Songs in the Key of MY Life

Unit Content

Objectives for this curriculum unit are not limited to, but include:

Students will:

Explore their reactions to music and areas where they feel that music is most helpful;
Learn about the basics of music healing and what it does for the brain;
Research at least two genres of music that are different from what they have previously listened to, then present those genres to the class (to give the class exposure to a variety of genres).
Choose one area of need (a situation in which they intentionally rely on music for an emotional response) and one genre of music different from what they normally listen to create a playlist for themselves.
Choose one area of need and one genre of music different from what they normally listen to create a playlist for a character that they have read about.

Students will work mostly within partnerships throughout this unit to promote sharing and open discussion, but can also work in groups or as a whole class to complete each lesson. Strategies such as inquiry-based research, 3-2-1 summarizing and graphic organizers are also used.

This unit is divided into four parts. Part I includes using varied genres of music to create personal playlists intended to aid students’ own emotional regulation when needed. Part II takes this idea and expands it to literary characters. It also includes students using lyrics from selected songs to practice literary skills and concepts. Part III expands this even further to include students creating their own music, or beats, that can be used to create an original self-regulation playlist or an original playlist for literary characters. Lastly, Part IV requires students to show what they have learned about music and themselves from participating in this unit through writing.

Keywords: Music, Socio-emotional Learning, Literacy, Morning Meeting, Lyrics, The Brain, Playlists

The students that populate many of our schools come to us from a variety of different backgrounds bringing with them many experiences and viewpoints. One thing shared pervasively between them, however, is trauma. Trauma is defined as “an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident… or natural disaster.” Responses to trauma typically include shock and denial immediately following the event. Long term reactions can include emotional dysregulation, flashbacks to the event(s), difficulty maintaining positive relationships, and even physical symptoms such as headaches or nausea. Experiencing these feelings are normal, however, some have difficulty moving on with their lives after traumatic events (American Psychological Association, 2023). Trauma and the reactions to it, permeate the fabric of our country and our culture. It often begins in childhood and can come from a variety of sources.

To begin, it is important to know that up to 40% of students in the United States have experienced, or have witnessed traumatic stressors in their lifetimes, often beginning in childhood (Grevan, 2022). The latest research has shown that much of this early trauma is a result of adverse childhood experiences, or ACES [See Classroom Resources]. This term is a catchall that refers to events that range from experiencing or witnessing physical, sexual or psychological abuse to witnessing/experiencing the effects of household substance abuse, mental illness and divorce or separation. The greater number of these events that children are exposed to, the more difficult it becomes for that child to succeed in school and the greater the risk for a variety of physical and mental illnesses later in adult life. Childhood trauma has increasingly been shown to correlate with difficulties in school, lower academic achievement and was already known to be implicated in long term negative outcomes: physical, social and psychological (Chafouleas et al., 2018).

In addition, research shows that a variety of mental health issues are prevalent among children 3-17 years old- school aged children. Depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems have been diagnosed among almost 20% of this age group. Children will suffer long-term health, social and economic effects because of these mental health challenges as well (Henderson, Schmus, et. al).

In March of 2020, COVID-19 stressors were also added into this equation. Increasing levels of trauma continued due to another range of events- from the constant coverage of the virus in the media, to job loss/loss of income, to witnessing a loved one suffer/die from COVID or actually contracting the illness itself – all of these and more caused even higher levels of anxiety and depression, and sadly, more trauma among our students.

School closings, business closings and sudden isolation from family and friends exacerbated already taxing circumstances for America’s youth. During this time, many students also had difficulty with virtual learning, being away from their classrooms, lost access to regular meals, and being absent from their friends, as well as leaving the structure of school that they had come to depend on. Even when “regular” school resumed, the trauma relating to COVID itself had already left its mark. Our children have been and are suffering.

