The TeachRock lesson plans feature rich, multimedia materials and bring a new kind of energy into learning, connecting with students and teachers in an area where they've already made an investment: popular music.
Core Lessons
Book 1: Birth of Rock
Why Rock and Roll?
How to Study Rock and Roll
Thematic Lesson: Love Songs
Country Blues
The Blues: The Sound of Rural Poverty
The Blues and the Great Migration
The Blues Goes Electric
The Birth of the Electric Guitar
The New Kid in Town: Muddy Waters Comes to Chicago
The Forties Transition
The Influence of Rhythm and Blues
World War II and the Shrinking of the Ensemble
Elvis
Rock and Roll and the American Dream
Elvis and Race in 1950s America
Doo Wop
The Musical Roots of Doo Wop
The Pioneers
Chuck Berry
The Rise of the Electric Guitar as Rock and Roll’s Dominant Symbol
Bo Diddley’s Unconventional 1950s Sound and Its Anticipation of Hip Hop
Gospel Music: The Birth of Soul
Gospel Music and the Birth of Soul
The DJs
Radio Before Rock and Roll
Hunter Hancock and Dewey Phillips Bring R&B to the Airwaves
Rock and Roll Becomes Pop
Birth of the American Teenager
Fear of the American Teenager
Dion and the Teen Idols
Rock and Roll Goes to the Movies
Book 2: Teenage Rebellion
The Italians
The Groundbreakers – Italian-American Vocalists Before Rock and Roll
Invitation to the Dance
Television and the Twist: Rock and Roll Dance Goes Mainstream
The Brill Building and the Girl Group Era
The Rise of the “Girl Groups”
Surf
The Musical Roots of the Surf Sound
The Beach Boys and the Sound of the Suburbs
Car Culture and Rock and Roll in Postwar America
Sixties Soul and Civil Rights
The Memphis Sound: A Case Study of Music and Integration in Mid-Century America
Aretha Franklin: Soul Music and the New Femininity of the 1960s
Music and the Movement: Giving Voice
The Civil Rights Movement as a Turning Point: A Document Based Question Activity
The Blues Explosion
The American Blues in Britain
British Invasion I: The Beatles
Liverpool: The Birthplace of the Beatles
Beatlemania
British Invasion II: The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones: Giving America Back the Blues
British Invasion III: The Rest of the Family
The Who’s Generation
Latino Rock
The Influence of Latin Music in Postwar New York City
Ritchie Valens and the Birth of Latino Rock
Book 3: Transformation
Bob Dylan
The Early Years: Bringing a Rock and Roll Attitude to Folk
Dylan as Poet
Love and Theft: Debating Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize
Folk Rock
All Over This Land: The Emergence of Folk Rock
Hard Rock is Born
Jimi Hendrix: Introducing Hard Rock
Detroit: Blue Collar Rock
The Sound of Blue Collar Detroit
Assembling Hits at Motown
The Summer of Love
The San Francisco Scene, 1967
The Protest Tradition
The Roots of the Protest Era: McCarthyism and the Artist’s Voice in 1950s America
The Music of the Civil Rights Movement
Youth, Mass Culture, and Protest: The Rise and Impact of 1960s Antiwar Music
Protest as Event
Americans Respond to the Vietnam War: A Document Based Question Activity
Country Rock
The Roots of Country Rock
Social Soul: The Roots of Hip Hop
Say It Loud: The Rise of Black Pride
Seventies Soul: The Soundtrack of Turbulent Times
Southern White Soul / Blue Eyed Soul
Dan Penn
The Singer-Songwriters
Singer-Songwriters and the Environmental Movement
A Song Of Their Own: Female Singer-Songwriters of the Early 1970s
Book 4: Fragmentation
Music and Art
Art Lesson: Designing a Band Logo
Art/STEAM Lesson: Designing Album Covers and Fashion Using Color Theory
Drawing to Music: Hearing Colors and Seeing Sounds
Heavy Metal
The Roots of Heavy Metal
Mainstream Metal, Parental Advisories, and Censorship
Glam Rock
Introducing Glam Rock
Glam: The Return of the Teenager
Prog Rock
The Roots of Progressive Rock
New York Underground
The New York City Underground
Seventies: Fragmentation Begins
Funk Asserts Itself: Black Art for Black Audiences
The Rise of Disco
Punk Rock
