By Tracee Orman
Are you tired of giving chapter check quizzes with terrible results or seeing blank stares when you try to stir up a discussion about your current literature unit?
One of my favorite ways to combat this is using an activity I created when iPods became popular in the early 2000’s: creating playlists related to the text. It does not matter what we are reading, whether it is Shakespeare or The Hunger Games, students absolutely LOVE incorporating music into class.
Here are four ways you can use my playlist idea in class:
1. Chapter (or Section) Review
After students read a chapter(s) or section of the text, have them choose 1-3 songs that relate to the text. It can relate through a character (personality, dialogue, actions), an event, or even through a theme, symbol, or abstract idea.
This can be done as a bell-ringer, exit slip, or anytime throughout the class period. The key is to make sure students can EXPLAIN how the song relates to the chapter.
Here’s an example from To Kill a Mockingbird, chapter 7, by Harper Lee:
Mr. Radley cements the knothole at the end of the chapter, thereby ending the connection the children have to the gift-giver. The song “End of Beginning” by Djo can relate to this because their communication with the gift-giver was just beginning, and now it has ended, just like the speaker in the song reminisces about how things were before.
Have students do a deep dive into characterization by assigning them to choose 1-3 songs that describe or encompass the character. They may find a song that seems like it would be perfectly sung by the character themselves. Make sure they explain the relevance between the two.
An example for Romeo Montague in Act I of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare:
“Perfect” by Ed Sheeran includes the lines “I found a love for me, / Darling just dive right in...I found a girl, / Beautiful and sweet” which seem rather appropriate for Romeo to sing about Juliet. In scene 5, Romeo says of Juliet, “"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”
This activity forces students to reread the text to find connections between the lyrics and the character. When you require them to use quotes from both the lyrics and the text, you get them to read double the material, but in a way that they don’t mind at all.
You can assign the same thing, but instead of finding a song that relates to a character, have students choose a song that embodies one (or more) of the important events in the text.
Have them copy down the lyrics to a song and, line-by-line, compare it to the events of the novel, story, or play.
Look at this example from The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare using Taylor Swift’s song “Look What You Made Me Do”:
“I don’t like your little games / Don’t like your tilted stage / The role you made me play of the fool / No, I don’t like you” from the song can express Cassius’s feeling toward Caesar’s growing popularity with the people and rise to authoritarianism. From Act I, scene ii, Cassius says to Brutus “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world / Like a Colossus, and we petty men / Walk under his huge legs and peep about / To find ourselves dishonorable graves.”
Later in the song, the lines “...all I think about is karma...but one thing’s for sure / Maybe I got mine, but you’ll all get yours” could be straight from Marc Antony’s mouth when he vows to get revenge on all the conspirators for killing Caesar. “Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood” (Act III, scene i).
At the end of the book, story, or play, have students create a movie soundtrack. Each song they select should reflect a certain scene from the story. Have them explain the scene and why they chose it. They can include quotes from the story and the song to relate the two.
This is an example soundtrack from Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (see image):
This activity allows students to replay the story in their mind, setting it to music. It’s a fantastic way to review the story or as an end of the unit project.
Another way to summarize the story is having students create the album artwork for their playlists. You can have them include symbols from the story, recreate a scene, or touch on one of the themes.
My students always want to share their playlists with the class. Of course, it’s impossible to share all of the songs during class, but I have let students choose one song from their playlist and play it in class (as long as it’s appropriate). You can do this while they are creating the album artwork.
You don’t need to purchase anything to implement this idea, but if you want the handouts and online shareable activity already done for you, you can check out my pack Character Playlists for Any Book or Story. It’s highly rated and teacher-tested. It is included in my bundle of creative worksheets to use with any text found here:
You might also like these creative activities to use with any story:
One-Pager Assignment for Any Book by Presto Plans
Theme Park Literary Analysis Activity for Any Book by The Daring English Teacher
Thanks for reading!
