Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Time in Jazz

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine time and meter in the jazz idiom. They analyze Take the A Train and Take Five. They research websites featuring Ella Fitzgerald and her music.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Harlem Renaissance

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students investigate the African American culture in the 1920's and the Harlem Renaissance. They read and analyze poems written by poets of the Harlem Renaissance, listen to jazz music and identify the characteristics of the music, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

VH1 Road to Fame: Harry Connick Jr.

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Young scholars are divided into groups of employees of a jazz radio station and a classical radio station. They role play their own broadcasts.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sing the Blues

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students explore examples of this musical form, then write their own lyrics for a blues song.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

ART- LANGUAGE OF SYMBOLS

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students discuss how color construct meaning in art. They will demonstrate a technical knowledge and creative use of formal elements and principals of design. Students then discuss the way their selection of color contributed to their work.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Harlem Renaissance

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students locate Harlem on a city map of New York City. As a class, they are given information and take notes on the Harlem Renaissance. They are read two poems by different authors and write a paragraph about what they believe it means....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fun with Phylogenetic Trees

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders differentiate angiosperms and gymnosperms. In this biology lesson plan, 10th graders construct a musical phylogenetic tree from information they gathered on resource websites. They present their project in class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson 12- Quincy Jones:What Makes an American Master?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students study the life of Quincy Jones and research black music for selected decades of the 20th Century. They discuss the qualities that help one create and sustain a successful career. They design a timeline of what their future...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Smithsonian Jazz: Duke Ellington

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This site provides audio clips, photos, and biographical information of this legendary composer and performer. A match game teaches and tests your knowledge of Ellington.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Musical Harlem

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
The Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge offers a great unit for introducing jazz to students. Its use of Harlem as the "glue" which binds together elements such as jazz history and jazz terminology, makes it particularly effective for the...
Lesson Plan
Yale University

Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: How to Blues

For Teachers 6th - 8th
This site has ten lessons to teach about the blues in which students learn the geography, historical events and performers associated with the blues. The unit has been recognized by the American Music Education Initiative as one of the...