One of the best assignments I ever had…
In my high school Sr. government class (graduated in 2005) I was assigned to choose one song as my “political anthem.” While many students in the class chose the popular “American Idiot” by Green Day, I chose “Futures” by Jimmy Eat World. I then had to go through line by line and explain what the lyrics said to me, and why it was important.
This was great, because it: 1) forced me to think about what I thought politically and 2) Find what artists were saying.
I plan on using something like this with my kids when teaching, because it is fun and effective. The kids get to pick from whatever genre they like, and you get to have them think. it is a win-win.
I find it very hard to believe that there could be no discussion started if the lyrics or video for the Flobots’, “Handlebars“ or Serj Tankian’s “Empty Walls“ was shown to a class.
Can you imagin a class having no comment to those?