Responses to these traumatic circumstances manifest in a number of ways in our young people. In some, there are physical symptoms such as weight changes, chronic stomach aches or headaches. In others, the impact of such toxic stressors can also broaden to include quick feelings of anger, frustration, lack of confidence as well as social withdrawal or avoidance. In the classroom, behaviors may also manifest as a heightened startle reaction, heads placed on desks repeatedly throughout the day, attention seeking behaviors, increased aggression, violence, or students who are easily upset or quick to overwhelm. Students may not complete assignments or homework, or demonstrate poor skill development or patterns of learning difficulties that get so bad that they finally become apparent and have to be addressed in the classroom (Grevan, 2022).

When this trauma, chaos and uncertainty results in students showing increasingly challenging behaviors, it can make classroom management, and subsequently effective teaching and learning, difficult, if not impossible. Unfortunately, even with knowledge of trauma-informed classrooms, many teachers are not adequately trained or qualified to successfully address these learning and behavioral challenges.

Students, now more than ever, need constructive coping skills. They need to learn strategies for calming themselves and ways to self soothe in those moments of difficulty if they are to achieve success academically and socially. This curriculum unit focuses on the use of music as a strategy for emotional regulation and social-emotional wellbeing.

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“Music can represent the pinnacle of human artistic expression, or it can be commandeered to etch a particular message in one’s mind by playing on emotional responses that can circumvent critical reflection on the message” (Dyck, 2017).

In the seminar, Music and Healing in Philadelphia, we learned that music has an incredible influence over our emotional lives. Discussions centered around the idea that music making and listening is universally present. It is a human behavior that exists in all cultures, through diverse and varied expressions, and for a number of reasons (Honing, 2022).

Music as a part of the human experience begins at birth. In most cultures, it was found that high pitched words/sounds are typically more positive and encouraging, while lower pitched tones indicate warnings or negative messages (Honing, 2022). This basic method of communication is often used for babies and others who have yet to develop language skills and has its roots in music.

Research also shows that infant babbling and cooing are an early understanding of the musicality of language, separately and in its own right, with language added to it later. This means that music precedes language in human evolution, countering a long-held belief that human language precedes the capacity for music. Evidence of this lies in the fact that in many languages, the same word can have a variety of meanings, depending on the tone or pitch. The recognition of the meanings of these different tones or pitches, this basic form of music, is inborn (Honing, 2022).

From birth and as we continue to develop, music’s effect on the brain stems from the fact that it stimulates the production of brain chemicals, known as endorphins, that create a sense of euphoria, emotional excitement or feeling good (Honing, 2022). Due to this, we learned that music has power and this power can manifest itself in a multitude of ways.

The emotional excitement that music creates can lead to negative behavior when paired, for example, with lyrics of a negative nature. Music, through the exhilaration that accompanies it, has the potential to become a vehicle that creates a sense of community centered around negativity. Examples include music with messages of hate, violence, misogyny, homophobia, aggression, etc. This can be especially true when the lyrics are paired with “catchy” melodies. (MacLachlan, 2022).

Music with “catchy” melodies and questionable lyrics has long been a part of popular music genres such as heavy metal, rock and hip hop. Lyrics within certain songs in these genres also commonly dehumanize women and minimize and devalue a woman’s ability to say no. (Hill et al., 2021). These genres of music and those similar to it may appeal to many of our school aged children. Students may use this music to study, to decompress or to self soothe, but it may not do the good a student may think that it does.

Conversely, the emotional excitement that music creates can also heal. It is a vehicle that can also carry strength and positivity. It can rebuild [See Classroom Resources for suggested videos to explain this]. Despite this, however, music is often underused as a classroom resource for creating social emotional wellbeing.

This unit seeks to take advantage of the positive potential of music to assist students. The overall goal is for students to more intentionally choose music to ease their stress, and to improve any other situations where they use music. These lessons will have them critically look at whether their song choices are helping them and whether or not another choice may yield better results. Students will discover ways that they can empower themselves using music. If students are able to have more of their emotional needs met through music, the focus can possibly return back to learning in the classroom.

