Music Videos in the High School Art Classroom | Part II

This is part two of a previous post on tessellations. If you missed part one, click here.

I want to encourage the role of discovery and research in my students' learning experience. As a teacher we plan --a lot! I research and make connections and get lost as I lily pad through the internet from topic to related topic. The connections become so meaningful and relative. Unfortunately, as a teacher, it is practice to condense all this information into a powerpoint or hand out. By doing so, I feel I rob my students of the opportunity to discover and make learning meaningful to them through 'organic exploration'.

Let me share a single instance of how this unfolded for me.

I was driving to school and a song I had never heard came on the radio, Tessellate by Alt J. It was a sultry rhythmic song whose chorus struck a chord in me;


Triangles are my favorite shape
Three points where two lines meet
Toe to toe, back to back, let's go, my love; it's very late
'Til morning comes, let's tessellate

I had just completed a class unit on tessellations, so I was hyper aware. The sheer mention of the word piqued my interest.  I hurried into the studio (classroom) and Googled the song. What happened next propelled our class into what became known as Film Friday--a day of thought provoking issues and think tanks through art. Please watch before reading part III.

Without any backstory, they watched and I opened up the floor with this simple question:

"Would your parents have approved of this video being shown in class?"

Which led to, "Would they think it is educational? Why or Why not?"

Answer and share with someone else before moving to part III.