“Raising The Roof:” Using Pop Music to Build Content Understanding

“Raising The Roof:” Using Pop Music to Build Content Understanding

What kind of music motivates you? 

What does it motivate you to do? Sing? Dance? Think? Connect with others? Each of these actions (well, especially the last two) are the kinds of things we see students engage in each day in our classrooms. Yet, we may find ourselves racking our brains trying to think of how we might motivate our students to not only engage with one another but also with the curriculum. Pop music (and pop music lyrics) might just be another tool for that ongoing teacher task. 

Why might we use Pop Music in the Classroom? 

Literacy Educator and Researcher, Ernest Morrell notes that tapping into students’ cultural and personal experiences helps them to connect their prior knowledge/learning to new content and enhance social and emotional learning. Because it makes learning more culturally relevant, it ultimately increases engagement. Welcoming Pop Music into the classroom is one way to surface these connections.

When might we Use Pop Music in the Classroom?
One situation for using Pop Music in the classroom is to increase student content knowledge – which might include using lyrics to enhance student skills and understandings or their ability to reflect on universal concepts. Pop Music can also be used to build community as it calms (or energizes) students, connects with their interests, or signals and facilitates transitions. Finally, Pop Music might also be a way for students to demonstrate learning – as they create playlists, music videos, or lyrics that reflect their newly acquired knowledge.

 

Delivering Content: Locating Resources

Once you’ve decided to tap into student interest in Pop Music you may ask yourself, how do I locate the relevant songs and lyrics? If building content skills and understandings is your goal, then crafting an AI prompt or a simple google search can often get the job done. 

Ask AI

For example, asking ChatGPT: “what are some song lyrics that can be used to teach middle school students about problems and solutions” could produce a list of potential examples, including, among others, songs from Katy Perry (Roar) and Destiny’s Child (Survivor). 

What if you’re hoping to connect with a small group of students who remain disengaged? And, what if you happen to know they love a particular genre of Pop Music? Engineering that same prompt to leverage what you know about those students can help. Here are some examples from a prompt asking for Country and R&B songs that, again, focus on problems and solutions: Tim McGraw (Humble and Kind); Lea Ann Womack (I Hope you Dance); Michael Jackson (Man in the Mirror); Ariana Grande (No Tears Left to Cry).  

Google Search

While AI is a great tool for finding resources, a simple google search may also prove useful. Searching for “songs about the periodic table of elements,” for example, might lead one to a video by They Might Be Giants called Meet the Elements.

Incorporating this music video into a unit of study, teachers might begin by asking students to write down anything they know about any of the elements in the periodic table. As a bell ringer/warm up, this kind of question activates background knowledge, and it also prepares students to learn (via the Elements song) some basic science facts. 

As we draw closer to Winter Break, coming up with strategies for engaging students can feel daunting. Enlisting the help of Michael Jackson or Mariah Carey might just be the added “engager” you’ve been looking for.

References

Morrell, E. (2020, February 21). Ernest Morrell – Cultural Relevance [Video]. Interview. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=WTsSxBow8vc

Jimmy Fallon gif by the Tonight Show. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com
/FallonTonight