English 12 students use song lyrics to hone analytical and critical thinking skills

Jordan-Elbridge High School senior Matthew Frost loves music. So it’s natural that he’s enjoying a project in Lucia Smith-Bince’s English 12 class centered on analyzing song lyrics.

Instead of reading classic or modern poetry, students in her class have been listening to “Rise Up” by Andra Day, “Blessing” by Chance the Rapper, and “Dearly Departed” by Shakey Graves.

For “Rise Up,” the class talked about how the music video is one interpretation of the lyrics. Smith-Bince then tasked the students to come up with an alternative idea for a music video based on the lyrics. During a recent class, students made observations about the video and also came up with a list of inferences.

“One of my major motivations is to make literature enjoyable for these students. I also want to build confidence in their ability to perform analysis and critical thinking independently, so I really try to choose impactful literature and value every interpretation,” Smith-Bince said.

“This unit, without a doubt, makes poetry more accessible to students. What I have found is that somewhere along the way, students have established an aversion to poetry. With song analysis, it is the exact opposite: they’re engaged, excited and interested from the start.”

Smith-Bince said the unit reinforces many of the skills students work on consistently in the ELA classroom: close reading; analysis of word choice; determining tone, mood, and theme; and figuring out the author’s purpose.

Frost said the unit presents a modern twist on studying poetry, and it incorporates elements he knows.

“I really like this. It helps me connect with the material, and it’s fun too,” he said. “Also, if I see a word I don’t know, I like looking it up.”

Smith-Bince said the student are “very into” the project and were excited to start.

“At the beginning of the school year, I give them an overview of all of the units. They were so excited when it was finally time for this one,” she added.