Middle Ages 2 - Karaoke Ballads - The Songs of our Lives
"They grew and grew in the old church year / Till they could grow no higher, / And there they tied in a true lover's knot / The red rose and the briar." "Barbara Allen" anonymous
Karaoke Ballads - The Songs of our Lives: A lesson on Ballads - the ones from the Middle Ages, from our own lives - and they intertwince. We listen to songs, act out ballads, and hear a story that reaches across the years in my classroom. This is also the first lesson - given its nature - that I've included an audio recording of the class.
Lesson Overview
No Quiz today! Maybe the 2nd time that's happened - but there is no time. As students are walking in the classroom, I have the song "Frankie & Johnny" playing in the background - it's a modern ballad and was given in their reading.
If there is a lesson that demonstrated what I tried to be as a teacher, and I got to choose - this is the lesson that I would choose. Everything up to this point has led to where we are in class today. From the first day of class - "we read literature to know that we are not alone" - to seeing the Beowulf story through the eyes of the very modern Grendel - to yesterday's lesson on Primary Sources in the Middle Ages. The idea, I hope ever-present in my classroom, that things are not as different now as they were then. The idea that Great Literature endures - it is what is now fashionably called (and usually in reference to modern writing) high interest writing. See my Ballads Lesson Notes for Detailed Instructions for this Lesson - I use a personal story - "My search for the song "Barbara Allen" as sung by Art Garfunkel to connect the ballads and threads of this lesson - you should find a story built around any song that has meaning to you.
This lesson interweaves my personal journey through teaching Ballads over the years - with the ballads themselves. We listen to some songs (Ballads) - first, I need to convince my students that these are songs, you know. Next, they act out a ballad: "Get up and Bar the Door". This is a very funny song and it never fails to get a huge laugh from the students. All the while - I tell them of the history of one of the Ballads that we will hear: "Barbara Allen". We hear more ballads - after each, because they have done the reading - I ask them what makes that particular song a ballad - as defined by their text book. Why do these songs (and by association - the literature that we are studying) survive and thrive. A student (sometimes 2) will get up and sing "Greensleeves" ala Karaoke - and the class will sing along.
We finally get to the ballad, "Barbara Allen", and after we listen to it - I finish my story - with the very real and poignant ending that reflects the ballads, and that reflects our lives. See my lesson notes for the complete lesson instructions.
Lesson Notes & Handouts with notes
Most Recent Lesson Notes & Handouts with Notes
Some of my more readable notes, I must say. I have been teaching these Ballads my entire career - and this lesson evolved over time. Weaving the story of Adam and Chris and "Barbara Allen" just made so much sense - it is, as the kids say, "meta".
Actually more Lesson Notes...in a primitive form
Handouts
Most Recent Handouts
Ballads of the Middle Ages Handout: Docx PDF. Though the students read about 1/2 of these for homework in their textbooks - I want them to have a copy to take notes on (during our discussion) and I am giving them some that they didn't read for homework. I always think that 's a good idea - to mix up the known with the new. It allows the students to use the knowledge from their reading (there is a good intro to ballads in their text book) and apply it to something new. Almost the definition of learning. There are a total of seven ballads on the handout - though we rarely had time to get to the last one - "Saucy Sailor" - and I usually just ended up playing it as they exited the room. If you haven't noticed by now - I like to use every single second of class.
Ballads Prep Extra Credit: Docx PDF. This is a small little handout (4 to a page) to give out to students who will volunteer to sing the Karaoke Ballad on this day. I usually ask for volunteers - and give it out during the previous lesson (Middle Ages Jigsaw Group Work).
Back when we had more time with students in the classroom, I would follow up today's lesson with a group work that gave students a chance to use what we'd gone over.
The Songs played in Class
I've decided to give these as a Spotify Playlist - but most of these (if not all of these songs can be found on YouTube as well).
I have also included "John Barleycorn" - a song that we used in the Anglo-Saxon riddles. It really is a Ballad, and you should know by now how much I love connections. There is an interesting story (see my Lesson Notes) about "The Bonny Swans" - after I played it, one of my students, a musician, was so taken by it - every single day for the rest of the year - he asked if I could play it again (I never did :( ). That student, Alistair, became the rap artist that gave me his first CD with the copy of his song "Deor" - a riff on the old Anglo-Saxon poem that we heard on the first day of class.
Remote Enhancements
We did do this remotely - and I am looking for the Power Point (if there is one).
Ballads_SongsofourLives_2016.m4aClass Recordings
Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales - We will get back to the Middle Ages (nonChaucer) after the next unit - but, for now, it's time to learn about Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
An Introduction to the Middle Ages - A Jigsaw Style Group Work
Thoughts on the Lesson
I love this lesson - but it always took so much out of me. It is personal and it is heart-felt. It is the lesson that made some students fall in the love with the class and start to see the reason for all of that work - to see that it is "for real". That this very old stuff - can tell us something about our own lives, and perhaps sometimes be there for us when we need it.