your love of popular music, but I want to bring back old school sounds, but not the US old school sounds, the British old school sounds..not the obvious, Beatles, but the late 80s into 90s sounds of London, Manchester and Birmingham.  There's a history in those lyrics, from the Hacienda to Nottinghill Festival.  You grew up on Rolling Stone, I learned from Loaded Magazine. 

 

I'm just beginning my career in teaching, how do I bring the British Invasion (Oasis, Blur, Drum & Bass) to the classroom?

Wynter, First connect your project ,the British Invasion, to a specific writing or literacy skill. The British invasion happened back in the day, so you will need to connect the artists' voices of yesterday with the urbanized kid of today. Do this with hard copies of lyrics (this will take care of standards) then add the listening/speaking element. According to the Curator at the Buddy Holly Museum in Lubbock Texas, The Beatles were influenced heavily by the song styling and sound of Holly's band The Crickets. Beyonce's song with the chorus "You shoulda put a ring on it" has similar writing elements and styling.

I always intro Renaissance period history with Herman's Hermits, "I'm Henry the VIII I am" Too much fun! A great example of an I Am poem where students explore components of King Henry VIII as a Renaissance Man and then write a poem about themselves)

Connect music with history using autobiographies, journals and other primary sources in a group inqury session.

This is quite an innovative strand. Congrats on the ingenuity. Your students will love this and I am sure your idea will evolve. You might use BILLBOARD mag as a historical resource in this lesson. Pick a date-- say Jan 15th -- and examine what were the top songs of 61, 71, 81, 91, 01 11 etc and you would find the evolution of the voices and POV. Sixties songs would be love songs. Seventies songs would have more opinion in the protest songs. Eighties song are more about life conditions. Nineties songs would be more self reflective or self promoting. Good luck with it!

Hi everyone - this is a great discussion - you might want to bounce it up into the discussion forum so A. I can broadcast it to everyone as a crowdsource question and B. so it is archived - wall comments tend to get buried.  Btw - The Verve beats Oasis every time in my book :)