Summary
In this lesson, students listen to a song while completing a painting activity. They collaborate to paint a list of descriptive words on their canvases based on the song. Considering the song lyrics as poetry, students analyze the song, focusing on descriptive language and sensory details. Students then create their own poems modeled after the song lyrics. Throughout this lesson, students focus on various modes of communication and how different media affect understanding and interpretation.
Essential Question(s)
How do people communicate with one another? How does the type of communication we engage in affect our message? What sensory details and descriptions are present in our world?
Snapshot
Engage
Students write about different modes of communication, paint in response to a song, and then rotate to other paintings, listing descriptive words that align with each one.
Explore
Students edit and revise the set of descriptive words for their own paintings and contribute to a class set of words related to the song and paintings.
Explain
Students analyze song lyrics as poetry, looking for figurative language, sensory details, and descriptive word choice.
Extend
Students create original poems modeled after song lyrics.
Evaluate
Students revisit the idea of varied communication and complete an Exit Ticket that focuses on what and how they learned. Students' paintings, analyses, and original poems are all options for assessment.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
3-2-1 ICAP Review (optional; attached; one per student)
What a Wonderful World Lyrics (attached; one per student)
What a Wonderful World Lyrics (Sample Student Responses)
Tweet Up (attached; one per student)
Copy paper, poster board, or white butcher paper
Painting supplies: watercolor paints, paintbrushes, water jars, paper towels, etc.
Writing materials: pens, pencils, and paper
Student devices with Internet access (optional)
Engage
35 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to facilitate the lesson. Display slides 2-4 to introduce the essential questions and learning objectives.
Display slide 5. As an introduction, start the 5-minute timer and ask students to engage in a Quick Write about ways in which they communicate with others on a regular basis. Ask them to write about specific types and examples of communication. When the timer ends, ask students to share with an Elbow Partner and then ask for volunteers to share with the whole class.
Next, have students listen to a song. The song we have chosen for this lesson is "What a Wonderful World" written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss and performed by Louis Armstrong.
Display slide 6. For the first round, play the What a Wonderful World video and ask students to listen to the song and read the lyrics without writing or doing anything. This enables students to use their listening skills as they focus just on the music and words without being responsible for any sort of product.
Display slide 7 and get students set up with painting supplies. Explain to students that as you continue to play the song, you want them to paint their interpretation of the song as they listen. Their paintings should express themselves in whatever way the lyrics and music inspire them. They can paint their moods, reactions, thoughts, etc. The activity should be open-ended.
Encourage students to express themselves freely and to try a variety of colors, brushstrokes, etc. Advise students that they will have 10 minutes to complete their paintings. Play the song again and ask students to paint as they listen. Repeat the song a few more times until students have had sufficient time to complete their paintings.
When students have finished, display slide 8. Ask students to take out a sheet of notebook paper and lay it down next to their painting. Then ask them to take a pen or pencil and rotate to another student's painting for a Gallery Walk. As students view their classmate's paintings, have them add one or two descriptive words to the paper. Students should think beyond the surface to describe the paintings. For example, naming colors and shapes is not as significant as using words such as swift, bold, connected, whole, etc. Allow students time to rotate to several paintings and continue adding to the descriptive word list next to each painting.
Explore
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 9 and ask students to return to their own paintings. Give students a few minutes to view the lists of words that their peers compiled to describe their paintings and make any revisions that they feel are necessary. Encourage students to add at least three of their own descriptive words. Students can also delete words that they feel are not relevant to their paintings.
When students have finished, they should have a detailed list of words that accurately describe their individual paintings that they can refer to as they write an original poem later in the lesson.
Display slide 10. Using a version of the Strike Out! instructional strategy, ask each student to identify the top three most descriptive words related to their paintings. After they've decided, ask them to come to the board and write the words or add them to the blank chart on slide 11. Once all students have had a chance to add their words, encourage students to analyze the list and work as a class to strike out words that they find less descriptive or not relevant. The end result should be a class list of descriptive words that students can refer to in addition to their individual lists as they write their poems.
