6 Ways to Teach ELA Skills with Music

In my experience, few things capture middle and high school students’ attention as effectively as teaching with music! I love incorporating music into secondary ELA classrooms whenever I can - especially contemporary music that students can relate to. In my experience, learning experiences that involve music can help to make tricky language arts skills and concepts (like grammar!) feel less intimidating for students.

If you’re interested in putting a musical twist on your ELA lessons, here are six of my favorite ways to teach ELA skills with music!

1) Figurative Language

If your students are struggling with figurative language terms, why not examine them through the lens of music? Popular songs are packed with creative examples of figurative language - perfect for teaching and reinforcing this essential ELA concept!

I find song lyrics are especially useful at the beginning of a poetry unit. Many middle and high school students can find poetry challenging, outdated, or overwhelming! Teaching with music can help remind them that poetry is everywhere, and for everyone! An introductory lesson that uses popular song lyrics to demonstrate various types of figurative language in action is a perfect “hook” for your students.

Presenting engaging, relevant examples to middle and high school students can help familiarize students with the most common types of figurative language they will encounter in the poems they read. For example, students can explore examples of assonance through lyrics from Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero.”

I wake up screaming from dreaming

One day I'll watch as you're leaving

And life will lose all its meaning

2) Poetry Analysis

Introducing your poetry unit through the lens of music can often make this genre less intimidating to middle school or high school students. Once they start making connections to their favorite songs, students might be surprised to learn how much they already know about poetry! In my experience, a station activity involving music can be a great way to introduce (or reinforce) new skills and concepts. As students move from station to station, they can listen to a variety of different songs, read through lyrics, and practice their poetry analysis skills!

When you feel students are ready to take their skills to the next level, you can help them put their poetry analysis skills to the test through a flexible, choice-based learning task! First, students select a (school-appropriate) song of their choice. Next, they showcase their poetry analysis skills by summarizing the lyrics, analyzing the title of the song, and exploring its themes. Finally, students can identify and interpret the various literary devices and figures of speech within the song’s lyrics!

3) Teaching New Idioms

Whether your students are learning English as a second language, or simply making sense of the various quirks of ELA, teaching common idioms with music can be a lot of fun. Song lyrics provide an excellent springboard for discussion about idioms like “climb the walls” and “head in the clouds!”

One engaging way to reinforce students’ understanding of some of the more common idioms that appear in the English language is by playing a matching game. For this activity, students receive a selection of cards that contain lyrics from popular songs (including an idiom!). From here, they must examine a second set of cards, which explain the meaning of various idioms. Working alone or in pairs, students then match the idioms with their explanations!

4) Growth Mindset

Another great thing about using music in the classroom is that it can help empower your students to adopt a growth mindset! Connecting music to the concept of growth mindset can support student learning in all subject areas. Many popular songs contain themes of resilience and perseverance, and can help to foster a positive outlook on both learning and personal development.

One activity that can help middle and high school students cultivate a growth mindset involves the analysis of song lyrics. As they read the lyrics of “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus and “Rise” by Katy Perry, among others, students can identify the principles of growth mindset found in each song. Students can also use song lyrics to identify and reflect on the factors that support a growth mindset. For example, “Unstoppable” by Rascal Flatts emphasizes the importance of a strong support system, while “A Little Too Much” by Shawn Mendez provides advice on what to do when “it all gets a little too much.”

5) Grammar

Grammar lessons have a reputation for being a little bit dry - but sometimes, adding a small twist can boost your students’ engagement with this essential ELA skill. Teaching with music can be a really useful “hook” for a grammar lesson, especially when you reference your students’ favorite artists!

One effective strategy is to use song lyrics to help students identify and correct common grammar errors. This activity works really well as a station-based learning task, as well as an independent assignment. I like to begin by providing students with a selection of song lyrics that contain incorrect grammar (like “You and me could write a bad romance” from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”). Once students have identified the error, I like to have them re-write the lyric using correct grammar.

If you want to extend this activity over a longer period of time, you could also create time in your classroom to discuss a musical mistake of the week. In this alternative approach, share a grammatically incorrect song lyric once a week, and have students identify and correct the errors. You can even create an engaging bulletin board display of the various “Musical Mistakes,” which can be refreshed throughout the year!

6) Inferences

I find that middle and high school students can sometimes struggle to make inferences. If you’d like your students to brush up on this essential comprehension skill, why not add some musical references to your instruction or review? Songs that tell a story can help students make inferences, predict likely outcomes, and “read between the lines.”

For example, students can take a close look at the song “Travelling Soldier” by The Chicks, especially the lyrics:

Our love will never end

Waitin' for the soldier to come back again

Nevermore to be alone

When the letter said, "A soldier's comin' home"

From here, they can make inferences about the contents of the letter as the chorus is repeated throughout the song. Other songs that work really well for teaching inference skills with music include “Back to December” by Taylor Swift, and “Someone Like You” by Adele.