JOUR 231 News Writing: Teaching and Tunes

Teaching and Tunes

Where It All Started
“If music be the food of love, play on,” wrote William Shakespeare in his play Twelfth Night. These are the words that this 22-year-old Ohio University middle childhood education major uses to shape his classroom lessons and his daily life.


Matt outside of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame	in Cleveland, Ohio.

With concentrations in English and social studies education along with a minor in music, Matt Klodor strives to keep music in the lives of his students regardless of the constant debate to remove the arts from schools in times of debt and budget cuts. “Having music in my life during high school and college really shaped who I am today,” said Klodor, “my personal instructors were some of the most influential people in my life.” Klodor attended school in Shaker Heights, Ohio where he was first exposed to the world of music. He has played the trumpet for 12 years, the piano for six years, and he taught himself how to play the guitar in his first year of college; which he has been playing for five years now.

Matt catching up on some reading at Barnes and Noble.

Matt thinking about future lesson plans.

Matt's Inspiration
As an English and social studies teacher, Klodor feels that it is important to include several multimedia supplements in his daily instruction. “Literature and writing are arts in themselves, what better way to teach them then to connect them to paintings, music, and other creative resources,” said Klodor. One class that he recalls leaving a huge impact on him was titled Literature and Arts. “The professor used music and arts from the time period to discuss the literature. This was so impressive and unique that everyone in the class seemed to really enjoy it and remain interested,” he recalled. Recently, Klodor used this experience to create a poetry unit in his seventh-grade classroom. He taught his students that all songs are forms of poetry and had them work with their favorite songs throughout the unit. Locating poetic devices and rhyme schemes were the basics of the poetry unit. “The unit wouldn’t have been as exciting for the students if I chose to use the poems in their text book,” explained Klodor.

Matt (right) and girlfriend, Molly (left) checking out the tunes of Nashville

Music In His Personal Life
Music is also something that Klodor spends his free time exploring and writing about. Alternative rock is his favorite genre, but even this was a tough decision to make since he listens to a wide variety of music. In his free time, Klodor enjoys exploring up and coming artists and reliving great tunes of the past through his personal blog. Reviewing new albums, posting thoughts, sharing images, and quoting artists are what you can find when visiting his site. In the months to come, Klodor will be making appearances at a series of concerts throughout Ohio and next fall he will begin his student teaching at Shaker Heights High School where he will surely combine his love of music with his devotion to education.

Check out Matt's music blog here!