Using Popular Music to Teach History - Thematic Units or an Elective Course

The materials in this bundle could easily be Units for a new HISTORY centered elective at your school. This program relies heavily on the music of the time period to take students on an eccentric tour through World History. I strongly believe that MUSIC is the most powerful tool that we have to engage students and create meaningful classroom experiences.

Every lesson is this bundle uses music (with every continent, decade, and genre being represented). PowerPoint slides accompany each Unit - all contain an essential question, background information, fun hooks/introductions, video links with discussion questions, closure activities, and extension activities. Some units also include graphic organizers, worksheets, nonfiction articles, research projects, homework, and rubrics. This course is meant to look, sound, and feel like a US or World History course that has been taken over by a rock n roll band! It's time to bring music...loud incredible music back into our school.

This bundle/course includes the following Units:

1. 100 Years of Dance - investigate how events affect trends, music, and dancing

2. Country Music's Response to 9/11 - explores the tragedy and we used music to heal

3. The History of Black Protest Songs - shows us how African American's have used music throughout their fight for civil rights

4. Protest Song Research Project - includes an example project, slideshow outline, rubric, and homework practice using a Vietnam War era tune

5. Kanye and Katrina - explores the racial inequities revealed to the country after Hurricane Katrina; the realities and environmental racism in New Orleans

6. Cold War Berlin: Musical Resistance - explores the effects the wall had on music, fashion, and politics after WWII

7. AIDS Epidemic: Art, Music, Science, and Politics of the 80s & 90s - explores the realities of AIDS not long ago and how the LGBTQ community helped bring about social, medical, and political change in the United States

8. Vietnam War: Musical Resistance of the 60s & 70s - explores the divisiveness in America during the war and how music responded on both sides

9. The Banjo's Journey - traces the history of the banjo and slave music from Africa to North America; evaluates how the banjo impacted the relationship between slaves and their masters, the Abolitionist movement, and why today many view the banjo as "white"

10. Girl Groups of the 60s - explores songs released by a variety of Girl Groups that introduced ideas of early feminism and how difficult it was to break away from the traditional roles

11. Radio - explores the rise of the mediums' popularity, the evolution of its programming, its effect on American culture, its uses during wartime, and its eventual downfall and rebirth upon the introduction of television

12. Heavy Metal and the Censorship Debate - explore and debate the connection between heavy metal and parental advisory labels on popular music, censorship powers, and whether music should be regulated and by whom

13. Third Wave Feminism - explores the women's rights movement in the 90s, how and why it occurred, and the role 90s female musicians played in changing the perception of women's roles in American society

14. The Twist and Teen Dance Shows Influence on American Culture - explores how television and teen dance shows influenced fads, trends, fashion and dance crazes in 1950s America

15. Suburbanization of Postwar America - explores the influence of television, surfing, and the automobile on American Culture and Rock and Roll after WWII

16. Beatlemania - identify the historical events that led up to the Beatles arrival in America, analyze the causes of hysteria, the role of the manager, and the power of the commercial machine; explore the factors that helped create the lasting image and popularity of the band