Curated OER
Learning the Blues
Students become familiar with the characteristic form and sound of the blues, then learn about the history and evolution of the blues in relationship to the African-American experience. Students examine the structure and language of...
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Get On Board This Train
Students examine and discuss the African American Spiritual in a choir setting. They also sing the spiritual "Get On Board This Train" while using terms and techniques studied in the lesson.
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A Guide Through the Culture of the Blues
Students examine the history of blues music and discover how it relates to the music of today. As a class, they listen to the drum songs of Africa and compare it to the use of drums in pop music today. Using the internet, they research...
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Memorable Singer 1929-1949
Learners examine how Louis Armstrong's fame spread from the African American community to the whole world. They examine how his singing style influenced both popular and jazz musicians by participating in guided listening of his musical...
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All That is Irish and More - Activity 1
Students listen to examples of fiddle music and violin music to determine the similarities and differences between the two musical forms. A video link is included in this introductory lesson to fiddle music (Part One of Two).
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Humanities in Colonial and Revolutionary America
Students demonstrate dances of colonial America. In this colonial American lesson plan, students learn forms of colonial social dancing including the Juba and Virginia Reel. Students examine the history of the 2 dances as well.
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Facial Tattoos or Face Painting
Students use a grid-like method to create a life-size self-portrait from a 3X5 black and white photo. They explore the different customs and rituals surrounding face painting from ancient through modern civilizations. Students create a...
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Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students examine letters of Japanese-American children during internment in World War II. They discover what it was like in the camps and how they were treated once they were released. They also view photographs of the camps.
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Todd Duncan: The First Porgy
Students view a video and conduct research about Jim Crow laws and their effects on race relations.
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Food and Languages of the World
Pupils engage in creative bead making while discussing Africa. In this diversity and arts lesson, students create African necklaces while being introduced to the African culture.
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Songs of Unrest - Lesson 4
Students identify popular songs from 1968 and make connections with the year's current events. They pretend that they are producing a new CD. The CD includes four songs that comment on today's social issues. They write the liner notes.
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Africa Wants Its MTV!
Learners consider the impact of MTV and the introduction of an MTV channel in Africa. They develop original programs for MTV Base that appeal to both local and global audiences.
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A Renaissance of Jazz and Poetry
Students explore, analyze, study and read a variety of poems and listen to jazz that have their roots in the Harlem Renaissance. They then discuss the similarities and differences of themes in the works of different poets and composers.
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Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
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...
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"The Block": Romare Bearden's and Mine
Students study Bearden's style of collage and create their own collage that reflects their neighborhood. They are read "The Block" and poems about neighborhoods and write one about theirs.
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Making Masks
Students create paper masks linking the function and purpose of masks in the past, with modern life.
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Sew, You Want To Quilt?
Young scholars become familiar with the achievements of the artist Faith Ringgold. They take notice of the patterns in their environment. They connect the mathematical concept of patterns to create a class quilt.
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Under the Spell of Spiders
Learners examine spiders. In these spider lessons, students will view spider images and live spiders to determine physical characteristics, habits, and habitats. Learners will examine fantasy and folklore about spiders to create and...
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Cultural and Historical Meaning: Little Johnny Brown
Students perform a folk dance and discuss its cultural and historical meanings. They review the dance and perform it, beginning with four individuals who dance with confidence right from the start.
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A Voice for the Times
Learners make connections with events of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's with songs made popular by Aretha Franklin.
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Views of the American West: True or False?
Students explain that a landscape painting may or may not accurately represent a specific place. They identify techniques that create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface.
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Playing Historical Detective: Great Grandmother's Dress and Other Clues to the Life and Times of Annie Steel
Students draw conclusions about an mystery person based on documents and artifacts provided. In this drawing conclusions lesson, students become detectives by reading and analyzing evidence provided. This lesson includes information on...
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JAPAN, IMAGES A PEOPLE
Students interpret Japanese and American paintings; evaluate paintings as sources of cultural and historical information