Carol Ashey

9th Grade English

Subject: Beauty in the Melody
Materials:
Copy of American Folk Song Shenandoah, daybook, writing utensil(s), hard copy or digital of a favorite
song, laptop (dictionary.com), YouTube
Student Objectives:

Students will write into the day on what they think beauty is
Students will look up the definition(s) of beauty/beautiful
Students will discuss definition of beauty
Students will watch two video clips of the song Shenandoah
Students will discuss what makes a song beautiful

Procedure:
1. Teacher will display the prompt for Writing into the Day, which students will record in their
daybooks/journals.
Writing into the Day - respond to the following or write on the topic of your choice:
How do you define beauty? Is it only superficial (skin deep), or is it more profound? Can beauty be both?
2. Teacher asks students to pull up dictionary.com and asks them to find the definition(s) of beauty
and/or beautiful ; students will write in their journals their answer to the following questions:
- How many different definitions are there?
- Do you think beauty/beautiful is only one of the definitions, many, or all?
- Which definition speaks to you the most and why?
3. discussion follows involving the texts of songs, using the following questions:
- What makes a song beautiful?
- What about a songs lyrics/melody or artists voice makes the song beautiful?
- Can only certain styles be beautiful (classical, inspirational, etc.)?
- What music genre do you find to be the prettiest to listen to?
4. Teacher will show two brief video clips of the song Shenandoah, also handing out copies
beforehand. After viewing, class will discuss the following or write in journals:
- Which video clip did you find the most beautiful and why?
- What about the combination of video and singing is beautiful?
5. Teacher asks students to pull out favorite song. Text Rendering Activity each student picks out
one word, one phrase, and one sentence from their text (song in this case). The selections
should be those that the students find especially compelling, provocative, or meaningful. They
then sit in a circle and for the first round, each reads his/her selected word; then each student in

turn reads the selected phrase; and finally, each student reads the selected sentence. Following
this reading, the students pose questions or comment on the selections in a general discussion.
6. Wrap up: teacher asks the following question:
- What have you learned from these activities/discussions?
7. Homework:
- Students are to write a 1-3 paragraph reflection on what they learned in class, what they
liked/didnt like, what would have been more helpful, clearer, etc.