Day 16: Starting the Fire (A Photo-essay)

We were starting a new lesson today based on Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. (I have to give props for this lesson to Just Thinking blog, where I found this awesome idea.) We are using the song as a jumping off point for research about events that changed the direction of culture. To introduce it, I had the students take out a piece of paper and pen, told them I was going to play a song, and they had to write down as many of the lyrics as possible. They were all hunched over their papers, prepared, their eager faces staring at me, waiting for the challenge.

As the opening notes of the song sounded, they put their pens to paper and waited anxiously. And then the lyrics started. Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray... A few brave souls timidly wrote down a  line or two. Most looked at me like this:

   

I dissolved into laughter first, then told them to just listen carefully. Eventually it'll start to make sense. By the time we got to JFK blown away, what else do I have to say... we were starting to loosen up a little.

   

By the third time we've heard the chorus, we're getting somewhere. There's writing, toe-tapping, head-bobbing:

 

And I'm at the front of the room like

 

We had a great time talking about their answers. "No, sorry dear. That line was Trouble in the Suez, not garbage in the sewage." And in spite of the fact that there were a few students who were like:

  

at the end of the class, everyone was smiling and singing the song, and they left excited. Excited! About doing a research project! 

 

Totally just kidding. I'm super excited too. Monday we start the real work, and I hope the excitement carries us through.