Explain
20 Minute(s)
Display slide 12. Have students revisit their Quick Writes to edit and revise their writing. As they revise, encourage students to consider the role of non-verbal communication and elaborate on the importance and relevance of the non-verbal communication types they have been exploring in this lesson—written words and pictures (referring to their experiences in the previous activities). Start the 5-minute timer on slide 12 for students to review their original Quick Writes to edit as they see fit.
Display slide 13. Use the Think-Pair-Share strategy to structure a discussion with students about how their writing and viewpoints changed from the beginning of the lesson to now:
Give students a few minutes to think about the essential questions and formulate their own responses.
Pair up students to discuss their individual responses and formulate a shared response. (Now is a great time to use a creative pairing strategy, or you can allow students to choose their own partners.)
Ask each pair to share out with the class
Display slide 14 and pass out the attached What a Wonderful World Lyrics handout (attached) to each student. Now that they have considered how people communicate, have students analyze the lyrics using a modified version of the CUS and Discuss strategy. Ask students to collaborate with their partners from the previous activity to locate instances of figurative language, sensory details, and descriptive word choice and discuss how each is used to enhance the communication style of the song lyrics. Ask students to annotate as follows:
C = Circling the imagery (sensory details);
U = Underlining the figurative language and labeling the type in the margin;
S = Starring the descriptive words.
Once students have completed their annotations, engage them in a whole-class discussion and ask for volunteers to share what they noticed in the poem, especially in terms of figurative language, sensory details, and descriptive word choice. Mark students' observations and annotations on a class copy of the song lyrics.
Extend
35 Minute(s)
Display slide 15. Instruct each student to create a poem based on their paintings.
Display slide 16 to review the definitions of figurative language, sensory details, and descriptive words. Students should focus on these elements as they write with the goal of making their paintings come to life with words.
Return to slide 15 to review the guidelines for the poem. Ask students to get out their individual lists of descriptive words and their lyrics to What a Wonderful World, as they'll be referring to these as they write. Students should incorporate descriptive words from their own lists and from the class list, and they should model their poems after the lyrics to What a Wonderful World both in terms of structure and theme. Students' poems should use the following structure:
Five stanzas;
Four lines per stanza (except for stanza 5, which has two lines);
(Optional) A rhyme scheme similar to What a Wonderful World (The song's primary rhyme scheme is /AABC/ but stanza 3 is /AABB/ if students want to deviate.)
After students have a clear understanding of the requirements, give them time to write. Display the class list of descriptive words for them to refer to during this time.
Evaluate
5 Minute(s)
Display slide 17. As an Exit Ticket, students reflect on what they've learned about nonverbal communication through their experiences in this lesson.
Pass out one copy of the Tweet Up handout (attached) to each student. Structuring this reflection using the Tweet Up instructional strategy focuses students' thinking and requires them to use precise and concise language. Students' responses should address the lesson's essential questions (repeated on slide 18) and be limited to 140 characters or fewer (including spaces and punctuation). Responses should also include a hashtag that sums up the main idea or key point from what students learned. Encourage students to refer to their Quick Writes and other products from this lesson to assist them with their reflections.
When students have finished writing, ask them to share their responses with a small group or with the whole class. If using Padlet or K20 Jam, encourage students to provide responses to their peers as well.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Bell ringers and exit tickets. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/125
K20 Center. (n.d.). CUS and discuss. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/162
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery walk / carousel. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (2021, September 21). K20 Center 5-minute timer. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/EVS_yYQoLJg?feature=shared
K20 Center. (2024, February 5). K20 ICAP - Mural artist from Yo Bro - Think big picture. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/s8XEgjVnevg?feature=shared
K20 Center. (2023, March 14). K20 ICAP-Tattoo artist - Ink me up. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/2QHk3hmJQU0?feature=shared
K20 Center. (n.d.). K20 Jam. Tech tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/4457
K20 Center. (n.d.). Strike out. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/136
K20 Center. (n.d.). Think-pair-share. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/139
K20 Center. (n.d.). Tweet up. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/130
K20 Center. (n.d.). Quick write. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/1127
K20 Center. (n.d.) Mentimeter. Tech tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/645
Weiss, George David and Thiele, Jr. Bob. (n.d.). Lyrics. What a wonderful world. https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/9825539
Piquant. (2010, November 25). Louis Armstrong - What a wonderful world (lyrics) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE