English Language Arts With Taylor Swift- An Exploration of Her Inspiration

Taylor swift has been in the spotlight since the age of sixteen. In the past couple of decades, she had built an empire. She has been named Time's Person of the Year, won fourteen Grammys, forty American Music Awards, thirty-nine Billboard Music Awards, and twenty-three MTV Video Music Awards, and much more. She is an icon, admired by many.

     As Swifties know, her albums are divided into eras, each with a unique sound and thematic focus. We will dive into each, exploring her songs and their literary influences. Learners will read and analyze the texts that inspired her while looking for their influences in her lyrics. We will also take a biographical approach by considering some the life events that influenced her work. Class will be divided into her eras. Most of the content does not build on previous lessons, meaning learners can join at any time. The eras with building content have been noted below.

This class mainly relies on other texts, and will cite Swift's lyrics at times. Learners will be reading what she has read and loved. How exciting! Throughout the eras, we will have novel and poetry studies, as listed below. We will discuss the texts in class and complete various activities in regards to them. We will write at times, and have other activities such as trivia (on Gimkit or Kahoot), but most of the class will consist of preplanned discussion questions to help us think more critically and dive deeper into the literature. 

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SCHEDULE:


Taylor Swift (2006) Era

Week of August 11: 
Swift Trivia- How well do you know the pop star?
Study: "The Outside" & Robert Frost's "The Road not Taken."

Week of August 18
Literature Elements
Songs: Tim McGraw, Teardrops on my Guitar, Our Song, Picture to Burn

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Fearless (2008) Era
Multimedia Study: Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare & Romeo + Juliet (movie, 1996)
There is no way I could teach this class without us reading Romeo and Juliet!
Songs: Love Story

Week of August 25: Acts 1-3
Week of September 1: Acts 4& 5
Week of September 8: Movie discussion

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Speak Now (2010) Era
Focus: Literary Elements
Songs: Enchanted, Haunted, The Story of Us, Mean, Back to December

Week of September 15: Setting, plot development, tone, mood, 
Week of September 22: Conflict, climax, theme

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Red (2012) Era
Poetry Study: Tonight I Can Write by Pablo Neruda
Focus: Themes Exploration
Songs: All Too Well

Week of September 28: Paired text study of the above

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UPCOMING


1989 (2014) Era*
*This era has material that builds with the novel study, so new learners should either join the week we begin the study, or the week after we finish it.

Novel Study (3 weeks): Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 
Focus: Motifs, symbolism, extended metaphors, look at it as allegory for growing up & analyze it in that framework, also examine it as satire for the Victorian treatment of children
Songs: Wonderland, Bad Blood, Blank Space (satire), I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) (Red)- The music video references the novel quite a few times in its imagery. 

Week of October 6: Pre-reading and discuss through Chapter 6; set up allegory & satirical frameworks

Week of October 13: Discuss through the end; watch movie for homework.

Week of October 20: Novel Project

Week of October 27: Happy Halloween!! "You've got your demons, and darling they all look like me." Which song(s) would best fit in a horror movie. Think of your favorite horror movie, even if it's It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and create a TSwift soundtrack for it, recut movie trailer/music video, or TikTok-like video. We will read an article for inspiration, and play a game... is it a line from a horror movie, or TSwift song?

Week of November 3: Finish and share project. 

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Reputation (2017) Era*
*This era has material that builds with the novel study, so new learners should either join the week we begin the study, or the week after we finish it. Taylor is a huge Great Gatsby fan. Of course we could not have this class without reading the novel! It's inspired and alluded to in many of her songs. 

Week of November 10: 
Poem Study (1 week)- "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath
Focus: Imagery, tone
Songs: Mirrorball, Look What You Made me Do


Novel Study (4 weeks): The Great Gatsby 
Focus: Theme Exploration- Deception, Reclamation (Taylor took back her image and embraced the snake iconography)
American History Background: The Gilded Age, The Jazz Age (nonfiction texts pairings will be provided)
Songs: Happiness (Evermore), This is Why we Can't Have Nice Things, Don't Blame Me, Delicate, I did Something Bad, Look What You Made me Do