This unit is intended for a fifth or sixth grade departmentalized ELA classroom, within a Title 1 school. It can easily be adjusted to suit a higher or lower grade as most students can relate to music and already have ways in which they incorporate it into their everyday lives. For teachers of multilingual or diverse learners, each lesson can be adjusted to suit the needs of the students served. The unit should take a total of approximately three weeks to complete with time given for reflections and data collection. The Socioemotional Lesson Plans can be taught during the literacy block, as there are researching, reading and writing components, or any other appropriate space in the schedule (morning meetings, after recess, etc). Lessons can be broken up into the time available.

My objectives for this curriculum unit will be as follows:

Students will:

Explore their reactions to music and document areas where they feel that music is most helpful;
Learn about the basics of music healing and what it does for the brain;
Research at least two genres of music that are different from what students have previously listened to, then present those genres to the class (to give the class exposure to a variety of genres).
Choose one area of need (a situation in which they intentionally rely on music for an emotional response) and one new genre of music to create a playlist for themselves.
Choose one area of need and one new genre of music to create a playlist for a character that they have read about.
Use lyrics from a genre of music to review literary concepts such as theme, and figurative language.
Explore how to create beats and music online; Use beats/music created to create a song to add to their ow playlist or the playlist created for a character they have read.
Write a reflective essay on what students discovered about music and themselves from this unit.

Teaching Strategies

Students will work mostly within partnerships throughout this unit to promote sharing and open discussion. Some lessons may also be conducive to students working in groups or as a whole class to complete the activities within this unit. When appropriate, students can work independently.

Strategies such as inquiry-based research, 3-2-1 summarizing and graphic organizers are also used. Students should be encouraged to discuss and present as much of their work as possible in order to create a safe space for students who may have unpopular tastes and for students to learn from each other.

This unit is divided into four parts. Part I includes using varied genres of music to create personal playlists intended to aid students’ own emotional regulation when needed. Part II takes this idea and expands it to literary characters. It also includes students using lyrics from selected songs to practice literary skills and concepts. Part III expands this even further to include students creating their own music, or beats, that can be used to create an original self-regulation playlist or an original playlist for literary characters. Lastly, Part IV requires students to show what they have learned about music and themselves from participating in this unit through writing.

Classroom Activities

Part I- Socio-emotional Regulation Based Playlist Lesson Plans

Lesson 1– (@20 minutes in class to introduce the assignment, at least 1 week for data collection and @30-40 minutes to discuss the data after it is collected)

Objective-Students will explore their reactions to music and areas where they feel that music is most helpful.

Plans: The teacher will let students know that they will be taking time to get a better understanding of when they lean on music the most and what type of music they listen to during those times. Students will be asked to document their everyday use of music on the Student Personal Music Log [Appendix 1]. This will help them to keep track of times that they use music to regulate their emotions. It will also keep track of the emotion that they are feeling at the time and its intensity, the genre they listened to and how well the music helped to create the effect they were looking for (lessoning or increasing the mood/emotion they originally felt).

The teacher will need to model how to use the log so that students can capture data as accurately as possible. It may be helpful for students to complete a practice log together as a class or with a partner in class so that they know exactly what to do on their own. If the teacher is willing to join in this activity and share their own music genres and situations where they use music, as well as its success or failure, it may help students feel more comfortable sharing their own personal logs.

Once this data is collected over the span of about a week, students will analyze it in class. The Student Personal Music Log has a point system that allows for easy determination of when music has the greatest impact on regulating their emotions and when this impact matches the one that is desired. Students can work with a partner to discuss what they found or it can be done as a class. Students can take notes on the log itself or on a separate sheet of paper or the back of the log as they come across new ideas, new insights, or if they hear things from classmates or the teacher that may also pertain to them.

