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| Ryan Villena and Dondi Virrey of Techy Romantics performed in class today. |
My approach to teaching an elective
subject is to make it fun and understandable in the students’ terms. Let’s face
it when you hear the word “journalism” the first thing that pops into one’s
mind is “news”. And news means politics, crime and heavy stuff. But that isn’t
solely journalism. There’s investigative reporting, lifestyle and features,
sports and others.
That’s what I am trying to do.
Inculcate an interest and then get them to write. It is easier to teach them
the basics than to get them to write. That can be corrected later.
Today was Music Day where I had my
students write about songs that are the signposts of their lives right now.
That was to get them to express themselves. And every week since we’ve had the
quick write challenge, it has been more competitive and the writing better.
The kicker there is I had a classmate
of theirs read what they wrote. Was it cheesy? Nope. It was great. There was a
better understanding and appreciation for songs and people.
The second part of the class was a live
and stripped down three-song set by Techy Romantics one of my favorite bands. I
had the immensely talented Ryan Villena and Dondi Virrey present (minus Camille
Besinga-Villena) over and they spoke about the band’s origins, their music and
songwriting and where the music industry seems to be headed.
My class is supposed to write music
reviews based on what was presented vis-à-vis their electronica style as well
as how the music resonates with them. This will be presented in their group
blogs that serves as basis for reviewing their work.
Set list:
7 years
Catch me if I fall
Escape
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