#1643. Self-Esteem through Literature and Music

Music, level: Middle
Posted Fri Mar 24 11:43:09 PST 2000 by Virginia Martin (mamamartin@hotmail.com).
Ketron Middle School, Sullivan County, TN
Materials Required: reference materials; Internet access
Activity Time: 5 class periods
Concepts Taught: building self-esteem; music/literature analysis/appreciation

Based on "Think Positive: Building Self-Esteem Through Music and Poetry" by Carla Smith and posted at www.rockhall.com

Tennessee Curriculum Standard for Music 6-8: The student will listen to, alalyze and describe music.

Objective: Aurally recognize the moods and stories conveyed by the design of selected examples of program music and describe them in terms of expressive qualities.

Day 1: Divide students into groups of 4-5 and explain that each group will be responsible for a presentation relative to self-esteem as a theme in literature and/or music. Each individual is also responsible for maintaining a daily journal and writing one summary paragraph about each day's lesson. Have students go to Internet site http://216.247.94.57/thoughts/inspirational/If.htm and read "If" by Kipling. Have students discuss what the poet meant and how it relates to the topic of self-esteem. Each student should write his own response to the poem in his journal. From the menu at the top of that same site, have students also look up the lyrics to "The Greatest Love of All" and discuss what kind of love the songwriter was thinking of. Write responses in journal. From the same menu, have students click on "Who Counts" and read the selection. Write responses in journal.

Day 2: Have students use Internet site http://www.tminus.com/Inspirations/4Him.htm to read "The Measure of a Man". Guide classroom discussion to compare these ideas with those presented in the previous lesson. Write in journals.

Day 3: Have students use Internet site http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Maze/7348/justthetwoofus.html to read "Just the Two of Us" and discuss as before, writing in journals near the end of class.

Day 4: Using Internet site http://archon.educ.kent.edu/Midwest/Resc/Kansas/psplans.html as a teacher resource, guide students in discussion of issues related to self-esteem, including developing positive attitudes and becoming more assertive. Students should write in their journals at least three things which affect a person's self-esteem and three things that can be done to build self-esteem.

Day 5: Group presentations

Evaluation: 60% group presentation
40% journal