If you ask the average high school student to identify literary devices like assonance or internal rhyme, you'll probably get a blank stare. Ask them the lyrics to their favorite song and you'll get an earful.

That simple truth inspired Manhasset High English teacher Joie Hinden to make an innovative change in her curriculum. She used contemporary rock song lyrics to help students analyze and identify poetic literary devices. The experiment was a hit, engaging students while preparing them for the English Regents.

Hinden shared her secrets in "Rockin' & Rollin' with the New English Regents," a workshop she presented earlier this year at the Statewide Conference on Inservice Education.

"Lyrics are simply poetry set to music," explained Hinden, a member of the Manhasset Education Association. "Searching for literary devices in contemporary music allows students to bring their world into the classroom."

After a brief overview of the curriculum, workshop participants paired up and put their skills to the test analyzing lyrics for the song You Get What You Give by The New Radicals.

While the song played in the background, Hinden stressed the importance of screening student song lyric choices before the assignment begins.

"While it is important to allow students to bring their music into the classroom, they must select appropriate songs and lyrics," she said. "Songs should not contain offensive language or inappropriate subject matter."

Lyrics also can be the starting point for a cross-disciplinary approach that spans history and other subjects. Hinden has designed a rock 'n' roll unit around singer Billy Joel's song We Didn't Start the Fire. The song is peppered with historical references; Hinden's students analyze and research a stanza of facts and use contemporary issues to create their own lyrics.

"Students work in pairs analyzing the poetic devices Billy Joel used," she said. "Then they write lyrics in a parallel form. For instance, if Billy Joel used metaphors in his stanza, they need to do the same."

Students sing or chant their lyrics during the last class of the unit.

"This becomes a social event," said Hinden. "I almost always have someone volunteer to bring in a guitar to play along with the singers, students bring in cupcakes and other kids drop by my class to see what's going on. It's a lot of fun."

Hinden's rock 'n' roll English unit workshop was a hit with conference participants.

Donna McInerney of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers liked the fact that students develop their own "rubric" or self-evaluation through the Billy Joel lesson plan.

"This makes the criteria for what students have to do to earn a certain grade very clear," said McInerney, an instructor in the New York State United Teachers Effective Teaching Program.

Fellow ETP instructor Donna Wagner of the Harrison Association of Teachers gave high marks to the workshop and conference for the chances it gave teachers to interact.

"That's the best staff development you can get," she said.

- Kara E. Smith