Lyrical Legacy - More Ideas for the Last Few Days

The final days are here! As you wind down your teaching, here is another way students can reflect on their learning and create a "Lyrical Legacy." Have your students create original song lyrics to the tune of a familiar song! These songs can be a review of the content learned, a parody of funny classroom moments, or a combination of the two.

First show (or sing, if you aren't shy) your students some examples. Try these...


Mrs. Burke is a GREAT rapping math teacher! I would love to be in her class!




This is funny but a bit mature for my middle schoolers.



A great song about pi to the tune of Jenny, Jenny 867-5309 for you 80s fans.

Some science song lyrics to a few Christmas tunes.

Language Arts songs.

If you are looking for a way to fill up several class period, then give very little structure to the project. Let students pick whatever song they would like (this alone will take them a LONG time to reach a consensus). In groups or pairs, have the students select a song and then rewrite the lyrics to include what they learned this year. Alternatively, you could give each group a specific topic or unit to make their song about.

However, if you are looking for a short and sweet way to do a lyrical review then follow these steps:

1. Have students form groups of three.
2. Assign groups a topic and have them brainstorm a list of terms and phrases about the assigned topic.
3. Give students a list of 3-5 songs and remember that the simpler the song is then the easier it will be for students to rewrite the lyrics (ex. twinkle twinkle little star, row row row your boat, baa baa black sheep, the Barney Song, etc)
4. Using their list of terms and phrases, have students change the lyrics.
5. Groups practice their songs and then present them to the class.
   

Tape the songs so you have them for years to come and this will create a "Lyrical Legacy." Then when you teach each topic, you can show the students the videos or play the recordings. They will be so excited to create songs because they will know that you may use them with your future students.

Have fun and let me know how they turn out!