Tone and Mood in Music - Differentiated Group Activity

This is a wonderful lesson to do with students in smaller groups! I love this activity because you can put students in homogenous groups according to their close-reading abilities. There are three songs students can analyze: Taylor Swift "Red" for more advanced students; Miley Cyrus "Party in the U.S.A." for students below or at grade level; Black Eyed Peas "Where is the Love" for students who need an additional challenge. It's a wonderful activity because students are able to view the videos and enjoy the music, while utilizing their tone and mood worksheets to identify the tone the author takes and the mood the lyrics convey.

Technology Component: Teacher is encouraged to upload document as a Google Doc and share with each small group electing one student with the power to "edit" the document while other students in the group will only "view". Each student has a role in the group. The "recorder" is required to record the group's responses in the "comment" bar in Google Docs. The rest of the group members can take on individual responsibilities such as "time keeper", "leader," etc. All group members should record on paper while the recorder types in Google Docs. Each group would present to the class once the activity is completed. Students get to combine their favorite music with the literary skills needed to examine the author's attitude towards the subject he/she is writing about and the feeling or emotion that is evoked by the text.

Includes learning target and "how will this help me grow as a reader/writer?" to keep students centered and focused on the task at hand.