Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Rhythms in Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Rhyme, rhythm, free verse, imagery: Do these words describe poetry, or jazz music? The answer is both! A resource explores these similarities as scholars watch a video, engage in discussion, read author biographies, write poetry and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I See The Rhythm : The Study of Blues and Jazz

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students gain an appreciation for various types of music. Using the music of the past, they compare it with the music of today. In groups, they research periods in which blues and jazz were most popular and write their own piece of music...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Country's Music

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Jazz, Blue Grass, Hip Hop, Swing. Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, Disco. So many music genres born in the USA. After reading an article about the fate of New Orlean's Jazz after Hurricane Katrina, class members investigate the life cycles of...
Lesson Plan
Berklee College of Music

Create Your Own Afro-Latin Groove

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The backbone of Latin American music is the beat! Young musicians work on blending Afro-Latin rhythms and beat patterns before incorporating the major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, and blues scales in their own compositions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Guide Through the Culture of the Blues

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils examine the history of blues music and discover how it relates to the music of today. As a class, they listen to the drum songs of Africa and compare it to the use of drums in pop music today. Using the internet, they research...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor

For Teachers 7th - 12th
How do a person's musical preferences influence the way they compose music of their own? Learners analyze the sound and lyrics of Alicia Keys in relation to musicians that came before. Jazz, blues, and soul music from the past are shown...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Way

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students culminate a humanities project by improvising music to accompany a video of a particular era in US history.
Unit Plan
Institut Obert de Catalunya

20th Century Music: Jazz

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A 67-page packet provides instructors with a complete course in the history of Jazz. Lessons look at the roots of jazz in early 20th century African American communities in the southern United States and continues to the New Orleans...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

The Birth of an Icon: Learning and Performing the Origins of the Drum Set and Early Jazz Drumming in New Orleans, Louisiana

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic lesson plan introduces young musicians...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music in West Africa

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore power and the symbols of power in West African music. They discuss the music of West Africa and compare it to African American music of today. In addition, they investigate musical instruments of Africa, identify the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Swing Your Partner! It's A Virtual Square Dance

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore the Wessels Living History Farm website and research how to do a square dance. They read a story, listen to an explanation of barn dances, and participate in various square dances.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story - The Birth of Soul

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students analyze various kinds of music.  In this music activity, students listen to music clips to determine the kind of music each clip is then they participate in a class discussion about the music and prepare a presentation.
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

The Harlem Renaissance Movement and its Music

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Harlem Renaissance lesson plans can bring the music, poetry, and literature of this time period alive.
Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

You Are There... First Flight

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Glide into the study of flight. An engaging lesson has scholars research information on the Wright brothers. They develop props and produce a recreation of the first flight at Kitty Hawk. They then report on the event as if they were...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Voice for the Times

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students make connections with events of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's with songs made popular by Aretha Franklin.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Musical Roles

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Young scholars watch a videotape on the musical career of Aretha Franklin and explore the different careers in the music industry.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Big Mo

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students develop media literacy and critical thinking skills to analyze trends and determine the extent to which their decisions may be influenced by manipulation. They examine the mathematics of trends and write about a time they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adire Eleko Cloth Glue Patterns

For Teachers 1st
First graders are introduced to the art form of African Adire Eleko cloth - painted patterned textiles. They use paper, glue and paint to imitate the technique and create similar patterns on paper.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students reflect on a news report through poetry. Students write a poem based on this week's news events. Students share poems with each other. Students reflect on a poem of their choosing.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding Past and Present Labor Injustice through Music

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Pupils explore early 19th century labor conditions through the use of period songs. For this tolerance lesson, students listen to period songs and respond. Pupils write their own song that protests unfair and dangerous working...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Classroom Triangles

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers use bearing measurements to triangulate and determine objects' locations. Working in teams of two or three, students must put on their investigative hats as they take bearing measurements to specified landmarks in their...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Hendrix, Jimi

For Students 9th - 10th
In this encyclopedia entry, you'll read about Jimi Hendrix and his influence on rhythm and blues and psychedelic rock.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Cooke, Sam (1931 1964)

For Students 9th - 10th
Sam Cooke's influence on music, as the pioneer in cross-over from gospel to rhythm and blues, is described in this encyclopedia entry. His music was important to the African-American identity in the Civil Rights movement.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Usher

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the life and career of Usher, the American musician whose smooth vocals and sensual ballads helped establish him as a rhythm-and-blues superstar beginning in the late 1990s.

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