Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Voice of History

For Teachers 8th - Higher Ed
Way before the digital age radio was the medium of popular culture. After listening to excerpts from radio programs (easily available on the Internet), participants return to the radio age by creating a two-minute sketch based on a...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Cartoons for the Classroom: Prorogue in Canada

For Students 9th - 12th
Canada's financial woes and a controversially suspended Parliament create fodder for political cartoons in this critical analysis handout. Background information clarifies the context, allowing scholars access to the cartoons, which poke...
Printables
Box

Australia Day Printables

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd Standards
Here is your must-have resource for celebrating Australia Day with youngsters! It includes research activities, popular Australian songs, tracing and coloring worksheets, and other several other great printables.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Pop Icons

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Learners analyze art and decide if the images are an attempt to celebrate or criticize American Popular Culture of the fifties and sixties and discuss how successful "Pop Art" mirrored society. Students also discuss the difference...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Learners watch Bugs Bunny cartoons, discuss the role of classical music in them, create musical parodies, and discuss Bugs Bunny as a Pop Icon.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trendy T's

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students consider popular trends, such as rock fashion. They create designs for t-shirts that represent current pop culture and write pitch letters selling their ideas to the clothing industry in the year 2030.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pop on the Block

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students consider what makes a movie, television show, musical talent, or artist a cult classic and create descriptive lists of items from these phenomena that may be sold at auction.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Critical Ways of Seeing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in Context

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students complete a unit of lessons examining the cultural context of the novel, 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' They write a critique of the novel, compare/contrast two published critiques, and explore various websites.
PPT
Curated OER

The 1950s:

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Teens will get a kick out of this presentation, which provides a glimpse of the consumerism and rising pop culture of 1950's America. They will especially appreciate the discussion of "Teen culture" including the music of Elvis, the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exchange Students

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students discuss as a class the items they value and why. They read an article about the popularity of cellphones in Iraq. In groups, they work together to create a guide to their culture to share with others visiting their classroom....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Banding Together

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the effect that a particular culture can have on popular music. They develop their own music groups, each representing a style of music and a historical culture and perform their group's concert for the class.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Culture and Play Checklist

For Students 6th - 9th
In this culture worksheet, students research and analyze grown-up pastimes that stem from traditional, popular, or elite culture by answering 7 short answer questions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ella y Él

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Take a trip to Costa Rica with th popular song "Ella y Él" by Ricardo Arjona. After listening to the song (and possibly reading the lyrics) the class discusses the general message of the song, the political nature, and other US bands...
Lesson Plan
New Class Museum

Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Portraits: Androgyny in Contemporary Culture

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Portraiture, artistic expression, romanticism, and androgyny are discussed in a thought-provoking activity. Upper graders first discuss and examine the history of portraiture and the elements common to the Romantic style. Then they turn...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Peace Corps Challenge Game- Food from Other Countries

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students examine traditional foods from other cultures.  For this Peace Corps Challenge game, students research food preferences and delicacies in other countries and compare to the traditional American cuisine. Students...
Lesson Plan
National Park Service

Teaching with Historic Places: Discover the Jackie Robinson Ballpark

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
Can sports and popular culture change public opinion? That's the essential question asked by a lesson plan that looks at the role Jackie Robinson's appearance at City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida played in the desegregation...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Gay '80s, '90s and '00s

For Teachers 6th - 12th
After reading and discussing a news article from the New York Times regarding gay and lesbian issues of the last thirty years, students engage in several activities to explore current events. They create a timeline, either electronically...
PPT
Curated OER

Parody

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Expand your students' literary likings with this quick PowerPoint about parodies. A detailed definition of a parody on the second slide precedes different examples of parodies in pop culture. Tip: Show videos of famous parodies your...
PPT
Curated OER

Eight Villain Archetypes

For Teachers 8th - 12th
A relevant and entertaining presentation, this resource teaches villain archetypes with definitions and examples from popular culture. Class members are sure to laugh and nod in recognition while they take down notes for each villain...
Interactive
2
2
Judicial Learning Center

State Courts vs. Federal Courts

For Students 6th - 12th
Popular culture often portrays the Feds as the most fearsome of law enforcement agencies. Yet, someone charged with a crime is considerably more likely to end up in a state court. The lesson, one of six covering the Organization of the...
Interactive
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Archetypes, Motifs, and Plot in Drama (English II Reading)

For Students 10th Standards
The second interactive in a series of 10 introduces young scholars to character archetypes, archetypal plot patterns, and archetypal motifs, including the use of color. Learners read passages explaining the term and study examples from...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe: What is Beautiful?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students consider the notion of beauty and what impact the media and popular culture have on it. In this cross curricular instructional activity, students examine print ads, write down and share their thoughts on them. Then students form...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pete And Repeat

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students draw a picture of a person from popular culture, then "clone" it using printing techniques in this Art lesson that tackles the questions surrounding cloning, DNA, and current scientific techniques. An emphasis is placed on the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mesoamerican Cultures

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students compare and contrast the Mayan and Aztec cultures. In this Mesoamerican cultures lesson plan, students visit classroom stations that feature the landmarks, popular foods, and gods of the 2 cultures. Students discuss their...