Topics that may come up are: when and why times come about where they feel that music is necessary, why they chose certain songs or genres over others and specifically what about the situation and music choice lead to their desired effect. Discussions may also occur, as needed, that center on song themes or central concepts, the impact of instrumental music use versus vocals, languages used, etc. and how these may or may not influence music preferences.

Students will also be able to see which situations showed their music choice may have helped the least to aid them with their emotional state. These will be the areas that will be focused on for creating their playlists. The teacher can let students know that for these situations, they may find more satisfaction in musical selections they may not have thought about, known about, or that may be outside of their regular listening choices.

Lesson 2– (@60 minutes)

Objective-Students will learn about the basics of music healing and what it does for the brain.

Plans: The teacher will give students an overview of the unit, including what they will do with the data they just collected, then present students with a grade appropriate video detailing how music aids in emotional regulation and healing within the brain. [See Classroom Resources for suggested videos].

Students can be presented with the video(s) as a class or individually on platforms such as Google Classroom. They will then work individually or with a partner to summarize the video with a 3-2-1 strategy: 3 facts that stood out to them in the video, 2 questions they still have about the topic and 1 opinion on what they think of the information they were presented with. This information can be documented on paper, in a student notebook or digitally on Google Slides or Google Docs.

Students will then present their facts, questions and opinions to the class. Questions that students still have can be documented to be addressed by the teacher at a later date if relevant and possible.

Lesson 3– (@60-120 minutes)

Objective- Students will research two to four genres of music that are different from what students have previously listened to; then present those genres to the class (to give the class exposure to a variety of genres.

Plans: The teacher will review the previous lessons with students. The teacher will let students know that the genres of music recorded on the music logs will not be used for the rest of the unit. They will then let students know that they will be exploring other types of music, as there are many that they may not listen to, nor have even heard of that they may like and/or that may be helpful to them.

This exploration will begin with brainstorming, as a class, the types of music that they already know about, creating a visible list. The teacher will then suggest a few other genres that have not been mentioned- genres that are different, but within reach of their tastes, or maybe a few that are not.

During this lesson, possible biases can also be explored. Students can be led into a discussion about what stereotypes and ideas come to mind with certain types of music that are brought up, and why they think that is. Students can explore and discuss whether they think those stereotypes are actually true for everyone and whether or not it is ok to be different and like music that someone else may not. This can be documented in the Music Genre Exploration graphic organizer in Appendix 2.

Students will then partner up and choose two to four genres from the list. These genres must not have appeared on the music logs. They will then research each genre based on what is outlined on the graphic organizer.

Once partners are finished researching, they will present their findings to the class so that all have an idea of what each type of music sounds like and what it involves. Ideally, this organizer can be used digitally as a Google Doc or cut and pasted onto slides. This will allow students to add album art and music links, easily, and allow for more interactive presentations. Samples of songs, or entire songs should be played for the class as apart of each presentation.

As partners present, students should take notes on genres that they hear about, may like or be interested in.

Lesson 4– (@60 minutes plus a @30 minute follow up if new genres are used for homework)

Objective- Students will choose one area of need and one new genre of music to create a playlist for themselves.

Plans: The teacher will review the previous lessons and have students return to their Music Logs. Students will be asked to look for the situations they identified as being one in which they feel that the musical solution they chose was not as successful as they thought it should be. This situation will be their focus, they will choose one that is most important. If they did not identify any areas where their music choice did not work, they can choose any situation they encountered to use for this activity.

Students will then choose one genre from the previous day’s activity. It must be a genre that they did not list on their logs as having used before. They will then explore various songs within that style of music that they like, choosing at least 4-5 songs. For each song choice, they will complete the Playlist Organizer [See Appendix 3] in order to record information about the above, as well why they chose the song. This activity also lends itself more to a digital version (a doc or slides), as students can then directly link their songs and be more creative with the assignment.

