Midnight's Children Day 15: Book 1 Reflection: Saleem Sinai's Infinite Playlist (Computer Lab) Time 50 minutes Setting

This course is a Senior elective entitled "Literature from Around the World." It consists of 25 students, 10 male and 15 female. 10 students are white while 8 are African America. 6 are Latino/a, and one student is Asian. Five of the Latino students are bilingual Spanish speakers, but they are not classified as ELL. One student has ADHD. All students are of varied ability.

Theory into Practice/Background Students have now finished reading all of Book One of Rushdie's Midnight Children, and it is time to reflect on what they have read. In order to do this, I decided to devise a fun project that would incorporate technology and have students create something interesting that still requires them to engage in a thoughtful analysis of the text. Students will use the Audacity software to mix together a song of their choosing that relates to the text with a quote taken directly from the text and a brief explanation of their song choice and how it reflects some aspect of Rushdie's work. Students will work in small groups, each group member having been assigned the same chapter of the book from which to draw their inspiration. Together, they will create the playlist that best constitutes the soundtrack of Rushdie's work. This allows students to hit on each of the four components that Burke describes as constituting effective teaching and learning. Students will be engage in a constructive act with actual authenticity. (9) Once the playlist is compiled, it will be played in the class room during individual work time and students can receive MP3 CD versions of the playlists for their own use. While this may not be the grandest form of socially conscious authenticity, it is important to note that music is an important way in which people

connect with their environment and each other. The act of sharing music with others and assigning meaning to music is an integral part of our social behavior and one of the most powerful ways in which we formulate relationships both with concepts and with people. Students will also be occupying this process by utilizing skills with interdisciplinary applications. Audacity is great audio editing software that can be used to make podcasts, mix together music, and achieve a whole range of goals both inside and outside the classroom. This activity is an easy introduction into the software that establishes a zone of proximal development to build upon in later classes and activities. (11) Students will also have to negotiate meaning with their peers in order to produce a playlist that effectively expresses something about Rushdie's work. Will they arrange their songs chronologically? Will they chose to target their focus toward a thematic arrangement? Or, will they arrange their entries based on the aesthetic relationships between the songs? In answering these questions, students will be engaging with key questions of the text in an unexpected format. (15) Finally, the final playlist will open the door to a larger conversation about the text where students can interrogate each other's choices and have access to another person's interpretation of the text that is at once deeply personal and appropriately public. (19)

Objectives Students will, as a class, compose a playlist of music that serves as an appropriate soundtrack to the first book of Midnight's Children supplemented with audio recordings of the students reading selected quotes from the text and explaining how the songs relate. Students will be able to use the Audacity software. Materials This lesson will be conducted at the computer lab. Every student will need to bring a selection of songs on a CD or flash drive that relates to one of the chapters of book one and a copy of the

lyrics. The teacher will need to have writable CDs for students to use, microphones for all of the computers, and Audacity software installed on all of the computers. Preparation The teacher will need to ensure that all microphones are connected properly and are functioning. They will also have to check to see that all computers have a working copy of Audacity software on the computer. Procedure During the previous class period, the teacher will have distributed the Saleem Sinai's Infinite Playlist assignment sheet and provided students who needed them with writable CDs to copy their music. Students will meet in the computer lab to work on completing their playlists.

The teacher will begin the class by demonstrating how to use Audacity by importing music from the desktop and recording audio. The teacher can also show how to apply various effects to recordings. The teacher will also show how to remove sections of audio where the speaker made a mistake or there was interrupting noise. Students are instructed that if they mess up or are interrupted, that it is better to pause while the microphone continues recording and take it again. They can simply edit out the problematic audio which is easier than having to start the recording over or edit in other components later. The teacher will take any questions students have about using the software. 10 minutes

The teacher will turn the students loose to follow the instructions on the sheet and create their mixed recordings. However, students should spend at least a couple of minutes rehearsing their parts prior to recording. During this time, the teacher will circulate to help individual students. The teacher should avoid addressing the class as a whole as it may interrupt recordings. He/she should keep track of the time remaining in class on the board. 30 minutes

With ten minutes remaining in class, the teacher should have students begin wrapping up their activity by finalizing their song orders and submitting their playlists. If students have finished all criteria of the activity, the teacher should gauge the sentiments of students as they expressed in their reflections. What did they feel were the benefits of this activity? Would they like to do it again. 10 minutes

