Eleventh graders examine political, cultural, and social movements through music. In this 1960s American history lesson, 11th graders explore the music of the decade in order to better understand the complexity of the time period....

James Jamerson. You probably heard him but may not have heard of him. But fans of Motown Records will certainly recognize his contributions to the sound that desegregated popular music during the 1960s. Challenge young history...

Students listen to many examples of Motown music and explain the relationship between the word "Motown" and the city of Detroit. They examine and identify distinctive musical elements of the early "Motown Sound."

In this lesson plan students will learn about finding the blues in a variety of musical styles. They will investigate instances of the blues form heard in mainstream pop music, along with exploring the musical styles of two new artists...

Before Woodstock, there was Newport. Get plugged in to the social changes of the 1960s with a lesson that looks at Bob Dylan's performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival as a symbol of the radical changes that marked the era.

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.

High schoolers analyze musical and topical elements in popular songs and compose song as a classroom effort. They write a short paragraph evaluating the effectiveness of the song in conveying the message of the lyrics.

Students explore protest songs. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine issues-based music by summarizing lyrics and revealing inferences, generalizations, conclusions, and points of view found in the songs.

Students compose song as a classroom effort. They write a one-paragraph essay about "message" songs in 100 years and include three ideas for topics along with the style of music (such as folk, rock, blues, rap, etc.) that would match.

Students identify different genres of music popular in the 1980s. They study musicians of the 1980s examples of the songs that they made popular. They utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan to categorize the music.

Students identify some of Aretha Franklin's vocal qualities and techniques. They have a discussion of styles of music they heard on the video, including gospel, jazz, pop, rhythm and blues, and opera.

Young scholars discuss development of music videos. They identify elements that make a successful music video. Groups are assigned to do a research project on the development of music videos.

Students read the novel, Fallen Angels, and examine the theme of coming of age during the Vietnam War. They create timelines of the 1960s, highlighting important issues of the era. They write research papers focusing on one particular...

For many people, Barack Obama's presidency was the next step in Martin Luther King, Jr's dream of America's future. Explore the dreams of Americans past and present, as well as the young Americans in your class, with a set of activities...

Students examine different music styles played on AM radio versus FM radio. They compare a 1972 music hit from AM radio with a 1972 hit album on FM radio.

In this famous people worksheet, students read a selection about the life of John Lennon, then complete a variety of comprehension activities including synonym matches, fill-in-the-blank sentence completions, unscrambling words and...

Students listen to and analyze the ballad "American Pie." They utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan. They circle the appropriate descriptive words of the song's medium form, melody, tempo and dynamics, and style.