Lesson Homework: Students use the playlist during another occurrence of the targeted situation and reflect on its helpfulness. They can also complete another Music Log to gauge and record each song’s effectiveness. This lesson can also be repeated for multiple genres until a successful one is found. Students can discuss their genres chosen, reasons why, successes, failures and any other outcomes from their created playlists with a partner or the class and at the bottom of the graphic organizer.

Part II- Literacy Based Playlist/ Lyric Lesson Plans

Lesson 5– (@60 minutes)

Objective- Students will use characterization and inferencing to create a playlist for a character in a novel.

Plans: The teacher will review the steps previously taken to create personal playlists and inform the class that they will do something similar for a character they have read about.

In order to create this playlist, the students will be asked what they will need to know about the character in order to do this. They should answer, or the teacher can suggest that they need to know who the character is, what challenges they are facing, what they character likes and dislikes. Students can then be asked how they would determine any of this, or if they could. They should answer, or the teacher can suggest that they would need to use information from the text, but then inferences based on their own experience and what would make sense to fill in the information that is not known.

The teacher will quickly review how to make inferences and how to determine characterization- who a character is- based on their words, thoughts and actions from the text. Once that is completed, the teacher and students can use the information, along with a targeted situation where there may be a need for that character to emotionally regulate. Students should then be led to complete the Characterization Log and Characterization Playlist Organizer [See Appendix 4] based on an agreed upon character or one of the student’s choosing. The steps involved closely resemble the step from the student personal playlists, so students should be able to complete the activity with little assistance. The teacher may model this however, with a character all students are familiar with to make sure that each student understands the assignment.

Lesson 6– (@60 minutes)

Objective- Students will use lyrics from a genre of music to review literary concepts such as theme, figurative language, main idea, etc.

Plans: The teacher will choose lyrics from a song, or songs that are student appropriate and engaging, but that also lend themselves to theme, figurative language, etc. Lessons can begin with a review of the skill, a cold read of the lyrics and modeling the finding concepts within the lyrics.

Examples of songs with lyrics that can be used to teach theme:

“The Climb” by Miley Cyrus, Songwriters: Jessi Leigh Alexander / Jon Clifton Mabe

“On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons, Songwriters: Alexander Junior Grant / Benjamin Arthur McKee / Daniel Coulter Reynolds / Daniel Wayne Sermon

“Welcome to My Life” by Simple Plan, Charles-Andre Comeau / Pierre Bouvier

The videos that accompany these songs and more can be found on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/T3PJkPsW8_M

Examples of songs with lyrics that can be used to teach figurative language:

“Rain On Me” by Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande, Songwriters: Betty Wright / Stefani Germanotta / Rami Yacoub / Alexander Ridha / Michael Tucker / Matthew Burns / Jeremiah Burden / Lynn Williams / Ariana Grande / Marin Bresso / Nija Charles

“Another Brick In The Wall” by Pink Floyd, Songwriter: Roger Waters

“Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys, Songwriters: Billy Squire, Jeff Bhasker, Nicki Minaj, Salaam Remi, Alicia Augello-cook.

Part III- Extended Socio-emotional Regulation and/or Literacy Based Lesson Plans

Lesson 7– (@60 minutes)

Objective- Students will explore how to create beats and music online; Use beats/music created to create a song to add to their playlist for a character they have read about and for themselves and their healing and regulation

Plans: The teacher will review with students the lessons regarding creating playlists for themselves and students. The teacher will then let students know that they will create playlists based on music that they create instead of music that has already been created. Once their music is made, it can be given a genre (or not) and the included graphic organizers/docs/slides can be used to document their final creations. The following websites can be used in order for students to create music and/or beats:

https://splice.com/sounds/beatmaker

https://web.archive.org/web/20200803210325/http://sampulator.com/

https://www.bandlab.com/

http://samplestitch.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

Part IV- Unit Assessment

Lesson 8– (@60 minutes)

Objective- Students will write a reflective essay, as their culminating activity, on what they discovered about music from this curriculum unit.

