contributed by Lauren Rosenberg

Introduction to Unit 2: The Calendar and Music activity

by Carol Bailey

The objective of these activities is to sensitize students to different levels of comprehension, in preparation for close analytical reading of published essays. I use familiar experiences, such as viewing a picture and listening to music to convey the idea that we interact with text at different levels everyday.

Activity 1

I display a very colorful calendar with several tropical fruits. I ask students to say, without thinking too deeply about the picture (off the ‘top of their heads’), what comes to mind at first glance.

After writing several responses on the chalkboard, I ask students to:

1. Say why they gave the responses they did in the first part of the activity.
2. Talk about other ideas that come to mind as they study the picture more carefully.
3. We then talk about associations, memories, etc. triggered by the picture. I encourage students to explore feelings and sensory images.

Activity 2

I play, once or twice, a Jamaican dancehall song with a “catchy” rhythm. As we did in the previous activity, we talk about initial responses. We then move on to other levels:

1. Did you hear the words? We talk about what the song is really saying (simply decoding the meaning).
2. What are some of the hidden meanings?
3. We talk about social, ideological, and moral implications of the song.

We conclude by exploring how the interaction with the picture and song is similar to interacting with a written text. Our next session will include discussion of the first “Text Wrestling” essay.