TeachRock

Materials Required (1 per student group):

• Large cookie sheet or cafeteria tray
• Plastic cups and bowls
• Pitcher with clear measurement indicator
• A kitchen or sink towel
• A plastic drop-cloth or table cloth

Motivational Activity:

1. Play the Youtube video Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore – “Dear Companion” (Live on KEXP) up to 3:11. After the clip, ask students:
   • What did you think of the song?
   • Does the song remind you of anything?
   • What is the song about? How do you know? (At the beginning of the video, Moore mentions it was a song based off of a letter a coal miner wrote to his wife).
2. Display Image 1, Excerpt of Dear Companion Review. As a classroom, read the text in the image aloud. Then ask students:
   • Where are the majority of the musicians featured in Dear Companion from? How do you know? (The text alludes in numerous places that the musicians are from Kentucky – Lexington, Cold Spring, and Louisville are all towns in Kentucky.)
   • According to the text, what is the purpose of the album Dear Companion? (Hint: ask students to examine the second paragraph).
   • The word “Appalachian” is mentioned in the text. What does that term signify?
3. Display Image 2, Subregions of Appalachia Map. Inform students that “Appalachian” refers to the culture, people, and landscape of the Appalachian Mountains. Ask students:
   • What are some of the states that make up the Appalachian region?

Procedure

1. Inform students that in class they will be learning more about mountaintop removal in the Appalachian Mountains, including the process and it’s effects on the environment and people. To discover mountaintop removal, they will be watching clips from the documentary Mountain Top Removal, which takes place in West Virginia.
2. Play Clip 1, The Process of Mountaintop Removal. Then ask students:
   • How did the clip describe the mountaintop removal process? What are the steps?
   • What did you feel when you were watching this process?
   • Why might mountaintop removal be hazardous to the environment?
3. Divide students into groups, and then pass out to each group Handout – Mountaintop Removal Activity. Tell students they will be doing a hands-on activity to better understand the effects of mountaintop removal. Monitor student groups as they work through the handout activity. (If procuring enough materials is difficult for student groups, teachers may alternatively demonstrate the activity before the class.)
4. After the activity, ask student groups to report how their activity went. Then ask the class:
   • Based on the activity, what role do trees and other vegetation play in absorbing rainfall and other water?
   • Imagine there was a town at the bottom of one of the valleys you created for the experiment. What might happen to the town during record rainfall or a flood, if there is little surrounding trees and vegetation?
5. Inform students that in addition to flooding, the extraction of materials through mountaintop removal creates a mixture of coal, water, and other elements. This mixture is known as “coal slurry,” and exposure to it has health effects. Play Clip 2, The Health Effects of Coal Slurry. Then ask students:
   • What are some of the health effects of mountaintop removal mentioned?
   • How would you feel if you knew there were dangerous chemicals around your school? What would you do?
6. Inform students that residents of West Virginia chose to fight back against mountaintop removal. Play Clip 3, Mountain Justice Summer and the Pennies for Promise Campaign. Then ask students:
   • What are some of the goals of the activist group, Mountain Justice Summer? (To raise awareness about mountaintop removal.)
   • What is the purpose of the Pennies for Promise campaign? Why is building a new school so important to these families? (To build a new elementary school, away from a coal processing plant, for the benefit of student’s health.)
   • Besides raising money for a new school, what else are the activists doing? (Spreading awareness about mountaintop removal.)
   • What do you think possible next steps might be for activists?
7. Play Clip 4, Marching on the Capitol. Then ask students:
   • Why did activists decide to march on the capitol? (Because Massey Energy was granted permission to build another coal silo by the school.)
   • Who did the activists want to talk to? What were their demands? (They wanted to talk to government officials, especially West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, and demand another school for the students.)
   • How did Governor Joe Manchin and other government official respond? (They said the issue had to be put before the school board, and then started arresting the activists.)
   • How do you feel about what you saw in the clip?

Summary Activity:

1. Play the Youtube video Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore – “Dear Companion” (Live on KEXP) once again, while displaying Image 3, “Dear Companion” Lyrics on the board. Ask student to read the lyrics while listening to the song. Then ask students:
   • What is the form of the lyrics? Can you describe how the lyrics are structured?
2. Explain to students that Ballads are traditionally organized into multiple stanzas, or versus. Each stanza typically follows the same construction, and is sung to the same melody. In the case of “Dear Companion,” each stanza is organized in an “AAB” format, where a line is spoken, then repeated, then followed by a new line. Explain that using this repeating structure allows the the singer to tell a story using as many stanzas as they would like. Ask students:
   • What story is being told in “Dear Companion”? How does this story make you feel?
   • “Dear Companion” appeared on an album protesting mountaintop removal. Why might this song have been included in the album?
   • Could “Dear Companion” be considered a protest song? Why or why not?
   • In what other ways could Ballads or other music be used for activism?

Extension Activities:

1. After researching and environmental cause, write a Ballad about the issue, following the same lyrical structure as “Dear Companion.”
2. Read this ABC News Timeline related to 2023’s train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. Then write a paper comparing and contrasting this event with the events cataloged in the clips you watched in class.
3. Research current activism on mountaintop removal, and create a presentation on what sort of developments have occurred since the events depicted in the film Mountain Top Removal.

Mountaintop Removal Activity

Common Core State Standards

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing (Extension Activities only)

Text Types and Purposes 3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

Production and Distribution of Writing 4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Production and Distribution of Writing 5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge 7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening

Comprehension & Collaboration 1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Comprehension & Collaboration 3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language

Language 1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 6: Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

MS-ESS2-4 Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.

4-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.

National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies – National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

• Theme 1: Culture
• Theme 3: People, Place, and Environments
• Theme 5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
• Theme 6: Power, Authority, and Governance
• Theme 8: Science, Technology, and Society
• Theme 10: Civic Ideals and Practices

College, Career & Civic Life (C3)

Dimension

D4.1.6-8: Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging the strengths and limitations of the arguments.

D4.6.6-8: Draw on multiple disciplinary lenses to analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.

D4.6.9-12: Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local, regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address these problems overtime and place.

D4.7.6-8: Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.

D4 .7.9-12: Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.

National Standards for Music Education – National Association for Music Education (NAfME)

Core Music Standard: Responding

• Interpret: Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators’ and/or performers’ expressive intent.

Core Music Standard: Connecting

• Connecting 11: Relate musical ideas and works to varied contexts and daily life to deepen understanding.