I found several articles to that could prove to be helpful resources when it comes to incorporating popular music in to the classroom. I initially searched for ways to use popular music in the classroom. Then I narrowed my search to using popular music teach English. However, the majority of the articles that surfaced were regarding teaching English as a language. There were a few that focused on teaching grammar as well. I then changed my search to using popular music to teach literature. This resulted in a few strong sites as well.
Popular Music in the Classroom: Teaching Race, Class, and Gender with Popular Culture by Theresa A. Martinez
http://www.jstor.org.floyd.lib.umn.edu/stable/pdfplus/1319141.pdf
I originally found this in my search but only the first page was available. I then search the UMN library system for the article in its entirety. I thought that it was an excellent article. Martinez gives examples of songs and lyrics that could be used in the classroom to address a variety of topics including child abuse, prejudice/discrimination, race, class, gender, etc. She explains that her objective is to stimulate discussion with her students and the song lyrics provide a great springboard. The music examples she provides definitely seemed geared towards the older grades.
The Give and Take between Song Lyrics and Canonical Text Helps Students Read and Appreciate Classic Literary Works by Christian Z. Goering
http://www.corndancer.com/tunes/tunes_rsrch.html
This link takes you to a research article in a great website called Lit Tunes. I will reference this site more when I take about potential lesson plans. The article discusses that using popular music in the classroom can enhance reading and the understanding of literature. That we as educators are constantly trying to reach and connect with our students and that they are “increasingly disengaged.” Popular music is considered an avenue to peak their interest, so they can make connections between music and literature. Music can be use to introduce a unit as a “pre-reading” activity or it can be embedded into the unit. Goering states:
“I am not suggesting that we replace traditional texts with contemporary music and popular music in the secondary English classroom. What I am suggesting is that we pair pieces of classic literature with contemporary music, allowing some of the natural, thematic connections to come to the surface and allowing our students to see these connections and their relevance to their own lives.”
This site had several units and lessons available that embedded popular music into the heart of the lesson.
Pop Songs in the Classroom by David Mower
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/opportunities/pdfs/pop_songs.pdf
This was a more general article giving some basic examples for incorporating music into a classroom. He gave an example to use for grammar, which could be interesting. He suggested using the lyrics of a song and leaving gaps in the song. The students would have to fill the gaps with the correct verb tense or prepositions. However, this article was more focused on teaching English as a language.
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