What Inspires Me - MUSIC!

So...Last week I set aside a day and it was called "iPod Day" - lol  This may sound silly to some, but I really needed it (and was excited to add some new music).  I have two iPods - my personal one, and one of my son's "hand-me-downs" that I use for school.  This is how it went:

1. I took some of the CDs (these old music things some of you probably don't have many of :) and I ripped the music from them that I wanted in my music library.
2. I bought some AWESOME new tunes on iTunes specifically for school (List will be included below.).
3. I created the following 9 playlists:  Beth's Inspiration (just for me and my planning time), Classical, Country, Dance, Friendship/Love (this includes all the fun, encouraging music I can play at any time during class), Jamaican Fun (inspired by my vacation last year - the kiddos seemed to love it), Pop, Rock/Metal, Upbeat Fun.
4. I bought my new music (I set my budget at $25, otherwise I would never stop.), which included some songs I had been wanting and others I got from a list I came across during my googling ;)
5. Added songs I already owned, and to be fair, ones my husband and children owned, to the playlists.
6. Synced my iPod to my school laptop so I can either use iTunes from there, or the iPod at school.

YIPPEE!!!  MUSIC!!!  I love teaching with music.  I often play Classical or Jamaican during Writer's Workship and when the students arriving in the mornings, our class dances on Friday mornings, and I'm thinking of making one of my jobs for next year "DJ." That student would be allowed to choose music for class meetings that week.  I will also put together a song book of lyrics to use for fluency -- this makes reading very high-interest for many students.   I'm looking forward to exposing students to different genres (oldies and current top hits), having them explain why they like the genres they do, and having them make suggestions for new songs I need to add.  (As a writing teacher I can see endless writing ideas here :)

Warning:  Be very careful to check lyrics before exposing students to certain songs.  There are LOTS of songs I was not able to include, due to poor Word Choice :(  Here are just some of the many, many songs I either already had, or added last week.  I hope they INSPIRE you this week!

"All You Need Is Love" and "Here Comes The Sun" - The Beatles (many of their songs are included)

"Walking on Sunshine" - Katrina and the Waves

"You've Got a Friend in Me" - Randy Newman and "You've Got a Friend" - James Taylor

"Don't Worry, Be Happy" - Bobby McFerrin

"Give a Little Love" - Ziggy Marley

"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey  and "Don't Stop" - Fleetwood Mac

"All Star" - Smash Mouth and "Stars" by Switchfoot

"We are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You" - Queen

"Firework" - Katy Perry

"Who Says" - Selena Gomez

"Shine" and "I Am" - Hilary Duff

"Hold on Tight" - ELO

"The Story" - Brandi Carlile

"Ride," "Anyway," and "Over the Rainbow" (I love her version.) - Martina McBride

"Beautiful" - Mercy Me and "Beautiful" - Christina Aguilara

"Stand by Me" - Ben E. King and "Lean on Me" (I got a new version from the Glee cast!)

"ABC" - Jackson 5

"Jump" - Van Halen

"Live Out Loud" - Steven Curtis Chapman

"Get On Your Feet" - Gloria Estefan

"We Got the Beat" - The Go-Go's

"Pocket Full of Sunshine" - Natasha Bedingfield

"Y.M.C.A" - Village People

"Life is Good" - Kenny Chesney

"Stand" and "My Wish" - Rascal Flatts

"Time of Your Life" - Green Day

"Chicken Dance," "Macarena," "Cha-Cha Slide" (You got it - dances!)

I could go on, and on, and on, but you get the point - now go buy some music!