Teaching With Music Videos

I really believe music videos can be a great tool in the classroom. They are easy to access texts with high interest; they can be used to scaffold or introduce high concept ideas. With music videos, like most things in the classroom, they do not teach on their own. Instead, dissecting the videos, using graphic organizers to analyze elements and having discussions or writings encourage students to see the connections between these traditionally promotional tools, literature and the world.

Good websites for music video ideas:

Youtube

MTV

Yahoo

Lists of top music videos:

Top 100

Best Music Videos of All Time

Things to consider about music videos: Make sure to watch all the videos beforehand and look up lyrics to the songs. I know many of the videos that are posted by VEVO on YouTube are edited, but use common sense and don't show booty-shakin' in your 7th grade classroom. Also, use a mix of current and older videos as to not alienate students; also, stay away from polarized heartthrobs. When using a Justin Bieber video in a classroom activity, the students turned on each other and divided themselves into BB Lovers and BB Haters. It's not good for morale.

How to Use Videos:

Literary Elements: Characterization, Plot, Symbols, Theme, Tone, Figurative Language; most videos contain elements of characterization and plot. ALL videos have a tone and audience.



Daft Punk - Around the World

Ideas for Use: This video can be used to introduce symbolism or metaphor. Each group (i.e. the skeletons, the robots) stands as a part of the music. When that part of music is in the foreground, the group is in the foreground. When multiple parts are mixing together, the groups mix together.

The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

Ideas for Use: This video can be used to look at the imagery and structure of poems. Each beat of the song has an image on the screen. These images add together to create a larger image and meaning for the video. This is like poems, where not every line needs to be decoded to get meaning, nor does a poem need to have a structure like a story.

Pre-reading Activities: Videos can be used to raise interest and introduce the targeted idea of an upcoming short story or novel. These videos can be used for a discussion or writing prompt to get students thinking about ideas or themes.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Ideas for Use: Use this with any dystopian literature (The Giver, 1984) to explore feelings of occupation, whether its understood or not. Additionally, this video allows students to think about the ideas of freedom, childhood and community.

Spiritualized - Come Together

Ideas for Use: Use this video for novels that involve highly-publicized crimes or trials, such as Inherit the Wind, Monster, Native Son, or Kafka's The Trial.

Radiohead - Just (for better video quality, click here)

Ideas for Use: This video has elements of non-conformity and finding one's identity. Use it to introduce novels like Catcher in the Rye and The Outsiders.

Critical Lenses: Using music videos to introduce critical lenses is a great idea since music videos are texts that are easier to access for most students. It's much easier to introduce the idea with a music video than a Faulkner short story. As with the other uses of music videos, they are more useful when dissected, instead of just presented. Use graphic organizers, checklists or worksheets to have students identify the elements of the lenses. Use those elements to model how to read literature critically.

The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives

Ideas for Use: Post-colonialism! Who has the power? Who takes the power? How is power earned?

Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothing (Language Warning)

Ideas for Use: Okay, so I don't exactly expect this one to be used in a classroom, but I decided to put it on here because it's funny and an example of what kinds of videos you can look for. I would use this video to talk about class theory, critical race theory and deconstruction. When deconstructing this music video, what does it say about class? This is Kanye West's voice coming out of Zach Galifianakis's mouth - what does that say about class? Race? What binaries are being broken down here? Rap videos usually don't have tractors, chainsaws or (ahem, excuse my disregard to gender theory) plain women. Yes, this is all done for humor, but there is a commentary on our society here.

Beyonce - If I Were a Boy

Ideas for Use: Beyonce examines gender roles and imagines how she would interpret events differently if she were a different gender. Your students will do that too by using this video to introduce or supplement the idea of the gender lens.

Daft Punk - Da Funk

Ideas for Use: I think this video is great to examine critical race theory and the social class lens because it presents class or race as a metaphor, instead of using real world examples of discrimination that may be too personal for students.