Nine Teaching Ideas for Using Music to Inspire Student Writing

Some of the greatest written works of our time have been inspired by music. Walt Whitman conceived of and wrote “Leaves of Grass” while listening to opera. Alice Walker, Langston Hughes, Ntozake Shange and Ralph Ellison were all moved by spirituals, jazz and blues. And Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rap musical “Hamilton” was born of his love of hip-hop. These writers understood what many educational researchers know — that music opens up pathways to creative thinking, sharpens our ability to listen and helps us weave together disparate ideas. In this teaching resource, we suggest nine exercises to use music to inspire student writing — from creating annotated playlists and critical reviews to music-inspired poetry and personal narratives. Each idea pulls from Times reporting, Opinion pieces and multimedia on music to give students a place to start. The activities are categorized according to three genres: creative and narrative writing; informative and explanatory writing; and persuasive and argumentative writing. How do you use music in your classroom? Let us know in the comments. _________ Creative and Narrative Writing Exercise #1: Write a story or poem inspired by music. One way you might let your students be inspired by music is to have them describe… Read full this story

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