20th Century Music Lesson Plans

Students research the people, places, and events of a particular decade of the 20th Century. They write a report about that decade, and create a booth of memorabilia, music, dress, pictures and other artifacts representing the time period. The booths are then displayed during a school event called "Celebration of the 20th Century."

Enable students to use the blues to explore urbanization, technology, and their effects on everyday life in the 20th century. Musicians were among the large number of people who, between 1914 and 1945, participated in the Great Migration and your class will discover symbolic meanings as well as make connections about 20th century urbanization.

Students review the people, places, and events of a particular decade of the 20th Century. They write a report about that decade and create a booth of memorabilia, music, dress, pictures and other artifacts representing the time period.

Students design their own time capsule containers that represent their visions of the 20th century and of the future millennium.

Students consider the plight of immigrants. In this 19th and 20th century history lesson, students create digital stories using photographs and audio files from the Library of Congress that feature the experiences of immigrants to America during the time period.

Young scholars analyze the meaning and process of categorizing items, people and events as 'the best.' students then defend pieces of literature, images, and sounds that they feel most represent 'the best of the 20th century.'

Students explore major events in Native American history in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this American history lesson, students listen to lectures, examine photographs, and analyze music regarding Native American history and culture. Students research selected Native American topics and write a poem or new report regarding their research findings.

Students examine pieces of art by African-American artists in the 20th Century. For each piece, they are shown slides of the artwork and others by the artist to identify the techniques used. In groups, they discuss and research the time period in which the art was produced to end the lesson.

Students create animations to match their social studies. in this 20th century lesson, students work in groups to read and present to their classmates World War I, World War II, The Great Depression, The Space Race, or the Civil Rights Movement. Then they pick a topic to create an animation on a free animation website. 

Students explore fashion through the 20th Century. They create a poster about their assigned era. Students teach their classmates about the fashion of the assigned period. They describe the fashion trends, current events, popular music and designers of the era.