Music in the English Classroom

I love, love, love using music in my classroom. And I don't mean classical, though that has its place as well. I mean contemporary rock, pop, rap, country. Kids love it. I mean, really love it.

Every week, I do something called Skills of the Week. Each week we focus on a lit term/device, and every day I do a short minilesson with it. Thursday is always song day. For example, if we're doing similes and metaphors, I'll pull in a song like The Dance by Garth Brooks. Oxymoron? How about Beautiful Mess by Diamond Rio. Alliteration and Assonance? Higher by Creed.

It takes about 3 minutes to listen to a song, but it adds such depth to the lesson. Students see real world application of some of the things we've been talking about in the classroom. They get exposed to some songs they may never have listened to. I've had students who are really into rock fall in love with Johnny Cash, and students who are totally into hip hop start liking Bob Dylan or the Beatles.

The funny thing is, my students would get so excited when they realized it was Thursday. (They always called it "Song Day.") lol!

I used to laugh at them and say, "You act like you never get to listen to music except in my class."

They would reply, "You just don't understand, Ms. K." Hmm, guess not.

There are some amazing songs out there that do many of the things we try to teach kids with poetry. Why not take advantage of their sincere love of music to get them excited about language? To help them see that what they're learning isn't just isolated to the English classroom?

I hope that you start to use music regularly in your classroom. I think you'll find that your students will think you're very cool. Plus, they might just learn something!!