California Department of Education
Instruments of Change: Making a Simple Stringed Instrument (CTE)
What materials and skills does a person need to build a simple working instrument? With the first of four lessons from the Changing One's Tune: A Music Therapy STEM Integrated Project series, scholars learn about the basic structure of...
PBS
Copyright and Fair Use
When is using someone else's copyrighted material appropriate? Learn about copyright and fair use with a lesson from PBS.org. Scholars read through a reference sheet about authors' rights and users' rights, and then create posters...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
ABA Form in Music
Patterns happen everywhere, in music, math, and language! Fourth graders listen to the "William Tell Overture" visualizing the patterns that they hear. They then discuss and write an ABA poem that matches the ABA form found in the music...
Curated OER
Using Songs in the Foreign Language Classroom
Students focus on their required lessons in Spanish by integrating music and songs as they complete their assignments. They assess the vocabulary, grammar patterns and culture associated with music and various different songs. Each...
Curated OER
Comparing and Contrasting Heroes
Here is a language arts lesson that can be used with virtually any grade level. The only thing that changes is the reading level of the books. Learners compare and contrast different heroes and the characteristics they hold. They use a...
Curated OER
1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry
Using Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and Hart Crane's The Bridge as models, class groups first craft their own epic poems for 1900 and, using primary sources, create a multi-media presentation that captures the sights and...
Curated OER
The Poetics of Hip Hop
The Bard, Nikki Giovanni, Mos Def? “Sonnet 18,” Ego Tripping,” and “Black on Both Sides”? Sure! It’s the poetics. Class members compare the lyrics, rhythm, and rhyme in classic poetry to hip-hop in a richly detailed resource that...
Louisiana Department of Education
Unit: Hamlet
Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...
Curated OER
Great Gatsby's Jazz
As Nick wanders the grounds of Gatsby's mansion, he observes the behaviors of the rowdy guests and listens to the music pouring over the lawn. Bring the music of the jazz age into the classroom with Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues,"...
Smithsonian Institution
Latino Expression
How much of your daily life is influenced by Latin American music? Take a listen—the answer may surprise you! High schoolers keep a journal to note any instances they see Latino culture represented, including the media, their school, and...
Curated OER
The Magic Opera
Introduce your young learners to opera by dressing up as Mozart and recounting some of the fascinating details of his life and music. After exploring the Metropolitan Opera's site for kids, the class listens to a reading of Kyra...
Concordia College Archives
Our School Song
Show your school spirit! Class members use instruments or sing along and employ what they have learned in the two previous lessons to perform their school's songs.
Tune Into English
America – West Side Story
Anita's iconic rooftop ode to American life in West Side Story is the focus of a lesson on immigration. As class members listen to "America," they follow along with printed lyrics, and discuss whether they agree with Anita's...
National Park Service
The Poet's Toolbox
If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities...
Curated OER
Digital Curation: Life and Times of Mark Twain
By digitally organizing research, your class leaves a legacy for future students on the life and times of Mark Twain. Before reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, scholars conduct group research projects on one of six (listed)...
Museum of Disability
Can You Hear a Rainbow?
Teach your class about compassion and empathy with Jamee Riggio Heelan's Can You Hear a Rainbow? As kids read about Chris, a boy who is deaf, they discuss the things he likes to do, as well as the ways he communicates with the world.
Geography 360°
Poetry Writing
Put the tips and tricks in this guide into practice in order to encourage your pupils to blossom into poets. A wonderful reference material for teachers, this packet includes definitions of poetic terms and forms as well as step-by-step...
Arkansas Government
Creative Adventures with Literature - Whoever You Are
Celebrate our similarities and differences through multiple readings of Whoever you Are by Mem Fox. Readings are accompanied by a grand discussion, charts, creative art, dramatic, and music play to reinforce the uniqueness that is...
Media Smarts
TV Dads: Immature and Irresponsible?
Examine gender stereotypes on television, focusing on fathers portrayed in sitcoms and advertising. Questions on a handout direct learners to consider the types of fathers they see on television and one advertisement is highlighted as...
Prestwick House
The Poetry of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's selection as the 2016 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first songwriter ever to receive the honor, has focused the attention of a new generation on the work of the legendary artist. Class members...
Curated OER
Lucha Music
Middle schoolers listen to four styles of Mexican music, and create percussion instruments which they use to play each style. Additionally, learners create Lucha Libre masks which are also a part of the colorful culture of Mexico. These...
Curated OER
So Foul and Fair a Play
Students watch various interpretations of Shakespeare's Macbeth in film. In groups, they examine the setting, characters, music and sequence. They compare and contrast the various films and discuss the differences. They write an essay on...
Curated OER
Directed and Undirected Free-writing: An Activity in Brainstorming
Eighth graders practice pre-writing skills using brainstorming methods. Using music and meditation, they examine the difference between directed and undirected free-writing, as well as how and when to apply them to the pre-writing process.
Curated OER
Folklife Around the Year and Around the State
Research how seasonal changes in Louisiana affect learners' lives and the folklife of their communities and the state. They investigate differences in the seasonal round in the regions of Louisiana, including celebrations, festivals,...