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Exhibit/Lesson C

Megan Ross

American College of Education

LIT 5373

Dr. Felicia Durden

August 2, 2022
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Introduction

In this lesson, students are given the opportunity to create a playlist of their choice. Many

students listen to music in some way, shape, or form, and music can be something that connects

us to important events in our lives, or to one another. Since music is something many students

value, this project allows them creative freedom and an ability to activate prior knowledge of

themes. Students should come up with precise moments, events or relationships in their life that

they feel has made them grow as a person. Secondly, they will think about what they learned

from these things, or what the theme was. Finally, they will choose a song that they feel

represents this and curate a playlist with descriptions of their decisions. This project and lesson is

good at the end of the Coming of Age unit, because it is a summative assessment that allows

students a lot of creative freedom while still prompting them to represent their learning.

Similarly to the project in which Pandya and Pagdilao describe that “The second way in which

we saw children enact critical, digital literacies was as designers of videos that conveyed

messages about work to the school community,” (Pandya & Pagdilao, 2015), students can

learn about their classmates experiences through the playlists that they create.

Exhibit/Lesson C

Museum Display/Lesson Title:

Exhibit/Uni Creating a Coming-of-Age Playlist

t Theme:
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Coming Of

Age

Grade Additional Resources:

Level:  https://www.readingandwritinghaven.com/engaging-secondary-

8th Grade writers-with-music-at-the-end-of-the-year

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHYOIrP0djw

 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207542

Essential Questions: Content Areas:

1. What events in your life have affected your maturity English

and growing up process? Writing

2. What did you learn through these events? Reading

3. What song represents some of the events that helped

you to grow up?

Overview of the Display/Lesson

Time Instructions

5 mins As students enter the classroom, they will find

their seats and begin their daily journal prompt in

their notebooks. Today’s prompt will get them to

begin thinking about specific events in their life

that they felt caused them to mature or learn a

valuable lesson. The daily journal prompt for the

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day will be the following question:

In what events, situations, relationships or

moments in your life have you learned a valuable

lesson that has contributed to your growth as a

person and in your maturity? Brainstorm 5

different ideas.

5 mins Teacher will invite a couple students to share their

journal thoughts if they would like.

10 mins As a full class, teacher will explain how a song can

represent a theme or a lesson learned in life.

Teacher will play the song “The Climb” by Miley

Cyrus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2zyeVRcbs

After the song, the students will turn and talk and

brainstorm what they think the theme or lesson of

the song is.

35 mins For the remainder of class, teacher will give

instructions on what she is expecting students to

complete. Students should create a playlist on

Spotify or Apple Music (instructions are in the

resources section). The playlist should contain 5-

10 songs. The songs should each be chose to

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represent a specific event/moment/relationship in

the student’s life that they feel like impacted their

maturity and that they learned something from.

Students should refer to their journal prompt from

the beginning of class to help them finalize at least

five things. After the playlist is complete, students

should write a paragraph explaining what the

lesson was that came out of each of these events

and how the songs represent that event with a

focus on how these moments help them to come of

age or grow up.

5 Wrap up & Share out

IDENTIFIER

Literacies Learner DI Delivery Content Level

ST AV AD Content Process Product Foundational Developmental Extended

Visual x x x

Digital x x x

Economic x x x

Scientific x x x

Critical x x x
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GLOSSARY

Strategies for Struggling Learners:

Strategies/Description:

 Struggling Learners may just want to brainstorm 3 events, moments or relationships that

have impacted their maturing process.

 Struggling Learners may want to present their thinking in a different way, like sketching,

a physical list instead of creating the playlist on one of the streaming platforms.

Strategies for Average Learners:

Strategies/Description:

 Average Leaners may want to only include 3 songs in their playlist. They may want to

present their thinking in a different way.

 For example, if this learner is not a music fan, it may take them longer to find songs to

represent their event. They may want to present their learning in a different mode. For

example if a student prefers sketching, they might prefer to make a comic strip instead of

a playlist.

Strategies for Advanced Learners:

Strategies/Description:
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 Advanced Learners may want to represent their learning a more final fashion. They can

make a more detailed description of what each song represents, create a qr code for the

playlist and publish it on posters to post around the school, or create a presentation on

their playlist.

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.7

Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question),

drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for

multiple avenues of exploration.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.2

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

information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

Process:

Process/Description:

Students will respond to a journal prompt, listen to a song and discuss theme/lesson with a

partner, and then create a playlist that represents their own personal experiences with growing

up.

Product:

Production/Description:
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Final product should be a playlist with 5-10 songs and a description of each detailing what the

lesson learned was from the event and how the song represents this particular moment or

relationship in their life.

Foundational Level:

Level/Description

Foundational Level learners should aim to complete a playlist with at least 3 songs.

Developmental Level:

Level/Description

Developmental students should complete the assignment as explained, choosing to show their

thinking in a different format if desired.

Extended Level:

Level/Description

Extended level students should present their final playlist in some way. They may share with the

class through a presentation, make posters with their playlist available, or create an argument or

video explaining their playlist.

Conclusion

Overall, there are new and old literacies incorporated into this assessment and lesson. The

playlist project teaches not only theme but also how personal experiences and relationships affect

the process of growing up or coming of age. Students are able to use music to express how they
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feel in their personal lives, and they can do this through digital literacies. The playlist project

activates prior knowledge and allows students creative freedom to express how they feel their

maturing process is similar. Or different to others.

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References

English Language Arts Standards  Writing Grade 8

.  Common Core State Standards. http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/8/

Melissa Kruse.ENGAGING SECONDARY WRITERS WITH MUSIC: PLAYLIST OF MY

YEAR  . Reading and Writing Haven: A Blog for

Educators. https://www.readingandwritinghaven.com/engaging-secondary-writers-with-

music-at-the-end-of-the-year

Pandya, J. Z., & Pagdilao, K. C. (2015). 'It's complicated': Children learning about other people's

lives through a critical digital literacies project. Australian Journal of Language &

Literacy,  38(1), 38-45.