Reflection on The Grapes of Wrath Project
The premise of my lesson was that students would be able to make a connection between
the themes found in The Grapes of Wrath and the contemporary song lyrics they were
familiar with. Unfortunately, most of the song lyrics they listen to didn’t really connect
with the themes. Only a few students who have a broad knowledge of songs were able to
make the connection.
I was ready to toss this lesson out completely until our mentor (Brian Swagerty) made a
suggestion that WORKED! Instead of having students connect to any contemporary song
lyrics, they will complete a short lesson on analyzing contemporary country lyrics. This
genre of music does lend itself to the kinds of themes found in The Grapes of Wrath, and
I can see the students being able to make the connections I was aiming for.
The only modification needed to my lesson plan was to change my lyric links from
general contemporary song lyrics to country music lyrics.