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Academy of American Poets

We Sing America

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Songs the Express American Ideals

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
First graders will learn the words to two American ideals songs: "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "America the Beautiful." They will also learn the Pledge of Allegiance and what it means to recite it. This is a great resource for your...
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Lesson Plan
Tune Into English

America – West Side Story

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Anita's iconic rooftop ode to American life in West Side Story is the focus of a lesson plan on immigration. As class members listen to "America," they follow along with printed lyrics, and discuss whether they agree with Anita's...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Songs of America

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Combine your lesson on patriotism with a lesson on comparing and contrasting. Focusing on The Star Spangled Banner, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and The Old Folks at Home, this lesson prompts learners to compare and contrast each song...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a lesson that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as questions...
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Lesson Plan
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National Park Service

Lesson 1: Journaling with Songs of Freedom

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
There's more to music than a memorable tune. The songs of those who were enslaved reveal the harsh realities of their lives. Using both songs and slave narratives, historians uncover this hidden history. The lesson plan incorporates a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Patriotic Poems and Songs

For Teachers Pre-K - K
Students memorize poems and songs to recite and sing at a Fourth of July concert. In this poems and songs lesson, students practice reciting 9 songs and poems while holding small flags.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Patriotic Songs

For Teachers 1st
First graders recognize patriotic songs of America. In this historical music lesson, 1st graders discuss the historical background of the song "Yankee Doodle" and repeat the lyrics after the instructor. Students read the lyrics to the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music Dynamics - America the Beautiful

For Teachers 1st
First graders sing America the Beautiful and understand the words to the song.  In this singing social studies lesson plan, 1st graders become familiar with the images and vocabulary in America the Beautiful while singing the words.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Africa: The Middle Passage and 19th Century America

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners participate in a series of activities to explore the lives of slaves in 19th century America. They examine the design of slave ships, the hardships endured, and the ways that owners depended on slaves for their economic survival.
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Lesson Plan
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Alabama Department of Archives and History

Strange Fruit: Lynching in America

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To continue their study of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the beginning of the civil rights movement, class members watch the YouTube video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" as an introduction to an examination of lynching in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Slavery in Colonial America

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students examine the experience of the middle passage of slaves. They review slave songs and discuss their common themes. They develop a monologue in which they integrate a fragment of an actual slave song into a poem they have written.
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: Myth of the Happy Slave

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The firsthand accounts of what it was like to be an enslaved person in the mid-1800s riveted a nation and the issue ultimately led to civil war. Using excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography, budding historians examine what it...
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Lesson Plan
Little Kids Rock

The Latin Rhythms of “Despacito”

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
When you hear the first few beats of "Despacito," the unrivaled Latin pop hit of 2017, you can't keep your feet from moving! A music analysis lesson plan examines the intoxicating hit by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee and introduces the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jazz in America Lesson Plan 2

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Young scholars explore jazz's primary elements. They identify the basic definitions of terms associated with jazz. In addition, they listen to Song for My Father.
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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

America Poems

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners examine examples of how other Americans have expressed their feelings about America through songs and poetry, and write their own poems to express their relationship with America.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

America in the 1950's

For Students 5th - 8th
In this America in the 1950's worksheet, students read about housing, education, entertainment, and the Cold War in the 1950s. Students then answer 5 questions about this time.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Using Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and Hart Crane's The Bridge as models, class groups first craft their own epic poems for 1900 and, using primary sources, create a multi-media presentation that captures the sights and sounds of life...
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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
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
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

The FFA Creed and Song

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners memorize the first sentence in each paragraph of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) creed. Once memorized, they complete a worksheet on the FFA creed before reciting the lyrics in rap form. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Songs from Two Generations - Lesson 2

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers identify popular songs from 1968 era and analyze some of the topical and musical elements. They focus on social protest songs and other songs of social conscious.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rockin’ the World: Rock and Roll and Social Protest in 20th Century America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Learners explore protest songs. For this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine issues-based music by summarizing lyrics and revealing inferences, generalizations, conclusions, and points of view found in the songs.

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