Does Taylor Swift have a place in the ELA Classroom?

Well, let's get this out in the open:  I'm NOT a Swiftie.  I hope we can still be friends, but Tay Tay doesn't have a hold on me in pure Swiftie fashion.  To be clear, I'm also not a hater.  I'd call myself “Taylor-Neutral”.

Whether you are a die-hard fan or completely out of the scope of Swiftie life, it's impossible to ignore the continually rising wave of her cultural power.  Named 2023's Person of the Year by TIME Magazine, Taylor has more than earned her spot in a national conversation – and I bet you she's part of many conversations in your classroom.

And here's the thing:  if your students are talking about Taylor, then so should you.  This is an open door into engagement and skill building that is not to be missed. 

In some ELA teacher circles, I see a hesitation to bring the world of pop culture into our sacred space of literature and critical thinking, but here’s the thing: pop culture and trending icons of the moment are vital tools in getting our students to cross that bridge from their worlds into the deep thought and skill practice that we want so much for them. It may be Taylor today, but keep your eye on other trends that can work in a similar fashion: to create a connection and start a deeper conversation.

Here are three ways to pull the power of Taylor into your classroom and spike engagement among your students:

I already LOVED teaching my annual Person of the Year assignment, but holy smokes, this year will lead to some exciting debate.  Did Beyonce get the honor a few years ago?  Nope.  Did Taylor?  She sure did.  Last year's award went to the President of Ukraine as a war raged on, and this year's award goes to Taylor…as the world continues to fall apart.

The conversations and writing possibilities around this assignment are endless, but perhaps the most interesting conversation I've ever had with students was determining the criterion for “Person of the Year”.  How can a pop icon win it one year, but political leaders earn it in another?  What should be considered when choosing the “Person of the Year”?

Taylor Swift's commencement address at New York University has been a favorite of teachers for a long time.  This assignment is a highly engaging way to get students to practice their rhetorical analysis skills and break down Swift's approach in sending off a class of graduating students.  It’s inspirational for our high school students to envision this stage of their lives - whether or not students are college-bound. The speech is about moving into adulthood and holding firm to one’s identity - a message that will resonate with all students.

This lesson is wonderful to do as an introduction to rhetorical analysis (although it is a bit longer than I’d like — I suggest cutting it a bit) or to use independently as students are reviewing what they’ve learned about SPACE CAT and rhetorical analysis.

Here's what one teacher had to say about this lesson: 

“My students LOVED this activity and had some really rich, analytical discussions as a result. I did end up modifying some questions, but this resource was invaluable. The kids were super engaged because Taylor Swift is either super loved or super hated.”

— Elizabeth E

If either of those two ideas aren't what you need right now, maybe this podcast episode will give you the inspiration you're looking for.  A few months ago, I had the delight of collaborating on a Taylor-Made episode of The Spark Creativity Podcast.  In the episode, I share an idea for using my rhetorical triangle graphic organizer with some of her songs for a quick and engaging lesson.  Many more fabulous ELA authors contributed, so make sure to give it a listen!

I hope you've got some ideas now to capitalize on the Taylor energy that seems to always be around.  Have a wonderful week at school!

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Four Review Games & Activities for the AP Lang Exam

Test prep is a mixed bag of emotions for me. Teaching to any test is a quick trigger of my fury, but after time and experience with the AP Language and Composition exam, I’ve really shifted my mindset. In many ways, the entire course is test prep. The course is backwards designed: exam at the end, curriculum built from back to front to support the skills needed to perform on said exam. But what’s different about the Lang exam than any other test I’ve ever experienced in the secondary education world is that I care about these skills.

Are the timing constraints, blind prompts, and other testing factors perfect? Not by a long-shot, but time after time, I’ve seen my students flourish as writers over the course of a year as they prioritize the skills that show up on the exam.

So here’s the thing: we don’t talk much about the exam during the year. Yes, we do some timed writes, but those are for me to measure progress and less about “prepping” for the exam. But when it gets closer to exam time, we do start to talk more about the components of the exam and discuss the different ways students would benefit from reviewing the coursework and practicing the skills before test day.

These are four of my favorite review activities that I wanted to pass along. I hope you find a few gems here and can take a bit of the workload off your shoulders this May!

1. Choice BoardS

Not every student needs to work on the same things, and this is where a choice board comes in so incredibly handy. With a choice board, you can create categories of review study and load each category up with options that will review, give practice, or challenge students as they prepare for the exam. I design my choice boards in either Google Slides or Canva. In Slides, I build the board using VIEW —>. TEMPLATE, basically building out the “background” of the slide. Then, I add buttons on top of that background that are clickable and linked to various review materials. In Canva, I make the board, link each box, and then share a VIEW ONLY link with students. It makes no difference at all what you use — it’s all up to your comfort level. I have one made and ready to share if you want to take a peek and see if what I have will work for your students, too.

2. Mother Knows Best (Disney)

When it comes to reviewing for RA, there’s nothing more that I love than using some Disney. Disney songs (and so many other songs in musicals) are plot based, therefore, the characters that are singing often have an agenda of some sort. Take Mother Godel, for instance. After kidnapping the princess to take advantage of her magical hair, Mother Godel has a lot invested in this tower situation. It’s imperative that she keep Rapunzel in that tower locked away, so when Rapunzel starts to get a bit curious and ask questions, Mother Godel shuts down that show pretty darn fast. Using Disney songs and movies are a playful way to review RA skills, and at this time of the year should be pretty easy for students to dive into in small groups without teacher assistance. I also use these to introuce rhetoric, but a Mother Godel lesson in October is a very different from one in May. Use it how it best suits you!

3. Commencement Speeches

There are many benefits to using commencement speeches for exam review:

• They fit into the end of the year feel and thematically feel like a natural fit this time of year

• Commencement addresses are frequently used on FRQs if you check out past exams

• There are plenty of engaging, interesting speakers to choose from all across YouTube

Depending on the speech, you might need to amend the length, but other than that, these speeches are abundant and easy to find. I like to take these speeches and break them up into pieces and make small groups experts on each piece. We then bring the pieces together for a “work as a whole” conversation and that is usually very powerful in preparation for exam day.

A few more speeches I love using:

4. Spare Change Game Show

If you’re looking for a whole class, interactive, hysterical and fun way to practice argument, The Spare Change Gameshow is it. All you need is a coin to flip and a timer! Using my slide deck, students are paired up and face off arguing for and against a wide set of claims. My favorite part of this exercise is that the coin decides the students’ argumentative fate: heads must argue the affirmative, and tails must argue the negative. It makes no difference whether or not they actually agree or disagree with the claim: they must comply with their coin’s decision.

So there you have it, folks. My four favorite ways of exam prep before the AP Lang Exam. I hope one of these resonated with you and that you have a wonderful end of your school year with students. Let me know in the comments how you’re feeling this year and which of these review materials you plan on using!

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