Teacher
Ray Cannon is a music specialist at Valley View Elementary School whose enthusiasm for innovation and connecting with students keeps his classes engaged. On a visit to his room you may see students working on song lyrics in small groups on their Chromebooks, learning about the musical alphabet by putting a glockenspiel back together, or practicing rhythms on boomwhackers.Instructional Strategy
Ray is starting the year with his fifth-grade students working on song parodies. As a specialist, he only gets to see classes a few times a month, so he knows it’s especially important to connect with students right away at the beginning of the year. In this project, students are working in small groups to pick a current song of their choice, come up with a musical joke, write lyrics for the chorus and a verse or two, and then record a performance of their parody to a karaoke track. This introductory project gets kids excited about music and helps them start to listen to music differently so that when they start to break it down later they’ll have buy-in.When students choose their own songs, it gives them a sense of ownership and it allows them to choose music that is culturally relevant for them. Ray notes, “It’s looking at the curriculum a different way and looking at who’s in the classroom and what they bring. The music represents the kids.” The group aspect of the task has also helped students make new connections with classmates when discovering whose musical taste and sense of humor is similar to theirs.
Ray knew going into the project that students would have a large range of inspiration for their songs, from Disney tunes to hip hop. For example, multiple groups have chosen “Old Town Road” by Lil’ Nas X for their inspiration - a song which has quite a few explicit lyrics in its original form. Instead of telling students to pick a different song, he took the opportunity to talk to them about finding “clean” versions of the song on YouTube. The song choice turned into a great teachable moment about digital citizenship, reminding students that they leave a digital footprint with their browsing history every time they watch or search for something. He then offered to help them out if they thought they may have a problem finding a clean version of the song.
Ray knows that students get excited when they can make a personal connection to what they’re doing. He plans to continue engaging students throughout the school year by giving them choice in how and what they create.
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