Plans: The teacher will review each of the lessons from the unit with students as they follow along with the work that they produced. Students will then be asked to write an essay in which they reflect on what they learned. The essay should contain information on the following: music’s effects on the brain (from the videos they viewed); the successes and/or failures of their playlists going into the unit; new genres of music or new artists that they learned about and their opinions of what they heard; the successes and/or failures of their new playlists created during the unit.

Students can add their reflections on reasoning for character playlists or new music created if those lessons were completed. These can be separate writings when/if they are complete so as not to create an unreasonably long essay.

This essay can serve as a culminating activity for the unit as well as an additional tool for assessment. The following rubric can be used for students and teachers to ensure that all topics are covered:

Criteria	4 Points	3 Points	2 Points	1 Point
Information on Music’s Effect on the Brain	-Student gives more than 3 accurate facts about music’s effect on the brain	-Student gives at least 3 accurate facts about music’s effect on the brain	-Student gives at least 2 accurate facts about music’s effect on the brain	-Student gives 1 accurate fact about music’s effect on the brain
Student Reflections on their Playlists and Music Going Into the Unit	-Student gives more than 3 coherent, insightful thoughts on how they felt about music before starting the unit.	-Student gives 3 coherent or insightful thoughts on how they felt about music before starting the unit.	-Student gives 2 or less coherent or insightful thoughts or multiple disjointed or disconnected thoughts on how they felt about music before starting the unit.	-Student gives disjointed or disconnected thoughts on how they felt about music before starting the unit.
Student Reflections on New Genres, Artists or Music Introduced During the Unit	-Student gives more than 3 coherent, insightful thoughts on the new music, genres or artists that they learned about or heard during the unit.	-Student gives 3 coherent, insightful thoughts on the new music, genres or artists that they learned about or heard during the unit.	-Student gives 2 or less insightful or coherent thoughts or multiple disjointed or disconnected thoughts on the new music, genres or artists that they learned about or heard during the unit.	-Student gives disjointed or disconnected thoughts on the new music, genres or artists that they learned about or heard during the unit.
Student Reflections on the Successes and/or Failures of their new Playlists Created During the Unit	-Student gives more than 3 coherent, insightful thoughts, opinions or explanations on the successes and/or failures of their new playlists.	-Student gives 3 coherent, insightful thoughts, opinions or explanations on the successes and/or failures of their new playlists.	-Student gives 2 coherent, insightful thoughts, opinions or explanations or multiple disjointed or disconnected thoughts on the successes and/or failures of their new playlists.	-Student gives disjointed or disconnected thoughts, opinions or explanations on the successes and/or failures of their new playlists.

Resources

Works Cited

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Trauma. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma/

Chafouleas, S. M., Koriakin, T. A., Roundfield, K. D., & Overstreet, S. (2018). Addressing childhood trauma in school settings: A framework for evidence-based practice. School Mental Health, 11(1), 40–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-018-9256-5

Dyck, K. (2017). Radicalism and music: An introduction to the music cultures of al-Qa’ida, racist skinheads, Christian-affiliated radicals, and eco-animal rights militants. by Jonathan Pieslak . 352 pp. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2015. Popular Music, 37(1), 144–146. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261143017000708

Henderson, Marcus D., et al. “The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Impact on Child Mental Health: A Socio-Ecological Perspective.” Pediatric Nursing, vol. 46, no. 6, 2020, p. 267+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A646530166/AONE?u=temple_main&sid=AONE&xid=40e22afd

Hill, R. L., Richards, D., & Savigny, H. (2021). Normalising sexualised violence in popular culture: Eroding, erasing and controlling women in rock music. Feminist Media Studies, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1902368

Honing, H. (2022). Music cognition. Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group.

Grevan, A. (2022). Teacher’s Perspectives on the Effects of Childhood Trauma on Student Learning and Classroom (thesis). ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor.

