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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
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Lesson Plan
2
2
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Magical Musical Tour: Using Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Language arts learners don't need a lecture about poetry; they listen to poetry every day on the radio! Apply skills from literary analysis to famous songs and beautiful lyrics with a lesson about literary devices. As class...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lyrics Analysis Guide

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Assist your learners as they unravel the wonders of lyric analysis. This resource breaks down the analysis process by hook, verse, and chorus. Each is briefly defined and is used to look at any song's lyrics in a systematic way.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Lyric Analysis: Reflection

For Students 9th - 12th
The Woody Guthrie song,"I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore" invites upper graders to engage in lyric analysis. They use the lyrics to answer five analysis questions to determine a social meaning to the song. A suggested answer...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching Peace through Literature and Song

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Negative effects of bullying come to light through listening to the book Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. Class members identify philanthropic acts portrayed in the story and make illustrations to connect them to their own...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Uncle Sam's Got Himself in a Terrible Jam": Protest Music and the Vietnam War

For Teachers 8th - Higher Ed
"And it's one, two, three...what are we fighting for?" Use music to assess the climate of protest during the Vietnam War, listening to and analyzing Country Joe MacDonald's "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" (lyrics included)....
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Activity
National Constitution Center

Born in the U.S.A: Music as Political Protest

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
Though often used in shows of patriotism, Bruce Springsteen's 1985 song "Born in the U.S.A." is critical of America's role in the Vietnam war and its treatment of American veterans. High schoolers analyze the song's lyrics in an activity...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Living in the Limelight The Universal Dream"

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students, using Leo's Lyrics, investigate common themes in popular music. They create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that analyzes their findings along with a 200 word paragraph stating their observations, conclusions and hypotheses about...
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Worksheet
Moore Public Schools

Lyric Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Discover lyric poetry through a reading of Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and analyze its meaning with three short-answer questions covering symbolism, personification, alliteration, metaphors, and similes. 
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Hopi Traditional Dance and Song

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
Very few outsiders get to see the Hopi "Butterfly Dance." However, using approved footage from the tribe, class members consider the importance of symbols in Hopi culture by watching the dance and analyzing lyrics from its songs....
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Lesson Plan
EBSCO Industries

Music and Poetry

For Teachers 8th - 10th Standards
Song lyrics, like poems, are meant to be heard. After examining the literary devices in several poems, scholars examine the lyrics of popular songs and identify the sound devices and the figurative language writers use to create the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Listen Up: Antigone Rising

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Upper graders listen to and watch a documentary about an all female group Antigone Rising. They discuss how females are portrayed in the rock world, the type of music they play, their song lyrics, and what they note in the documentary....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who Fought for the Union?

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Learners read New York Times articles, letters, and listen to songs written from a soldier's perspective during the Civil War in order to understand who was fighting in the Union Army. This is a great lesson, complete with weblinks,...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "In cold spring air" by Reginald Gibbons

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Reginald Gibbons' poem "In cold spring air" provides learners with a chance to develop their noticing skills. As a warm-up, class members watch Paul McCartney's video singing "Blackbird" and note words and phrases that stand out. They...
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Magical Musical Tour: Using Music Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
While music lyrics are often used to teach literary elements, the richness of this resource comes from the wealth of exercises, activities, and support materials provided in the packet.  Although designed for gifted learners, the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Anonymous Patriots: Songs of the Revolution

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Give your class a deeper understanding of the context and meaning behind early American song lyrics. By reading the lyrics to "Yankee Doodle" and  "Revolutionary Tea," high schoolers will practice analysis by examining the structure and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Getting the Meaning in Pop Music

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Critical thinkers compare the impact of visual versus aural perception in how they comprehend artistic intent. They consider the meaning of a set of pop lyrics first by reading them, then by listening to them orally, and finally viewing...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

MacBeth Activity Using Alanis Morissette's "Wake Up"

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Learners analyze Macbeth through the lens of a pop song. In this Macbeth lesson plan, students read Act I, Scene 7 of Macbeth and determine Lady Macbeth's viewpoint. Learners read the lyrics to Alanis Morrissette's song 'Wake Up' and...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Poetry Analysis Lesson and Rubric

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Analyzing poetry can be done using a variety of techniques that tap into student's prior knowledge.
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Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

The Poetry of Bob Dylan

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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 analyze the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

25 Greatest Protest Songs - Lesson 3

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers analyze the lyrics of protest songs as a catalyst for social change. They discuss the influence of music on behavior and explain the use of music as a means of self-expression.
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Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Catching a Grenade: How Word Choice Impacts Meaning and Tone

For Students 8th Standards
Beyonce's "Halo" and Bruno Mars' "Grenade" provide eighth graders with an opportunity to consider how a writer's choice of words can create a very different tone even when the subject is the same. After a close reading of both lyrics,...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Hidden Messages in Spirituals

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Slaves laboring in the cotton fields of the old South singing joyously may have convinced overseers that their workforce was happy and content, but in truth, these spirituals contained secret codes. After viewing a short video about...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Variations of Pain

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars listen to the song :King of Pain" by the Police. They identify different instrumentation and different rhythmic accompaniments to the opening vocal phrase and explore the text in-depth, discussing the various poetic...

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