Step 1: Play "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" by Panic at the Disco but do not provide students with a copy of the lyrics. Rather, have them only listen to the song. Then, ask them to write a brief reflection capturing their first impression of the song. What do they think it is about? What is the tone? How does it make them feel? (i.e., happy, energetic, sad, confused, etc.) NOTE: some students may already be familiar with this song so ask students not to speak to one another while writing their reflection - the room should be silent during this step.

Step 2: Divide students up into pairs and provide each pair with a printed copy of the lyrics (ideally one they can mark up with their annotations).

Hey Look Ma, I Made It Lyrics

Ask students to read the lyrics together and write any observations they make about the song that either confirms or complicates their original reflection as well as any questions they may have about the lyrics. Once they have completed this step, have them update their original reflections to capture any new thoughts they have on the song.

Step 3: If figurative devices have not already been taught or if students are in need of a refresher, provide students with a handout that contains a variety of literary devices, their definition, and, ideally, some examples of the devices in context. The breadth of this handout is up to individual teachers but it should, at a minimum, contain guided notes on the figurative devices being studied in this lesson: metaphor, inversion, irony, and tone. Depending on classroom instruction prior to this lesson, it may be appropriate for teachers to pause here to conduct a mini-lesson on the figurative devices being studied today.

Step 4: Working with their partner, ask students to re-read the song lyrics. This time, they are seeking to find as many examples of metaphor, inversion, irony, and tone as they can find. As they find these figurative devices, they should annotate their lyrics to consider why these devices matter in this context. How are they functioning? For example, what images are being created by the metaphors and how might those images affect our understanding of the text? Where students find inversion, how does that inversion affect our understanding? (For example, when the song states "these other thorns are rosy,[1]" what is the significance of inverting the usual order of that statement?) As students work, play the audio of the song 1-2 more times so students can hear the audio tone of the piece as well.  As part of their analysis, students should compare and contrast the tone of the music itself to the content of the lyrics. Does the musical tone compliment or contrast against the lyrics? How might this be significant?

Step 5: Once students have completed their analysis, open up a whole-class discussion. What did their close-reading analysis of figurative devices reveal about the meaning of the song? How did their understanding of the text change as they worked through this process? Make sure students are pointing to specific evidence from their findings when engaging in this discussion.

Step 6: After the discussion ends, ask each student to update their reflection one final time, capturing any new understanding they may have as a result of the analysis and/or class discussion.