Rudenstine, S., McNeal, K., Schulder, T., Ettman, C.K., Hernandez, M., Gvozdieva, K. and Galea, S. (2021), Depression and Anxiety During the COVID‐19 Pandemic in an Urban, Low‐Income Public University Sample. JOURNAL OF TRAUMATIC STRESS, 34: 12-22. https://doi-org.libproxy.temple.edu/10.1002/jts.22600

MacLachlan, H. (2022). Music and incitement to violence: Anti-muslim hate music in burma/Myanmar. Ethnomusicology, 66(3), 410–442. https://doi.org/10.5406/21567417.66.3.05

Annotated Classroom Resources

ACES

https://www.philadelphiaaces.org/philadelphia-ace-survey- This website gives information about ACEs Project in Philadelphia, as well as links to a few additional resources.

https://youtu.be/X7xBbgxfvU4– This video shows an interview with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, pediatrician and author of The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity.

https://www.cdc.gov/injury/priority/aces.html –This website gives CDC statistics on the prevalence of ACES and contains links to a variety of other related resources.

The Work

“The Work is a 2017 American documentary film following three civilians on a four-day group therapy retreat with men who are incarcerated at Folsom State Prison. The film is the directorial debut of Jairus McLeary and was co-directed by Gethin Aldous. Jairus McLeary produced the film with Alice Henty and his brothers Eon McLeary and Miles McLeary.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_(film)

Paper Tigers

“Paper Tigers is an intimate look into the lives of selected students at Lincoln High School, an alternative school that specializes in educating traumatized youth. Set amidst the struggling rural community of Walla Walla, WA, the film intimately examines the inspiring promise of Trauma Informed Communities – a movement that is showing great promise in healing youth struggling with the dark legacy of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).” https://americanfilmshowcase.com/afs-films/paper-tigers/

Resilience (2016)

“The original research was controversial, but the findings revealed the most important public health findings of a generation. Resilience is a one-hour documentary that delves into the science of adverse childhood experiences and the birth of a new movement to treat and prevent toxic stress.” https://www.globalhealthfilm.org/resources/16-resilience-2016

Music’s Effect on the Brain:

How does music effect the brain– This video delves into music’s impact on the brain and body- how it can change moods, and actually change brain pathways. Listening to music as well as performing it is explored.

Why music has such profound effects on the brain– A neuroscientist who is also a vocal performer, explains how music can motivate and create connections to other people.

https://youtu.be/KVX8j5s53Os- A TEDx talk featuring Dr. Zatorre of McGill University on music’s effect on the brain.

https://youtu.be/VBxyxbZLOW0- Louise Montello, author of “Essential Musical Intelligence” and Coordinator of and Associate Professor of Music Therapy at The New School speaks to music’s ability to heal trauma in ways that other methods cannot.

Appendix

Appendix 1:

Name ___________________________ Date____________________________

Student Personal Music Log

Date/Time	Situation	*Mood Before Music and Intensity (Rating 1-10)	Type of Music Listened to/Genre	*Mood Intensity After Music (Rating 1-10)	Successful? (Did the music create the desired effect?) Yes=10 No=0

* Ratings:

10 The feeling/mood is very, very strong

5 The feeling/mood is there, but not strong

1 The feeling/mood is there, but barely noticeable

0 The feeling/mood is no longer there

Appendix 2

Name_______________________________ Date _____________________________

Music Genre Exploration

Music genres you already listen to (and will not use for this project):

________________________ ___________________ _____________________

Do you have any biases against a genre or music? If so, explain what the bias is, and why you think you have it, to the best of your ability.

______________________________________________________________________

What new music genres will you choose to research? Choose 2-4.

______________________________________________________________________

For each genre, research the following information. You may use this outline or your own (continued on the next page).

Genre # 1- _________________________

Two to three facts about this genre’s origin or history:

______________________________________________________________________

Give two older examples of the genre that you like. Include the song names and artists. You must have listened to the songs before they are written down. If possible, include links.

