Program Description: Music is used to engage students in writing and songwriting while studying diverse topics, including science, social studies, and language arts.       

Lorna Roberts is a former public school teacher who taught SAIL (the Gifted and Talented Program for Charleston County) and 3rd grade at North Charleston Elementary.  She also taught music in elementary and middle schools in Berkeley County, and was a long-term sub at Ashley River School of the Arts.  During her teaching career, she completed post-graduate courses in Cooperative Learning, Critical Thinking, The Writing Project, and the Curriculum Leadership Institute in the ARTS (Arts in Basic Curriculum Project). For 9 years, she traveled to Nashville extensively to co-write with songwriters there, while teaching a monthly songwriting workshop in the Charleston area.   She has recorded and produced 3 CD’s of original songs. She currently performs in Charleston and has a private music studio where she teaches piano, guitar, ukulele, and voice.

Sample Experiences:

K-8th Grades – Writing Songs about the SC Standards

Lorna will engage students in learning about musical elements such as rhythm, rhyme, melody, beat, etc. as they work collaboratively to compose original chants, raps, and/or songs about academic concepts. Students will have the opportunity to brainstorm topics, identify rhythmic patterns, and reflect on and revise their songwriting. At the end of the Experience, students will be able to “showcase” their compositions to peers and/or parents.

3rd- 8th Grades – Civil Rights Activists of the 1960’s

Students will summarize the main idea, the most important facts regarding the topic (For example, WHO were important people during the Civil Rights movement during the l960’s, WHAT did they do that was important and WHAT do the students want other people to know about them? WHEN did it happen, and WHAT IMPACT has it had on people today? ETC.) They will use this information to create songs about their topic (either collaborating in small groups or as a whole class).

Students will continue to edit and revise their lyrics and melodies throughout the week to make them as powerful and appealing as possible. The Experience will culminate with students performing their songs in front of an audience (for ex, for another class or parents or videotaping their song to share with others later, with parents’ permission) See complete lesson plan on additional information link.