Lesson Plan: Interpretation of Lyrics (Literacy Based)

Students will analyze a song to critically examine the subject addressed.
Students will make connections (text to text, text to world, text to self).
Students will identify the people, places and events addressed in a song.
Students will research the background of a song.
Students will interpret song lyrics based on contextual clues and research information.
Students will develop a portfolio artifact to be used towards graduation.

Instructional Plan
Lyrics to various songs
Research Questions
Rubric/Portfolio
Self-reflection (How does this activity help you to become a better reader?)

Students need to use the internet and locate a song of their choice. From here, they need to print that song out. Then they need to interpret the lyrics by making connections to themselves, other texts or the world. This demonstrates to students the importance of actively engaging in the text as you read. Students will make a visual representation of the song to display in class as well as in their graduation po0rtfolio. This project is extremely motivating for students because it is open to their own personal preference.
The History Behind Song Lyrics

Overview
The events described in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" span about forty years of U.S. history. The lyrics include references to people, places and events from four decades of world occurrences. In this lesson, students research and categorize items from the song as well as illustrate their historical relevance. Students use an online chart to display their research. In addition, students will be making personal connections by working on a self- or teacher-selected lyrical project.