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...

Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...

America was founded by dreamers, and the American dream still resonates in our country today. Track the American dream from its Puritan beginnings to its optimistic descendants with a instructional activity that focuses on speeches...

Students review Emily Dickinson's biography and examine themes and forms of some of her poems. They measure ways Graham integrates aspects of Dickinson's life and the themes and forms of her poetry into Letters to the World.

A carefully crafted three-day instructional activity integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The...

What do the theme song from Gilligan's Island, the nursery rhyme "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat," and the poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" all have in common? Why, they're ballads of course! Challenge your young balladeers to compose their...

Students listen to Pink Floyd's "Time" in order to apply the theme of carpe diem to other works of literature and to their own life.

Students explore the universal themes they find in the complete set of One World Posters, including art, history, literature and music.

It’s poetry T.I.M.E! Individuals use the T.I.M.E. format (T = Title, thought, and theme;  I = Imagery and figurative language; M = music and sound; E = emotion) to study a poet, collect poems that have a similar theme, and create a...

Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...

Tenth graders explore the process of telling stories without words.  In this literature lesson, 10th graders watch a music video performance made by Alaska Native students, and then examine art objects that may be used to tell a...

Learners examine individuality.  In this music video lesson, students listen to music by India Arie to determine how music shapes our ideas of what normal is as well as how music is a form of poetry.  Activities are related to...

Students explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

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...

Students describe some of the distinguishing characteristics of rock, folk, blues, and country music. They identify two main musical roots of today's American popular music.

Students transform literature into musical productions. In this integrated arts lesson plan, students discuss how musicals are written and produced. Students then select literature they are familiar with to adapt into musical productions.

Literary themes don't just belong to literature. High schoolers listen to the lyrics of modern songs by Arrested Development, Lauryn Hill, and others to enhance their study and to connect to characters, conflicts, and themes of...

Students identify general business terms such as entrepreneur, corporation, marketing, demographic, promotion and distribution. They identify many Black music industry leaders and their contributions.

Prepare class members for a discussion of Sonia Levitin's dystopian novel The Cure, by leading them on a guided imagery exercise designed to encourage visualization of written descriptions.

In his 2013 introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman states, “Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” In this extraordinary unit plan, readers "explore the power of written language to educate and...

Students combine creativity with the rigor of careful editing by adding music to their story. It forces them to focus on how they communicate the meaning of their story to the listener.

Put the Romantic Age into context for British Literature classes with a PowerPoint that defines and characterizes this movement in literature, music and art. Notable painters, writers, and musicians are listed, as are key romantic themes...

Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....

West Side Story is widely known as a modern-day Romeo & Juliet. Learners read a list of characters from the play and list their counterparts from Romeo & Juliet before completing a vocabulary enrichment activity and word...