A Frankenstein playlist where each student matches the novel to music they already know

Why this matters

A student can pick a song that sounds like a scene without reading what the character feels in it. On a paper playlist, an angry song next to "Victor runs" looks finished, and the teacher has to wait for the essay to find out the student misread the scene.

Malik's chat: score Frankenstein with your own music

Malik is a high schooler who listens to hip-hop and R&B and has finished Frankenstein. He knows the plot, and he picks songs by how they sound.

The whole class gets the same activity: the same playlist card with five moments from the novel, and the same rule that every song needs a line from the novel behind it. Each student's chat is their own. Sparky asks what the student listens to, and its next question depends on the song and line the student just gave. Sparky never suggests a song and never writes the student's line.

The chat below starts with Sparky's first two replies, then picks up at track 2. Malik's first track (Lucid Dreams by Juice WRLD, for Victor's horror when the creature opens its eye) is left out to keep the page short.

Sparky uses what the student told itSparky sends the student back to the novelA right pairing gets a harder track

M

Malik

Interest: Hip-hop and R&BStarting point: Picks songs by mood

Sparky

Your job today: score Frankenstein with music you already know. Five moments, five songs, and a line from the novel for each. Say hi when you're ready.

Malik

hi

Sparky

What kind of music do you usually listen to? Take a look at the playlist card so you know what we're building toward.

Malik

mostly hip hop and r&b. kendrick, sza, frank ocean, j cole

Sparky

Great taste, with lots of emotional range to work with. For Track 1: The creature wakes, Victor has spent years on this moment. What does he feel when the creature finally opens its eye, and is there a Kendrick, SZA, Frank Ocean or J. Cole song that captures that feeling?

Sparky

That's Track 1 locked. On to Track 2: Victor runs (Chapter 5). Find the sentence where he runs, and tell me what he's feeling in that moment.

Malik

"Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room." hes mad it came out ugly after all that work. DNA. by kendrick, its the angriest song i know

Sparky

Is Victor angry here, or is something else driving him out of that room? What does "unable to endure" actually tell you about the feeling?

Malik

he cant stand to look at it. then later that night he runs again and spends the night outside "catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse." hes scared, not mad. switching to FEAR. by kendrick, same album

Understanding check

"Fearing each sound" and hiding from something he made: FEAR. fits the feeling in the text. Now the same scene from the other side. Victor runs out and the creature is left alone. What does it do next, and can you find a line for it?

Malik

it follows him to his bed and reaches for him. "one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs." its like a baby reaching for its parent and the parent runs. Nobody Gets Me by SZA for the creature

Sparky

A hand reaching out and finding nothing. Nobody Gets Me fits a creature whose first move toward its maker is rejected. Track 2 done. On to Track 3: The De Lacey cottage.

Swapped an angry song for a scared one after rereading chapter 5, then backed the creature's side with its own line

When Malik called Victor angry, Sparky didn't correct him. It asked what "unable to endure" tells him, and he found the line where Victor spends the night afraid of every sound. Once his song matched the feeling, Sparky asked for the same night from the creature's side, and Malik found the creature's outstretched hand on his own.

Malik and his chat are an example we wrote for this page. His messages are what we sent in a test run of the library activity, Sparky's replies are shortened from its replies in that run, and the playlist picture is a screenshot of the card from the same session.

What Flint did for Malik

• Sparky asked what music Malik listens to before the first track, and then asked him for a song from the artists he named.
• The activity came with a playlist card Sparky built: five moments from the novel in order, each with a box for a song and a box for a line.
• When Malik picked an angry song for a scared character, Sparky asked him what the line he quoted says about the feeling instead of telling him he was wrong.
• After his track 2 song matched the scene, Sparky asked him for the creature's side of the same night, and he backed it with a line from chapter 5.
• Sparky named songs by title and never quoted lyrics or suggested a song.

A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students in 30 different genres, and Sparky does it in every student's chat.

Who picked songs by mood, and who read the scene

When students finish, Sparky grades each chat against the activity's rubric: whether every track is backed by a line from the novel, whether the student tells a song's mood apart from what the character feels, and whether they can describe a scene from the creature's side. The activity page shows who needs help right now, what the class does well, and what to practice next.

Set up the activity for free

The playlist activity is in Flint's public library, with the playlist card, Sparky's guidelines, greeting and a rubric already written. Open it, select Try this activity to copy it into a free Flint account, and move it to a class. In the activity settings, select Try session myself to test the activity as a student before you assign it.

For more English activities, see Flint for English language arts.