Overview
This collection presents popular music as an entry point for developing student skills in textual analysis, reading comprehension, persuasive writing, and other ELA skills. Covering a wide range of genres, these lessons ask students to conduct poetic analysis of Bob Dylan lyrics, write press releases on controversial issues in Hip-Hop, and conduct in-class debates on musical censorship in Heavy Metal. The collection includes lessons built upon structured academic controversies surrounding female empowerment, cultural appropriation, and Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Lessons
lesson:
Dylan as Poet
How did Bob Dylan merge poetry with popular music?
lesson:
Divergent Paths in the 1990s: Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop
How did Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop respond to the social and political conditions of the 1990s?
lesson:
Mainstream Metal, Parental Advisories, and Censorship
How was Heavy Metal involved in the 1980s controversy surrounding the creation of parental advisories for “offensive” music?
lesson:
The Rise of the “Girl Groups”
Were the Girl Groups of the early 1960s voices of female empowerment or reflections of traditional female roles?
lesson:
Debating Dylan’s Nobel Prize
What are the arguments for and against Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature?
lesson:
Debating Cultural Appropriation
What is cultural appropriation, how does it affect Native American communities, and should it be regulated by law?