Media Smarts
Defining Popular Culture
What part does media play in creating, defining, and perpetuating popular culture? High schoolers chart their encounters with fads, trends, and icons and reflect on the media's influence on popular culture.
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200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
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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The Sorcerer's Apprentice: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Upper graders view the animated short, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and analyze how the music score was chosen to express the scene. They create an animation as they listen to a classical recording to experience the connection between...
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Music and Animation: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Music has been used to convey thoughts, feelings, and the human condition for thousands of years. Your class will analyze several songs hear in the animated classic, "Charlie Brown." They will listen to several jazz pieces from the show,...
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VH1 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons Lesson 2
Students discuss pop culture, pop culture icons, and female composers.
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Pop Culture Icons: Medieval Music
Kids compare and contrast music from the past to the present. They listen to and review the characteristics of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Pop music. Then, they discuss the differences in each and how musical icons from the past...
Japan Society
Popular Culture and Japan’s Gross National Cool
From Manga to Godzilla and Pokemon, Japanese pop culture has been taking the globe by storm. This phenomenon is called "soft power." Learners will examine the differences between hard and soft power, as well as learn the historical and...
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200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Students discuss style and characteristics of musical time periods as well as the definition of "pop culture." They compare and contrast modern-day popular icons to music icons throughout history. This lesson requires a video, which is...
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200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Students discuss the style and characteristics of the Classical era and the genre of opera. They compare and contrast modern day popular icons to musical icons throughout history. They write original librettos to modern entertainment.
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200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Students watch Bugs Bunny cartoons, discuss the role of classical music in them, create musical parodies, and discuss Bugs Bunny as a Pop Icon.
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American Pop Icons
Students analyze art and decide if the images are an attempt to celebrate or criticize American Popular Culture of the fifties and sixties and discuss how successful "Pop Art" mirrored society. Students also discuss the difference...
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Picture the 60s
Students consider how the 1960's impacted Great Britain. In this contemporary history lesson, students visit selected websites to discover information about the decade, popular culture, and women's rights.
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VH1 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons Lesson 1
Students study the affect of a theme song can have on a show or performer. They compare and contrast an original television theme song with classical music.
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VH1 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons Lesson 2
Students examine the origins of ragtime music in American and analyze its musical form.
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200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Learners define the term "exoticism" and identify musical elements used by 19th and 20th century composers and modern pop icons to convey exoticism.
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Pop on the Block
Students consider what makes a movie, television show, musical talent, or artist a cult classic and create descriptive lists of items from these phenomena that may be sold at auction.
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VH1 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons Lesson 2
Students compare two versions of song done as an original and as a cover. They attempt to arrange a pop song to show a different musical style.
New Class Museum
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Portraits: Androgyny in Contemporary Culture
Portraiture, artistic expression, romanticism, and androgyny are discussed in a thought-provoking lesson. Upper graders first discuss and examine the history of portraiture and the elements common to the Romantic style. Then they turn...
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VH1 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Students compare two versions of a song by two different artists and define "covering." students examine the longevity of recording artists.
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American Aloha Lesson Plan: Perpetuating Indigenous Cultural Traditions in Diaspora
Students examine the culture and decline of the culture of native Hawaiian people as the islands were colonized. They study issues of cultural identity for Native Hawaiians.
ReadWriteThink
Decoding the Dystopian Characteristics of Macintosh’s “1984” Commercial
Known as one of the most iconic advertisements of the 20th century, Macintosh's "1984" commercial has become more of a social statement. Present the ad to a new audience of viewers with a lesson focused on identifying dystopian...
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Phenomenology Lesson Plan #5: Character Part 2
Students examine the meaning of the word icon as it relates to media and pop culture. They watch and discuss film clips, write a mini-biography, take a Film Icon Quote quiz, and write a written response to the film clips.
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Hold On to Your Hats
Elementary schoolers study the symbolism and influences found in advertising. First, they learn about the history and cultural significance of the Summer Official's Hat that was a symbol of status in ancient China. Then, they access...
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Introducing Jane Eyre
"How can a magazine reflect a particular time and culture?" Using this prompt, your class explores the Victorian Era as it relates to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. They can also play the "Victorian Women's Rights" game for the year 1840...