Students at Tucker Valley Elementary Middle School will soon embark on a journey that will put their song writing skills to the test. Students in seventh and eighth grades will be working with another school across the state to come together and write original songs based around the common theme of West Virginia.
Angie Humphrey, Reading/Language Arts teacher at TVEMS will be working with her students to write song lyrics. The writing process will focus on rhyme scheme, poetic structure, and iambic meter. Students will only be guided in the writing process and will put their knowledge of West Virginia, creativity, and library research skills to work.
Eric Emch, music teacher at Shortline School located in Reader, will be helping students write original progressions and rhymes to go with the lyrics provided by Humphrey’s classes.
With two schools located on opposite sides of the state, students will also be using video conferencing technology to meet with their song writing teams without ever having to leave the classroom. This project will allow students to use ski9lls acquired across multiple subject areas to work towards a common goal – this being in line with the new common core standards in place across the country.
It is expected that at the end of the unit that four original songs will be written by students accross two schools from West Virginia.