Curated OER
Anne Frank Project
Students read information from the Holocaust Museum. They also read Anne's Diary for 1942. Students choose three entries from 1943 and read them, students complete a response sheet for entry. They watch the film "Life is Beautiful" and...
Curated OER
"The Minister's Black Veil"
High schoolers participate in a layered curriculum unit for a novel. The novel study allows for a variety of activities for assessment and differentiation. The difficulty of the assignments is chosen by the student.
Curated OER
Cocaine in the Brain
Students examine the effects of cocaine and heroin and withdrawal symptoms. In this drug lesson plan students participate in an activity that illustrates cocaine's actions.
Curated OER
Inter-City Jazz Songbook Project
Students choose a city with famous musical highlights and create a tourist brochure.
Curated OER
How Prophet-able Are You?
Students examine the role of prophets/advocates in society and define qualities and characteristics of an effective prophet. They list qualities of prophets and discuss which characteristic is most important.
Curated OER
Tracking the Monster: Ashley Judd and Indie.Arie Confront AIDS in Africa - Lesson 3
Students see how music and theatre deals with contemporary problems and issues. The sight-read new music and examine the musical, 'RENT.'
Utah Education Network
Uen: Song Writing
This lesson engages students in writing lyrics to songs. Students will use free musical software to aid students as they put their lyrics to a tune and tempo.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Letter to Me
After reading song lyrics to Brad Paisley's "A Letter to Me" and the personal essay "A Letter to My Younger Self" by Brian Elroy, learners write a poem, lyric, or letter from George Washing to his younger self. Then students write a...
Other
Guide to Writing Lyrics
A complete guide to writing lyrics for songs and jingles. Provides good advice and insight in the art of writing lyrics.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Writing Lesson: Boogie Woogie With a B
Using a famous World War II propaganda song, students will explore alliteration by changing the lyrics to create a new version of the song. After discussing what alliteration is and why this particular song was used and enjoyed by the...
PBS
Pbs: American Roots Music: Lesson One: Finding the Story in the Song
In this lesson, students will identify and discuss themes expressed in song lyrics, analyze the social use and historical meaning of a song, and write a verse of a song drawing on contemporary events.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Poetry Lesson: Favorite Things Poetry
Using the song "My Favorite Things" from the musical, The Sound of Music, as inspiration, students will create their own song or poem (to the same tune) that lists their favorite things. Each verse will focus on their favorite things...
Other
How Anyone Can Write Better Lyrics
If you like to write lyrics or poems then you will want to look at this site. It gives good advice on how to improve your writing and suggests other resources you may want to invest in.
Other
Verse Development
You have written some lyrics to a song, but are they any any good? Do they capture the listener? This column offers great advice about how to develop your verses to keep them interesting. Through analysis of other lyrics the author will...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Color My World Grey and Blue
After listening to the song "Grey Street" by the Dave Matthews Band, and the song "Blu is a Mood" by Blu Cantrell, students will explore the lyrics and discover what role color can play when combined with a particular setting. Students...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: c.s.i.: The Cory Crime Scene
The character talked about in E. A. Robinson's poem, Richard Cory, is about a man with everything, a man that everyone wants to be like, a man who ends his own life without explanation. Singers Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, intrigued by...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Your Glorious Gene Pool
Students read the books like I Am the Dog. I Am the Cat by Donald Hall and Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman and read the lyrics while listening to the song "Shallow End of the Gene Pool" by the Austin Lounge Lizards. Then students learn...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Poetry Lesson: Poems vs Lyrics
After listening and analyzing song lyrics and, subsequently, doing the same analysis with poems, students will discover how similar song writing and poetry writing can be. Students will get their own chance to write a small version of...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Poetry Lesson: Song Parodies About School
After celebrating (and singing) some of the delightful songs from Alan Katz's "Take Me out of the Bathtub" and listening to songs by Weird Al Yankovic, like "Eat It," students will discuss the concept of parody. To practice writing a...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Poetry Lesson: "Ain't Gonna Rain No More"
Students will study the rhythm of the old campfire song, "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More," and they will study how Karen Beaumont borrows the rhythm for her book I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! Students will create their own lyrics that can be...
Bartleby
Bartleby.com: The Golden Treasury of Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in Eng Lang
Electronic text of Thomas Palgrave's book, "The Golden Treasury: Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language". There are several ways to find the poem that you want to study: by author, by title, by first line, and by...
PBS
Pbs: Off the Charts Web Karaoke
This online karaoke machine, developed for "Off the Charts," an episode about songwriters that aired on the award-winning PBS series "Independent Lens," lets you try out your songwriting talents. First you write the lyrics for a song set...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Billie Holiday Classroom Activity
A short lesson/activity over the popular jazz artist Billie Holiday, in particular her song "Strange Fruit." Provides a link to the song's lyrics and a clip, as well as other lesson plans, web links, and a bibliography. From April 7, 2007.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Ain't That America
Students think that classic literature and historic events have little in common with life today, right? Think again! In this lesson, students get a chance to compare themes from classic novels or from American history to those found in...