Curated OER
Smithsonian Jazz Class: Ella Fitzgerald
Students play "Ella's Match Game" to learn an overview of Fitzgerald's life and career. In this Ella Fitzgerald lesson, students listen to excerpts of Fitzgerald's music and respond by creating writing prompts.
Curated OER
Jazz in America
Students explore different instruments and what role they play in Jazz. They also each person's role in a democratic society.
Curated OER
Poetry through Jazz, Rap, and Hip Hop
Students explore poetry through jazz, rap, and hip hop music.  They discover the common threads that run through the poetry and music.  Students design their own lyrics to a jazz, rap, or hip hop selection and share their songs with the...
Johnny Mercer Foundation
Project-Based Songwriting
Project-based learning in a music theory class? Take note. Young songwriters compose, record, copyright, and promote their original songs. They even design their own CD cover.
Curated OER
Jazz and Math: Rhythmic Innovations
Learners compare and contrast the rhythms of marches and jazz.  They watch an excerpt about Buddy Bolden from the PBS Ken Burns Jazz documentary, compare/contrast march and jazz rhythms, complete a worksheet, and notate and perform jazz...
Curated OER
"Jazz is About Collaboration": Jim Crow Laws And Segregation
Students explore development of jazz music in the 1930s by forming imaginary jazz bands which tour several cities in Depression-era America.  Jazz band members create imaginary identities for themselves, develop publicity for their tour,...
Curated OER
Tradition through storytelling and music
Young scholars discover how storytelling can shape a person's tradition.Students examine different methods of storytelling such as music, biographies, and African folktales. They then demonstrate their knowledge of storytelling by...
John F. Kennedy Center
Jazz music, Dance and Poetry
Students view video and become familiar with the type of movement in jazz dance.  In this jazz dance instructional activity, students write a cinquain about jazz dance.  Students recognize the elements of jazz dance and the...
Curated OER
Jazz it Up!
Students research the history and contributions of Jazz in their local environments. They then design and create a wide variety of presentations to share with the class using as many mediums as possible.
Curated OER
Rhythm & Improv: Jazz & Poetry
Students analyze the elements of poetry and jazz. In this critical thinking skills lesson, students take a closer look at the rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, form, free verse, lyricism, and imagery that exist is jazz as well as poetry. 
Curated OER
Black and Blue: Jazz in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
High schoolers analyze the impact of jazz on the novel, "Invisible Man," by Ralph Ellison.  They read and discuss excerpts of the novel, write an essay on the influence of jazz on Ralph Ellison as a writer, and view video excerpts on...
Curated OER
Jazz
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 25 multiple choice questions about Toni Morrison's Jazz. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
Epic Improvisation
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
Curated OER
Emotion Painting
Budding artists explore the nature of emotion through artistic expression. They discuss feelings, colors, line, and design, mix colors and then create an emotive piece that expresses a singular emotion. There are three cross-curricular...
Curated OER
Jazz Talk
Students analyze the origins of jazz music by examining work songs, spirituals, blues, and gospel songs as well as works of poetry from African American artists.  They create their own poems from either the narrative, dramatic, or lyric...
Curated OER
Improvising in the Birthplace of Jazz
Learners recognize significant developments in New Orleans jazz music. They improvise blues licks using notes from a minor pentatonic scale.
Curated OER
The Influence of Jazz Music in Twentieth Century Art
Learners examine the effect of music on society.  While listening to music, they identify the beat, rhythm and write down their reaction to it.  Listening to longer selections, they assign a color to the music and share it with the...
Curated OER
Jazz in America
Students explore Free Jazz and Fusion by answering questions and listening to music.
Curated OER
Draw Me the Music
Students explore and investigate the foundation and history of jazz music. They listen to various pieces of music while creating drawings, develop a timeline of jazz history, and read and discuss biographies of famous jazz musicians.
San Francisco Symphony
Learning Adjectives through the Duke
Duke Ellington, jazz, and jive kick-off a fun and creative lesson on responding emotionally to music. The class will learn about jive talk used in the 1920s and the life and music of Duke Ellington. They'll listen to a selection of his...
Curated OER
Jazz Word Search
In this music worksheet, middle schoolers find the words that are associated with Jazz music and the answers are found by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.
Oklahoma City of Museum Art
Harlem Renaissance
Individuals expressed the Harlem Renaissance in diverse forms of art, ranging from poetry to photography to painting. Learners explore pieces using a carefully curated collection from the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Included lessons ask...
Curated OER
Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music In America Music In America
Students study early New Orleans Jazz music and recognize Louis Armstrong as an early jazz artist. They recognize the elements and roots of Jazz.
Curated OER
Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music In America - Gospel Beginnings
Students identify musical characteristics of gospel and sing a gospel selection. They practice the call and response technique. After going through individual parts, they sing the entire song with piano accompaniment.