One more pop song

Today we listened to this song then each wrote a fable to interpret it.  We came up with a range of responses and different "morals."  Then we looked back at the lyrics to see which ones were the basis of our interpretation.  By looking back at the words, discussing aspects of the lyrics including repetition and word choice, we were able to see how our interpretations grew out of the text.  Great job!

Re-thinking pop songs as fables

Greetings!
Sadly, I'm out sick today and not able to celebrate 12-12-12 with you.  I hope you enjoy it!

For today, we will be using the form of fables to explore the idea of voice in our writing.

First, read these few short fables from Aesop's Fables - a childhood classic:

The Fox and the Grapes One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour." It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

The Wind and the Sun The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin." So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on. Kindness effects more than severity.

The Hare and the Tortoise A HARE one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: "Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race." The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal. On the day appointed for the race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue. Slow but steady wins the race.

You can see that the form is pretty basic - a simple (yet ultimately complex) story is told, using animals or natural elements in place of humans.  It is followed by a statement of a moral truth.

For today, you will revisit the pop songs you chose to write about last Friday.  Start by re-reading what you wrote (if you were out you still need to complete that step before moving ahead).

Then, re-write each one as a fable, substituting an animal or natural object for the people in the song.  Be sure to change it from a song lyric to a story, like in the examples above.

Also, be sure to have a moral at the end!

After you post these onto your blog, write out answers to these questions at the bottom of the blog post:
1- Why did you choose the animals you did?
2- In what ways is your story similar to / different from the original song?
3- What did you learn about the original song by re-writing it into this form?

If there is time left at the end, check out what other people posted onto their blogs!

Syntax and Rhetoric in pop songs

Greetings!

I'm out of town today, as you might recall.  Here's the plan:

1. Spend 10 mintues looking through the blogs of other students in the class to read what they wrote about the JFK inaugural speech.  Feel free to leave comments.
2. It's time to look at the lyrics of some of your favorite songs!
1. Think of a few songs you really like - current, classic rock, whatever - as long as there are lyrics!
2. Do an internet search for the lyrics.  Choose one song to use first.
3. Copy the lyrics into a new post on your blog.
4. Open up this document - it's the one we used to list the rhetorical elements of the JFK speech.  Complete the chart based on the lyrics for your song.
5. In the same blog post as the lyrics, write a rhetorical analysis of the song!  What are the different rhetorical techniques the song uses?  What is their effect on the feel and meaning of the song?  Based on this look at the language, what are you now noticing in the song that you might have missed the first time around?
6. After you do this for one song, repeat it for one more song - put your responses into a new blog post.
7. When you are done, spend the rest of the period reading what songs other people put onto their blogs, and feel free to comment.
8. *Something cool - if you want to insert a YouTube clip of your song into your post, us the little movie clapboard icon - it's right up there two to the right of "link" - that way we can listen to your song while reading what you had to say about it!