Week of November 17: Chapters 1-3, Happiness, Delicate
Week of November 24: Chapters 4-5, This is Why we Can't Have Nice Things, LWYMMD
Week of December 1: Chapters 6-7, I Did Something Bad, Don't Blame Me
Week of December 8: Chapters 8 & 9, Novel Project
Week of December 15: Novel Project

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Lover (2019) Era
Focus: Theme, Message, Social Justice & Making a difference- fighting homophobia, misogyny, and racism, KINDNESS
Songs: The Archer, The Man, You Need to Calm Down, ME!
Activities: Let's make signs and friendship bracelets, kindness challenge! Do a good deed or give out friendship bracelets to strangers, leave kind messages in random places,  share quotes that inspire kindness, love, and acceptance; Write letters to elected officials advocating for LGBTQ+ rights

Week of December 16:
The Archer, The Greek Myth of Apollo, Bonus: Cassandra
Assignment: Do a good deed, even the smallest thing can help. 

*WINTER BREAK*

Week of January 6:
Harvey Milk Bio, You Need to Calm Down, History & symbolism of the Pride flag
Activity: Make friendship bracelets for friends and strangers. 

Week of January 13:
Marsha P. Johnson Bio, ME!
Activity: Research local laws in your are, find shortcomings, and write a letter to an elected official advocating for those that need it. 

Week of January 20:
The Man, research & share a feminist icon with the class
Homework: Leave kind messages in random places,  share quotes that inspire kindness, love, and acceptance.

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Folklore (2020) Era

Novel Study (6 weeks): Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte*
*This era has material that builds with the novel study, so new learners should either join the week we begin the study, or the week after we finish it.
Focus: Story elements, feminist themes
Songs: Invisible String, Mad Woman, Dear Reader (Lover), 

Biographical Study: Rebekah Harkness (nonfiction text provided in class)
Focus: Satire, first-person narrative, feminist themes
Songs: The Last Great American Dynasty
This is a biographical study of the life of Rebekah Harkness, who once lived in a house Taylor purchased, and whom Taylor felt a soul connection to, without ever having met her. 

Poetry Study:  The Lake Poets- selections from Williams Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, Dorothy Wordsworth
Songs: The Lakes

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Evermore (2020) Era 

Poetry Study: The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, Selections from Emily Dickinson and Susan Gilbert Dickinson, including "One Sister have I in our house." 
Focus: Themes- grief and haunting
Songs: Ivy, Evermore, Long Story Short (relate to Alice in Wonderland)

Historical Study: Women persecuted as Witches- Salem Witch Trials
Songs: Willow, Mad Woman (Folklore), I did Something Bad (Reputation) 
Literature: "Witch Burning" by Sylvia Plath
Focus: Motifs and allusion
Activity: Research project- pick a woman accused of witchcraft and research her (Joan of Arc, Tituba, Stevie Nix, The Bell Witch, Hecate...)

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Midnights (2022) Era

Independent Study
Focus: Literary devices and inspiration
Songs: Full track exploration looking for literary devices. We will go over the tracks together, then learners will perform research and work independently to see what literary inspirations are in her Midnights album. 

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Tortured Poet's Department (2024) Era

(I have a bit of analysis and listening to do since this was just released and is a MASSIVE album, so this may change. I am really just getting some ideas out here and will get feedback from learners before finalizing these plans.)

Literature Study: The Greek myth of Cassandra
Focus: Making connections, compare & contrast
Songs: Cassandra

Literary Analysis & Debate
Focus: Supporting claims, text evidence
Songs: So High School
We will analyze and discuss the song together, then learners will pick a side- do they believe this is about Taylor and Travis, or not? They will be given a few minutes to prepare their argument, focusing on supporting themselves with evidence from the song and Taylor's life and current relationship. We will then have a debate, which I will preface by saying neither side is right/wrong (at least that we can confirm as of yet), and going over some ground rules for healthy and friendly debates. After this, learners will have some time either write a paragraph or a full essay supporting their claim. Essay outlines will be provided. 

Poetry Study: Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith- "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” “Under Milk Wood,” and “Fern Hill,” "People Have the Power," & "About a Boy." 
Songs: TTPD

Novel Study: Peter Pan
Songs: The Anthology

Short Story Narrative Study: Rapunzel  & The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Songs: The Albatross

Biography & Multimedia Study: Clara Bow