This Lesson's Title:

"Yesterday," "Today," and "Tomorrow"

Comparing three songs with symbolic meanings about the past, present and future

This lesson was created by Northern Nevada Writing Project Consultant Rob Stone.

This writing prompt inspired by

"Yesterday" by the Beatles, as well as two other songs

Click here to do a Google search for the lyrics.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

On the surface, yesterday, today and tomorrow appear to be three simple, consecutive days, but a closer look reveals three hugely different symbolic meanings. Those immense, symbolic meanings have been experienced, explored and documented throughout human history in the form of novels, poems, plays, proverbs, narratives and songs. After listening to three modern songs that capture this symbolism in words--“Yesterday” by the Beatles, “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins, and “Tomorrow” from the Annie Soundtrack--students will analyze their own experiences with these three concepts and then compare and contrast them with those of a character from the novel they are reading.  Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait of this lesson is idea development as students will be exploring themes and symbolism and letting their ideas about them drive their writing. The Support Trait of this lesson is word choice because students will be focusing on strong, unique, descriptive verbs and adjectives to convey their message to the reader.