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Terri Douglas and Alina Cozma

tippyisatshaw.ca alinacozmaathotmail.com
2005W


Grade 10
Time: 80 minutes

Abstract: Students will be able to use a medium they enjoy and are comfortable with to aid in understanding, connecting and explaining elements of a novel studied in class. They will have to give a presentation of their finished product to the class, thereby gaining valuable experience and self-confidence in their oral abilities.

Background rationale: The concern here is to pull students into an enjoyment of looking at key developments in a story as they study literary terms and devices. Books are fast becoming modes of communication quite low on the scale of student choices, and this lesson wants to inspire discussion of books through the quite open and free usage of songs to make connections and links. This lesson aims to include all students of the classroom to bring in their individuality and tastes as they embark on something that has to be done as a curriculum requirement. The fact that choice is being allowed (both with novel and music selection) hopes to inspire compliance and perhaps even enthusiasm! Who doesn’t like to show off their musical preferences? It is something we suspect most students will like to talk about. The fact that they now have to show evidence of how those songs make sense when analyzing a novel may become a bit less intimidating when we emphasize that there can be no real ‘wrong’ answers. As teachers, we will be happy simply to have kids demonstrate the ways in which they were personally reminded of things in the novel through song, and to see some written example of these connections.

Curriculum Organizers:
Comprehend and Respond (Engagement and Personal Response)
It is expected that students will:
• identify and explain connections between what they read, hear, and view and their personal ideas and beliefs
• develop imaginative or creative responses to share their ideas
Other organizers
Comprehend Ideas and Information (Knowledge of Language, Composing and Creating, and Presenting and Valuing)
Self and Society (Building Community)
It is expected that students will:
• learn things about each other and of shared interests in music and perhaps even literature, and in this way contribute to a strengthened classroom community

Teaching Strategies: We are not sure yet if we should have a list of books that are available in the library as options to the kids to choose for their novel study, or if we should leave this completely open to their discretion. We are leaning toward being completely open to their choice as long as it is appropriate in terms of limited profanity and sexual content. The same rules would apply for the songs, and we would preface this caveat with a talk on respect in the classroom, and how it is important not to offend those around us (in terms of gender, other cultures, or homophobic issues). This will be a tricky line to walk, however, as we really want to foster autonomy with this project. As this would be a summative activity, the quality of the writing needs to be stressed as the students’ very best outcomes, in terms of editing grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes, as well as depth of understanding and accuracy in usage of literary terms. This project would take several classes to set it up for the final product, wherein classes would be set aside for presentations.

Definition of terms:
Imagery: The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.
Theme: An implicit or recurrent idea.
Characterization: The act of describing distinctive characteristics or essential features.
Climax:
a. A moment of great or culminating intensity in a narrative or drama, especially the conclusion of a crisis.
b. The turning point in a plot or dramatic action.

Activity#1
The SynthesisNotes is on the overhead and the teacher reviews the terms with the students.

Activity#2
The student who is presenting talks about the plot of the novel he/she has read. Then the student goes over the Synthesis Notes he/she filled out after reading his/her novel. After all the students in class are familiar with the novel brought to their attention, the student explains the connection between the novel and the music he/she has chosen to illustrate that particular novel. The students listen to the soundtrack put toghether by the presenter.

While the presenter is talking to the class, students will evaluate their classmate by completing an Oral Presentation Score Sheet. The teacher will collect the forms at the end of the class and grade the presentation based on the peer evaluation.



Novel: The Canning Season, By Polly Horvath

Music
1.The Sea (from "Big Calm")/ Morcheeba. Lyrics: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/The-Sea-lyrics-Morcheeba/2DADB9720F0AF38E48256A6B0001628B∞
This song illustrates the idea of rythm and repetition brought into the novel by the sea. Ratchet's return to nature symbolizes the fact that she has found a safe home.

2.Secret Love (from "Am I Not Your Girl?") /Sinead O'Connor. Lyrics:
http://www.lyricscafe.com/o/oconnor_sinead/021.htm∞
The second track brings in the idea of a love that is kept secret, for innocent reasons (love being to precious to be shared or talked about in public, or love being kept secret for fear it is not going to be reciprocated). The song is contrasting the way Ratchet's mother hides her relationship from Ratchet. Thus, the soundtrack for the specific passage becomes very ironic and it goes well with the irony and humour displayed all over the book.

3.Politik (from "A Rush of Blood to The Head") / Coldplay. Lyrics: http://www.lyrics007.com/Coldplay%20Lyrics/Politik%20Lyrics.html∞
Politik illustrates Harper's moment of pain when she finds herself tired of negotiating a space for herself. She seats on Tilly and Penpen's porch steps and she does not move for hours because she is burdened by her experiences and feels rejected, unwanted and powerless.


Novel: The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison. Penguin Books: New York, (1970).
Songs: "Beautiful," Christina Aguillara

In my analysis, I connected the theme of perceived beauty in the novel to the popular song, ‘Beautiful’. The Bluest Eye is about two African-American sisters, Freida and Claudia, growing up in a poor Chicago neighborhood in 1941. The two are consumed with thoughts of how unfair it is that they don’t have the blond hair, blue-eyed ‘ideal’ looks of the dolls they receive for Christmas, or see in their grade school readers. Images of beauty are all around them, and yet they are very aware of how this beauty is never connected to them and how they look. Amazingly, throughout the novel, these black girls about whose childhood the book is written, begin to mature and come to an acceptance and even an appreciation for who and what they are. They definitely take note of what the world around them thinks of them, but they learn to just not care. “No matter what they say,” they are beautiful. Unfortunately, a young girl who comes to live with them and their family is not as able to find this peace.

This girl, Pecola, is the daughter of the most down on their luck couple in the town. Her father is an alcoholic who beats his wife, and ends up raping and impregnating Pecola. Towards the end of the novel, Pecola loses her mind and begins believing that she has blue eyes, and is therefore beautiful, after she has made a visit to the town healer. The song I related this characterization aspect of the novel to is “Seven” by Norah Jones. The song has always made me think of a child who is perhaps mentally in her own world, as it has her “spinning, dancing, laughing to her favorite song”. The song also has elements of nature in it as the child is “[l]ike a leaf in Autumn, just falling to the ground”. The novel is separated into four parts with each section labeled a season, and we definitely get the idea that Pecola is as delicate and fragile as an autumn leaf.

The final song, “No Woman, No Cry” reminds me of the struggle Pecola’s mother goes through as a poor black woman working as a maid in a racist and prejudiced society, and married to a no-account black man beaten down by life.

Materials needed: CD player for days of presentations.

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CategoryNovelStudy