Curated OER
Jazz and Math: Rhythmic Innovations
Students watch a segment of the PBS Ken Burns JAZZ documentary about Buddy Bolden creating the "Big Four." They compare and contrast the rhythms of marches and jazz based on the examples in the film, and explore notation, subdivision of...
Curated OER
My Hero Learning Circle
Students participate in a collaboration activity. In this My Hero Project lesson, students discover what a hero is to someone halfway around the world and themselves. Over the 16-week session, circles, made up of between 6-9 classes from...
Curated OER
Sondheim: Secret Metaphors
Students explore the work of Stephen Sondheim. In this musical theater lesson, students examine the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George. Students identify and anaylze linear and nonlinear structural patterns...
Curated OER
Fan(tom) of the Opera
Students explore the ways in which the worlds of popular music and opera can work together to complement the other. They work in small groups to analyze plot, characters, setting and themes of a popular opera using a summary of that...
Curated OER
Integrated Video Technology
High schoolers create a Mother's Day video gift by utilizing the latest video technology in class. In this film making instructional activity, students utilize important photographs related to their mother and import them into a...
Curated OER
Ballet and Dance Quiz
Ballet is the main focus of this short answer quiz, but a few questions cover dance in cinema and Scottish folk dance names. Trivia for dancers!
Curated OER
Musical Forms
Students engage in an activity that is creating a video to accompany a chosen piece of music. They create a storyboard in order to plan out the video shooting. Then students listen to the music while filming takes place. Then they use...
General Motors Corporation
Jazz
Over the history of the world, music has been at the heart of some of the greatest social and political movements. Scholars discover their musical roots as they dive into the sounds and emotions of renowned jazz players. They see how...
Education Closet
West Side Shifts
Combine math, language arts, music, and dance with an activity focused on "America" from West Side Story. After listening to the song, learners compare the film to Romeo and Juliet, analyze the song's meter, design choreography, plan...
Curated OER
Sondheim: Voice of Cultural Change
High schoolers 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.
Curated OER
The Blues . Music Education
In this activity students will learn about finding the blues in a variety of musical styles. They will investigate instances of the blues form heard in mainstream pop music, along with exploring the musical styles of two new artists who...
Curated OER
Exploring Film Genres for Telling Hero Stories: Narrative Shorts
Students research that a narrative film tells a story using camera movement, sound, lighting, editing and other film making techniques. The audience must be taken into consideration when making a film. They explore what makes their hero...
Curated OER
Poetry through Jazz, Rap, and Hip Hop
Students explore poetry through jazz, rap, and hip hop music. They discover the common threads that run through the poetry and music. Students design their own lyrics to a jazz, rap, or hip hop selection and share their songs with the...
Curated OER
Language Arts, Music, Poetry: Blues Style
This lesson focuses on how the blues both operates as poetry and informs the poetry of many prominent African American poets. Students consider the poetic devices and recurring themes in blues lyrics and the significance of the poetry of...
Curated OER
The Blues . Music Education
What ultimately influences a musician's creations? Is it the time in which he/she lives, his/her personal experiences, the music of the time and previous times, or the image the artist hopes to convey? This lesson explores these...
Curated OER
Music Education, The Blues
This lesson examines both the content and form of lyrics in blues songs. In addition to highlighting the basic musical form of a blues song, it also addresses the use of floating verses in blues music, both within the context of the...
Curated OER
Folk Traditions in the Blues
Click here to download a PDF of this lesson. (2.8 MB) Overview This lesson will enable teachers to use the blues to explore selected topics in African American folklore. Students will learn about some of the African American cultural...
Curated OER
Plants and Animals, Partners in Pollination
Students participate in multiple hands-on activities to explore reproduction and pollination. In groups, using a cotton swab and powder, students simulate being pollinators and plants. They name the parts of the flowers and the function...
Curated OER
"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and investigate their natural environment. This humanities instructional activity provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in...
Curated OER
So Foul and Fair a Play
Students watch various interpretations of Shakespeare's Macbeth in film. In groups, they examine the setting, characters, music and sequence. They compare and contrast the various films and discuss the differences. They write an essay on...
Curated OER
Audio Engineers: Sound Weavers
Learners explore audio engineering. In this career education and "sound" science lesson, students define related vocabulary and make connections between the music they listen to and the job an audio engineer does after listening to...
Curated OER
Bits of Braille
Intended to build an understanding of Braille in a general education classroom. They read the book Helen Keller then write their names using a braille website. Many interesting web links are included. Could be used for a general or...
Curated OER
Film Scoring: Living a Creative Life
Students discuss career choices and goals in this introductory instructional activity to a unit on the art of Film Scoring. Emphasis is placed on brainstorming within a small group of learners.
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Senses: Hearing
How does this sound? It's a rockin' video starring two teenage girls talking about music, hearing, and the ear. Listeners hear that the ear does not only gather sound waves, but also helps us maintain balance. They also will get an...