Teaching Students How to Synthesize Using Art and Music

Interdisciplinary study is one of the most challenging—and rewarding—forms of analysis and writing.

Students are asked to engage with visual art, music, and other nontextual cultural products that can date back centuries, when people did not have access to traditional forms of literacy. These opportunities for analysis are essential to the study of marginalized peoples and their histories. And by navigating the many articulations and representations of history and personal experience, students improve their critical thinking. They explore a vast and diverse set of sources and perspectives from across time, place, and space.

Students are able to connect these sources and ideas through synthesis, a high-level skill that involves attaining new knowledge and articulating new learnings. Below, I’ve laid out how I teach about synthesis (as well as synthesis-based writing) through intentional, scaffolded supports. Examples come from my AP African American Studies course, but my feedback is intended for all high school teachers who want to aid in their students’ understanding of interdisciplinary studies.

Teaching Synthesis

Students can’t master the skill of synthesis without explicit instruction. They need to go through the process of taking many sources and applying them to a clear claim, topic, or concept. The process moves like this:

1. When students encounter a source, they are encouraged to annotate in a way that works best for them. I have them write a statement that identifies and articulates the key words, argument, and purpose of each source.
2. Once all sources have been reviewed, I ask students to compare their statements and look for similarities. Students spot similar words and phrases, and I also tell them to look for overlapping theories, lenses of analysis, and tone.
3. I ask students to collect key terms and create a thesis statement that they can use to describe sources in a discussion, paper, or project.

A synthesis matrix is a helpful tool that allows for easy assessment and organization. The matrix includes a column for each of the individual texts or sources that students are using. The rows represent themes, concepts, and essential elements about a set of sources. Each square of the matrix is where idea and source collide; it’s space for students to document key textual evidence, perspectives, questions, thoughts, or whatever else they think is essential information.

Pulling from their notes, analysis, and thesis, students write short, focused papers—no more than two pages. The shorter length is less intimidating and leads to concise, intentional writing. I want students to frequently contribute these short responses because they serve as opportunities for revisions and continued feedback. The ultimate goal is that students feel comfortable working with multiple sources, both in discussion and in written work, to engage their thesis.

Sample Synthesis No. 1: Unpacking the Origins of Mass Incarceration

I situate this assignment within my unit on Reconstruction. Students read and study the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution, as well as the Reconstruction Act of 1867, photographs of chain gangs, and data about prison populations. As we move through materials, I have students complete their first step, which is annotating documents and creating statements that outline or summarize their sources.

With the goal of showing legacy and influence across time, students receive the following prompt for their synthesis paper:

Consider what we have discussed about Reconstruction, its policies and amendments, the collapse of the era, and our earlier readings of the current economic/educational status of Black Americans. Select one of the songs below and consider how it explores or reflects on the legacy of these concepts and ideas through its lyrics, instrumentation, vocal performance, tempo, etc.

I give students four songs to choose from: “Chain Gang,” by Sam Cooke (1960), “Redemption Song,” by Bob Marley and the Wailers (1980), “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos,” by Public Enemy (1988), and “The Blacker the Berry,” by Kendrick Lamar (2015). I recommend that my students approach the songs as primary sources. They annotate lyrics, view performances and music videos, and take notes about what they hear or read.

We then begin the second step, where students connect source statements to their song of choice. Students pay attention to tone and find similar phrases and words, such as crime, government, slavery, animal, and bars. From there, students craft thesis statements that link their selected song with the documents we’ve studied in class.

Ultimately, the writing that students produce is nuanced and thoughtful. It reflects an understanding of the systematic and long-term impact of the Reconstruction Era on Black history, art, politics, and culture. Students clearly connect the phenomenon of chain gangs and prison labor—as described by Cooke, Lamar, and Public Enemy—with the passage of the 13th Amendment. Students articulate “Redemption Song” and “The Blacker the Berry” as representing a longer legacy of racial violence and terror that occurred after the collapse of Reconstruction.

Sample Synthesis No. 2: Exploring Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism—which is an imagining of a more equitable and liberative future—is a favorite topic of my students. For their synthesis writing, students receive the following prompt:

Consider the ideas we have talked about so far—Afrofuturism, the white gaze, Black studies, intersectionality, current demographics of Black America. How does the artist capture these ideas through their visual art? Think about colors, composition, spatial arrangement, focus, subject, background, patterns, etc., in addition to metaphor, symbolism, allusions, and other figurative tools.

I give students three art pieces to choose from: Officer of the Hussars, by Kehinde Wiley (2007), Black Gothic, by Kadir Nelson (2017), and The Warmth of Other Sons, by Bisa Butler (2020). Students assess their chosen art piece and jot down observations. From there, I ask them to identify course topics and other sources—an interview with Toni Morrison, recent census data, and writings on intersectionality—that relate to their observations.

The goal is for students to identify symbols and allegories about American cultural history, such as American Gothic, and connect back to Black education, economics, and immigration. In doing so, students are able to pen a two-page analysis that gives tangible language to art.