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                     OCTOBER 2007                      

Primary Blues

On September 27th, I had the unique opportunity as a secondary teacher to deliver a fifth grade lesson at Vail Elementary School .  Because my daughters attend the school, I have come to consider it a second home, especially since the campus seems constantly abuzz with all manner of activities to which now both daughters gleefully drag me!  Administrators Barbara Oglesby and Kristin Irvin are the inviting sort, so I merely had to mention my idea and it quickly became a reality. 

Fifth grade teacher Frank Bantle and I collaborated on a lesson plan involving conjunctions, and my thoughts flashed back (not a flashback!) to the 70s, as the tune for “Conjunction Junction” began to bounce around my brain. We started with defining the purpose of conjunctions, and allowed them to offer up examples of their usage. I then announced that we would be writing a song in class involving the use of conjunctions.  I gave the students a brief history of Mississippi Delta Blues and its impact on contemporary music. We included information on southern slavery, post war reconstruction, and even talked about racism and discrimination. In that framework, students were able to understand that Blues was an outlet for that pain, and it remains one of the truly American contributions to the world’s music. I wrote a standard blues progression on the white board, then we gave the students the song title “Homework Blues”.  They worked in groups for approximately fifteen minutes, following the structure provided on the board, while we checked for the usage of the conjunctions in their lyrics.  Once they were done, we took the lyrics, and with the help of my daughter Julian, who played the guitar, I sang their eight verses they had written and played the harmonica as we performed their song.  Mr. Bantle’s homework assignment to write me a” Thank You” note extended their learning, as they were required to use the conjunctions in their writing as well.  As I left the campus, I mentioned what fun I’d had to Mrs. Oglesby, who then invited me to return in order to perform the song a second time for their closed circuit television station. Given the way these “videos” leak out, I’ll have to think carefully about that offer…!