Punk as Reaction
Eighties New Wave
Introducing New Wave
Reagan and the Cold War: A Document Based Question Activity
Grunge and Hardcore
The Emergence of Grunge
Hip Hop
The Historical Roots of Hip Hop
Divergent Paths in the 1990s: Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop
Rock Today: The Persistence of an Idea
Considering the Future of Rock and Roll
Special Projects
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World
Rumble
Native American Music from Wounded Knee to the Billboard Charts: A Document Based Exploration
Link Wray, “Rumble,” and Growing Up “Shawnee Poor”
“Indians” in the American Imagination: Exploring Cultural Appropriation through Structured Academic Controversy
Blacklisted: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Peter La Farge, Johnny Cash, and the Red Power Movement
Exploring Identity in Native American Visual Art and Music through Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Salas, Robbie Robertson, and the Black Eyed Peas’ Taboo
The Beatles
Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years
The Beatles’ Early Years: Working Towards Success
The Beatles, Teen Culture, and the Birth of the “Rock Band”
The Beatle Image: A New Kind of Star
The Beatles and American Segregation
Teamwork: George Martin, Brian Epstein and the Making of The Beatles’ Team
From the Stage to the Studio
PBS Soundbreaking
Episode One: The Recording Artist
Sam Phillips: Producing the Sounds of a Changing South
Turning Songs into Records: The Many Roles of Producers in Popular Music
Episode Two: Painting With Sound
The Beatles: Multitracking and the 1960s Counterculture
Moving Faster than the Imagination: The Evolution of Sound Recording
The Leadership Skills of a Music Producer
Episode Three: The Human Instrument
Microphones and Modern Life: A Listening Revolution
At the Heart of the Production: Recording the Voice
Episode Four: Going Electric
Going Electric: How Electricity Helped Bring The Guitar to the Forefront of Popular Music
The Music of Machines: The Synthesizer, Sound Waves, and Finding the Future
Episode Five: Four on The Floor
The Beat as an Object of Celebration and Concern in Segregation-Era America
Beyoncé, Santana, and Rhythm as a Representation of People and Place
Learning Rhythm through Gospel
Episode Six: The World Is Yours
Sampling: The Foundation of Hip Hop
The Fine Line Between Creation and Theft: An Exploration of “Originality” in Digitally Manipulated Music
Episode Seven: Sound & Vision
From “Illustrated Songs” to the Music Video: A History of Sound and Image
Dressing the Part: MTV and the Disruption of Gender
Episode Eight: I Am My Music
The Short and Long of It: How 45 rpm Singles and 33 ⅓ rpm Albums Helped Shape Radio and American Culture
Consumer as Creator: How Cassette Tapes Established New Possibilities for Listener Interaction
Partnership Lessons: Little Kids Rock
Here
Alessia Cara’s “Here”: Perspectives on Fun, Peer Pressure, and Anxiety
I Was Here
Everyday Heroes: Beyoncé and United Nations World Humanitarian Day
Something Just Like This
Heroes, Mortals, and The Chainsmokers’ and Coldplay’s “Something Just Like This”
See You Again
Memory and Hope in Wiz Khalifa’s and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again”
Despacito
The Latin Rhythms of “Despacito”
Praying
“Praying,” #FreeKesha, and #MeToo: How an Artist and a Song Can Reflect a Movement
What About Us
Who is “Us” in P!nk’s “What About Us”?
Funny
“Funny”: Tori Kelly, Fame, and Judgement
Hound Dog
Interdisciplinary Lesson: “Hound Dog”
Little Kids Rock Charts: “Hound Dog”
Twist and Shout
Interdisciplinary Lesson: “Twist and Shout”
Little Kids Rock Charts: “Twist and Shout”
Blowin’ in the Wind
Interdisciplinary Lesson: “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Little Kids Rock Charts: “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Chain of Fools
Interdisciplinary Lesson: “Chain of Fools”
Little Kids Rock Charts: “Chain of Fools”
