Music: Our Universal Language
Lisa is a humane educator teaching music to elementary aged students in Detroit. She’s passionate about social justice and supporting her students to think critically about assumptions they may make about others, and the care they take in their daily interactions. Here are two activities she has done recently in her remote classroom that she felt worked well.
Your Name is a Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cRvDZx1hVI
This is a reading from the book, ‘Your Name is a Song’, which Lisa shared and then asked her K-2 students to ‘sing’ their own names. She says it was “a really powerful and beautiful lesson”.
Black Violin: ‘Stereotypes’
The second activity she shares asks her students to “... begin to think critically about music and ...feel that they can express any thoughts/notices/wonderings/etc. that they might have. We incorporate norms such as being open to listening to opinions that are different from our own, etc.”
They watched the video together (via shared screen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXVZI690tsw&feature=youtu.be
She then asked students to respond to these discussion questions:
What do you notice and wonder about this song?
How does this song make you feel?
Why do you think they named this song Stereotypes?
Do you like the song Stereotypes – why or why not?
What elements of music did you hear?
Anything else you'd like to share?”