______________________________________________________________________

Two newer examples of the genre that you like (songs names and artists, you must have listened to them before they are written down). If possible, include links.

______________________________________________________________________

List at least one subgenre with a song example and artist.

______________________________________________________________________

Likes and/or dislikes of this genre or subgenre:

______________________________________________________________________

Genre # 2- _________________________

Two to three facts about this genre’s origin or history:

______________________________________________________________________

Two older examples of the genre that you like (songs names and artists, you must have listened to them before they are written down). If possible, include links.

______________________________________________________________________

Two newer examples of the genre that you like (songs names and artists, you must have listened to them before they are written down). If possible, include links.

______________________________________________________________________

List at least one subgenre with a song example and artist.

______________________________________________________________________

Likes and/or dislikes of this genre or subgenre:

______________________________________________________________________

Genre # 3- _________________________

Two to three facts about this genre’s origin or history:

______________________________________________________________________

Two older examples of the genre that you like (songs names and artists, you must have listened to them before they are written down). If possible, include links.

______________________________________________________________________

Two newer examples of the genre that you like (songs names and artists, you must have listened to them before they are written down). If possible, include links.

______________________________________________________________________

List at least one subgenre with a song example and artist.

______________________________________________________________________

Likes and/or dislikes of this genre or subgenre:

______________________________________________________________________

Genre # 4- _________________________

Two to three facts about this genre’s origin or history:

______________________________________________________________________

Two older examples of the genre that you like (songs names and artists, you must have listened to them before they are written down). If possible, include links.

______________________________________________________________________

Two newer examples of the genre that you like (songs names and artists, you must have listened to them before they are written down). If possible, include links.

______________________________________________________________________

List at least one subgenre with a song example and artist.

______________________________________________________________________

Likes and/or dislikes of this genre or subgenre:

______________________________________________________________________

Notes on Presentations:

______________________________________________________________________

Appendix 3:

Name ____________________________ Date ________________________________

Playlist Organizer

Excluded Genres (Those you used for the first assignment):

______________________________________________________________________

The Playlist:

Genre/Subgenre:
Targeted Situation:
Song Title/Link	Artist/Group	Reason for Choosing the Song

Reflections on how this playlist worked:

______________________________________________________________________

Appendix 4:

Name ___________________________________ Date _______________________

Characterization Log

Character:		Character Trait
What the Character Says	1.
	2.
	3.
What The Character Does	1.
	2.
	3.
What the Character Thinks	1.
	2.
	3.

Characterization Music Log

Character:
Targeted Situation:
Genre/Subgenre Chosen Based on Character Traits and Situation:

Song Title/Link	Artist/Group	Reason for Choosing the Song

Standards

5th Grade Pennsylvania ELA Standards Addressed:

Standard – CC.1.2.5.I

Integrate information from several texts on the same topic to demonstrate understanding of that topic.

Standard – CC.1.3.5.A

Determine a theme of a text from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

Standard – CC.1.4.5.A

Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

Standard – CC.1.2.5.F

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in grade-level text, including interpretation of figurative language.

Standard – CC.1.4.5.G

Write opinion pieces on topics or texts.

Standard – CC.1.4.5.V

Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Standard – CC.1.5.5.A

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions on grade-level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Standard – CC.1.5.5.D

Report on a topic or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly with adequate volume, appropriate pacing, and clear pronunciation.

6th Grade Pennsylvania ELA Standards Addressed:

Standard – CC.1.4.6.H

Introduce and state an opinion on a topic.

Standard – CC.1.4.6.A

Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information clearly.

Standard – CC.1.3.6.A

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

Standard – CC.1.3.6.F

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in grade-level reading and content, including interpretation of figurative language in context.

Standard – CC.1.4.6.V

Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.

Standard – CC.1.5.6.A

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions, on grade-level topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.