M.C. Bard: Hip Hop and Shakespeare

Students explore the musical style of jazz and identify its elements while listening to hip-hop recordings. They select two styles of music and fuse them together in this lesson.

Ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM. The force will be strong in the hearts of your young Jedi as they use their lightsabers to strike the accentted syllables in lines from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New...

Sixth graders explore figurative and literal language. They study literary devices through short pieces of Shakespeare's work. Then investigate Shakespeare's works and life.

Your class will enjoy this presentation, whether or not they are fans of hip hop. It focuses on the trends of hip hop names, discussing the role of cool names and the strong letter k. The slide show could successfully augment a class on...

Young scholars discuss the historical roots of Hip-Hop to the present as an example of an art form that arose from the street into popular culture. Emphasis is placed on in-class discussion and written reflections in this introductory...

A phenomenal instructional activity on Shakespeare! Middle and high school learners create WebQuests about the texts and authors that Shakespeare himself studied when he was in grammar school. They use a variety of media in order to...

Students discuss the importance of dance within the Hip Hop genre and the dance moves which grew out of the Hip Hop style. They perform an original dance routine or demonstrate their instrument for the class.

Jazz, Blue Grass, Hip Hop, Swing. Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, Disco. So many music genres born in the USA. After reading an article about the fate of New Orlean's Jazz after Hurricane Katrina, class members investigate the life cycles of...

"I all alone beweep my outcast state." After a discussion of the "Shakespeare in American Life" segment in which Maya Angelou's relates her reaction to Sonnet 29, class groups create and perform a scene about an outcast that includes the...

Young scholars identify and employ non violent methods/tactics to bring about social change as exemplified in hip hop culture. They examine hip hop as a form of political activism.