Discussion Ideas Why is music a good way of accessing aspects of character, theme, and tone in a text? How does your song relate to the narrative? What aspect of the text is represented? How will your group arrange their songs? Thematically? Chronologically? Why? Accommodations ESL: By giving this assignment to students the night before and allowing them to rehearse on their own and in class prior to recording, it will lessen the stress on those who do not speak English as their primary language. ADHD: This student will have the opportunity to play around with the software and experiment with different ways of presenting the information. It will be important to monitor the student to ensure that he/she stays on track throughout the activity. Assessment The assignment sheet and rubric for this assignment is attached. Extension Ideas If students responded positively to this activity, I would repeat it at the end of each book in Midnight's Children. I will also play the playlist in class during the individual work time if it is not too distracting. I would also consider having students listen to the entire playlist and do a reflection activity on how well we were able to capture the spirit of Rushdie's text through music.

Source of Activity I would like to thank Caitlin Stevenson, Liana Cabrera, and Jason Peterson for their support in devising this lesson. I would also like to thank the makers of Audacity for producing such userfriendly and effective software and making it available to anyone for free. Resources and References Burke, J. The English Teacher's Companion: A complete guide to classroom, curriculum, and the profession, (3rd ed). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 2007 Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's Children. New York: Penguin, 1991. Illinois State English Language Arts Goals 2.A.5b Evaluate relationships between and among character, plot, setting, theme, conflict and resolution and their influence on the effectiveness of a literary piece. 1.B.5c Evaluate a variety of compositions for purpose, structure, content and details for use in school or at work. These standards will be achieved not only in the student's ability to demonstrate their knowledge of the text, but the connections that they draw between the text and the songs will demonstrate their ability to utilize techniques of literary analysis to non-literary media.

Saleem Sinai's Infinite Playlist

Now that we have finished reading Book One of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, we are going to work together as a class to design the perfect musical soundtrack to accompany the story. We will select songs that track the tone, themes, plot, and characters as they progress through this opening section of Rushdie's text. What you need to do is: -Divide yourselves into groups of three with one group of four. Each group will be assigned a chapter of the text. -Select a song that you feel best represents the chapter you have been assigned. Try to be creative and think of unique and original songs that connect to the chapters in unexpected and interesting ways. It's very easy to select a run-of-the-mill pop song about love and relate it to Aadam and Naseem's relationship, but in order to receive full credit, you will need to put a little more thought into it. Consider a song that represents multiple aspects of the text. Remember the themes that we have discussed in class: Fate and Determinism, Magical Realism, The Individual Experience of History, etc. -Once you have selected your song, select a quote from the text that most directly relates to the song. Next, write a short description of your song, listing the artist, album, and release date, and briefly explain how the song is related to the novel and your quote. -Bring your song to class tomorrow on a CD or jump drive. I can provide those that need them with writable CDs. -Tomorrow we will work in the computer lab. You will upload your song to the computer, import it into Audacity using the instructions provided below. -You will make an audio recording of yourself reading the quote as well as a second recording of yourself reading the accompanying description that you have written. -Mix the recordings together with your song so that the quote leads into the song which is followed by your description. Be sure to use "Fade" and other audio effects where necessary to enhance the aesthetics of your recording. -As a group, share your final recordings with one another and decide on the order of songs that would work best for your chapter. Will you arrange things thematically or chronologically? The choice is up to you. -Send the final recordings and the order as email attachments to me. If the files are too large to fit in an email, we will use the jump drive to transfer them. -Finally, write a short reflection about this process. Did it help you to better understand the text? Did it make you consider anything that you had not thought about before? Would you recommend that we do this project again? What would you change about this assignment? Once all of the playlists are in, I will construct a master playlist that we can play during silent reading or individual work activities. I will also make it available on MP3 CDs to students upon request.

Audacity Instructions Upload the song to the computer desktop using iTunes or Windows Media Player. Open Audacity and click on File > Import > Audio. Select the file from the desktop. Use the red button to record. The Selection Tool allows you to highlight sections of audio so that you can copy, cut, or apply effects. The Time Shift Tool allows you to move audio chronologically.

Grading Rubric: 17 points Total All components (Quote, Song, Description) are present and arranged properly. 3 points Connection between the song and text is both clearly defined and properly explained: 5points Selection of the song and its connection are creative and show serious consideration: 4 points The mixed audio sounds good. The volume of all components are balanced and the pieces do not sound distorted or crackly: 2 points The vocally delivery is strong. The speaker obviously rehearsed before recording. Their voice did not falter too much. They sounded confident and enthusiastic in their presentation: 3 points