“I think it means, I’m not gonna stop the work that I started.”
2nd Grade readers, writers, and social scientists this week continued their study of the Civil Rights Movement with a song analysis. After reading some independent and some whole-class texts about the work of Civil Rights leaders, students used their budding lit analysis skills to examine a protest song, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round”. First only listening, then reading and highlighting the lyrics, students talked in table groups about what they noticed and wondered about the song’s structure and meaning: “I think it’s about ending segregation.”
And, “there’s actually only six words that don’t repeat, look!”
I think it means, I’m not gonna stop the work that I started.
Students also collaboratively wrote their own protest song about civil rights for all. Starting with a “word cloud” brainstorm, students drafted lines that had a nice rhythm and some rhyme, deciding on a catchy tune and central message about being unified in their demand for quality education for all. Across the reading rope, our students develop their decoding, writing, analysis, background information, and vocabulary in lessons that help them build connection to each other and to what it means to be kind.