The Way to Their Hearts

I think I've found the way to my students' hearts, or at least their attention spans. Last time I tried to play music for class, my choices were too wrapped up in American hippy history and politics, and the tunes weren't catchy enough. Lately I've been playing and discussing two Beatles songs and two Green Day songs with much success.

Playing Green Day has allowed me to avoid giving in to requests for Fall Out Boy. That's a "pop-punk" group who's not-so-great music is reaching out to teenagers everywhere. There is a feature story on NPR about the group head man and his daring "guyliner." The article has some winning quotes, though I don't think I can make fun of them in class.

I'll just stick with "Yellow Submarine," because it's cute when they sing along (which many of them do).