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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Demystifying Stereotypes and Understanding Contemporary Cultures

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders compare and contrast folk songs from different cultures. In this music lesson, 4th graders listen to and list the attributes of selected Japanese and American folk songs. Students discover the customs, foods, and culture...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rhythm and Art: Gesture Drawing

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students make connection between music and art. In this integrated arts lesson, students complete gesture drawing activities as they listen to Cuban, flamenco, classical, jazz, and contemporary music. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Primary PE lesson

For Teachers K - 1st
Students participate in dances to a music CD to practice making a conga line formation. They then use locomotor movement shown on an animal picture card, moving to the music.
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Feel the Beat of the Drums

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
These percussion instruments have a rich history and a variety of uses.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Music Be the Food of Love:" Found Poetry with Shakespeare and Hip-Hop

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Lines from Shakespeare and from hip-hop artists provide learners with an opportunity to examine the literary devices these artists use to express their ideas about love. Groups use the provided lines to craft found poems, and then the...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

"Twilight" Music Provides Link Between Past And Present

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Music appreciation lessons can use modern phenomena like "Twilight" to motivate students.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Global Music: Steve Reich – Ghana, Bali, America and Germany

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Students explore the music of Steve Reich. In this global music lesson plan, students compare the music compositions of Steve Reich to African and Balinese music. Students discuss their personal comparisons.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan for Danse by Claude Debussy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study the life and music of Claude Debussy. They listen to and compare the orchestration and compositional technique of the Debussy composition, 'Danse.' They compare a piano arrangement to an orchestrated version.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The John Travolta Syndrome

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students examine the influence of music and film on contemporary fashion. In this popular culture lesson, students research select films featuring John Travolta. Students research selected time periods in American history as well....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sondheim: Voice of Cultural Change

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Our Own Water Music

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students listen to a portion of Handel's Water Music Suite and hypothesize about what would happen if you tapped on the edge of a glass with varying levels of water. They experiment with the glasses and, in small groups, compose their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Patriotic Music: Three Cheers for the Red, White & Blue

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the patriotic songs of the 1940's and compare them to those of today. They identify elements that classify a song as patriotic, listen to several examples and complete Venn diagrams contrasting different examples.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry In the World Around Us

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students engage in a instructional activity which is designed as a literacy connection to science lessons on the effects of water on plants. This instructional activity uses an excellent Reading Rainbow episode on the effect of drought,...
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Lesson Plan
Media Education Lab

Sponsored Content as Propaganda

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What is sponsored content? Who produces sponsored content? Why? Is it fair or unfair? What are the privacy implications for consumers? To answer these questions, class members view a model screencast before crafting their own that...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Australian Aboriginal Art and Storytelling

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Young explorers investigate Australian Aboriginal culture by listening to traditional Dreamtime stories and examining dot paintings created by Aboriginal artists. In addition, they locate the country on maps, discuss the geography of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Upper graders explore pop culture and pop music as a forum for female role models. They explore women who have currently contributed to our pop world and why they could be considered role models. They each interview a woman in their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scops, Rappers and You: Historians with Style!

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students examine the epic poem Beowulf. For this analyzing poetry lesson, student compare listen to the Will Smith song "Wild, Wild West" and read Beowulf. Students analyze the song and the poem. Students then research an influential...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Critical Consumerism: Videos and Teen Culture

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Young scholars analyze music videos as a study on teen culture. In this teen culture lesson, students view music videos and track a different aspect of the videos for male representation, female representation, racial representation,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Hare and the Water: A Tanzanian Folk Tale

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
"The Hare and the Water," a Tanzanian folk tale, lends a global perspective to literary analysis. Learners spend the first two days reading and storyboarding. On day three, they examine folk tale elements (worksheet included), and design...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Keep on Pushing: Popular Music and the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore music that exemplified the Civil Rights Movement. In this music and history lesson plan, students research 1960's protest songs, Motown recorded music, and rap of the 1990's to consider the power of music and its...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Went to the Crossroads: The Faust Theme in Music, Film and Literature

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students analyze song lyrics and discuss Faust theme in musical history. In this thematic lesson, students view a film clip and create a song lyric, poem or short story developed around the Faust theme. Students perform or present their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Heard It on the Radio

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students develop a portfolio of information of contemporary musicians or individuals from the music industry.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover"

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students examine video clips and Web sites related to relevant productions, study song lyrics, and compare and contrast actual history with Broadway history. They create lyrics for a new song based on a contemporary or historical figure...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

iRock

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore, listen to and analyze songs that helped define rock and roll music. They read and discuss the article, "They're All Oldies, Dad Included." Research on contemporary artists is conducted and then the students choose who...