Handout
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Drop Me Off in Harlem

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of biographies, video and audio clips, and photos offer a look at the people, locations, and themes of the Harlem Renaissance.
Unit Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: The Poetics of Hip Hop

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Students will analyze form in Shakespearean sonnets and hip-hop music. Concepts viewed in-depth include rhythm, form, diction, and sound. [Requires QuickTime 7].
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: All Around the Baseball Field

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Here's a lesson plan that combines art, music, movement, critical thinking, math, and baseball. The plan gives complete instructions, printable resources and web links, assessment, and application of national standards.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Making Rain

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Your students will enjoy making their own rainstick while learning about poetry and expressing their feelings about rain. This three-part lesson gives step-by-step instructions, as well as an assessment rubric.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Chinese Instruments

For Teachers K - 1st
Help your young scholars identify and classify Western instruments and traditional Chinese instruments.
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 young scholars. Its use of Harlem as the "glue" which binds together elements such as jazz history and jazz terminology, makes it particularly effective for the...
Interactive
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Learning to Perform the Dances of Martha Graham

For Students 9th - 10th
The newest member of the Martha Graham Dance Company shares her experiences with you. Peek inside her virtual locker to read journals and watch video clips as she learns her new roles.
Interactive
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Perfect Pitch

For Students 9th - 10th
Perfect Pitch is an interactive learning environment that lets you form orchestras and create your own orchestral arrangements of music from the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern periods. Clever game design, including a...
Unit Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Blues Journey

For Students 9th - 10th
Trace the history of the blues in America through the play, Blues Journey, based on the book by Walter Dean Myers. You can see video clips of the stage play, listen to blues radio shows, and learn about different types of blues music.
Interactive
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: City Dionysia: The Ancient Roots of Modern Theater

For Students 9th - 10th
Media-rich site explains the development of theater practice in ancient Greece and compares Greek dramatic forms and purposes with contemporary theater practices. Learners can then write and stage their own original plays to demonstrate...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Nureyev: The Unconquerable Will

For Students 9th - 10th
Lesson on creative expression and dance in light of the social, cultural, and political climate in Russia.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Chinese Calligraphy & Ink Painting

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore Chinese culture while creating unique pieces of calligraphy with watercolor paint. This two-part lesson plan includes an assessment rubric and a list of sources to use as a reference.
Handout
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: City Dionysia: The Theaters

For Students 9th - 10th
Three-part resource on Greek theater that includes an overview, a roll-over diagram that highlights and defines key architectural elements of ancient Greek theaters, and examples of the influence of ancient Greek architecture on...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Lesson Plan: Monsters

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Following a reading of the epic poem Beowulf and the contemporary text inspired by it, Grendel, students create their own monster. Lesson plans provide assessment criteria, extension ideas, and a list of resources.
Article
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Boy Meets Girl, Girl Meets Tragic End (Opera)

For Students 9th - 10th
Nothing comes close to opera when it comes to affairs of the heart. Opera has always been addicted to love, and its romances can range from the hilarious to the dramatic. But don't expect a standard "Boy Meets Girl" story when you take...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Chivalry and Courtly Love

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this 9-12 lesson, students will explore the Arthurian codes of chivalry and courtly love as portrayed in art, modern films, books, and poetry. They will examine the way in which these ideals have influenced our modern concepts of...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Poets and Puppets: Learning English

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Use these how-toos to help English Language Learners with speaking and writing. Using poetry and role playing with puppets unleashes creativity.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Oceans: A Sensory Haiku

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
In this lesson plan, students use the ocean and their five senses as inspirations to create their own unique haikus. Lesson provides assessment criteria and a list of sources.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Cultural Creation Myths

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This ArtsEdge lesson plan provides strategies for teaching the creation myth to high school learners. Students participate in writing intensive activities which relay the various implications of these myths and their relation to the...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Lesson: Exploring Russian Folktales

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Expand on your middle schoolers' knowledge of storytelling with this lesson plan on Russian folktales. Provides several links to examples, assessment criteria, and a short list of other sources.
Unit Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Fractured Families in American Drama Lesson Plan

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Part of a larger unit comparing O'Neill's and Tennessee Williams's work, this lesson focuses on family dynamics in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "A Streetcar Named Desire."
Unit Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Uncivil Civilization in "The Hairy Ape" Lesson

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Various activities, discussions and assignments are suggested by this lesson plan that is designed for upper level high school students, particularly those in AP or IB programs.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: String Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers K - 1st
After learning about different stringed instruments, students create their own and then investigate how length and width of the strings affect the pitch. Lesson includes handouts, a rubric, a bibliography, and links.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Decades Mural Project

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Lesson for social studies teachers whose students are studying various decades.