Genre: Singer-songwriter

Student Edition:
Contemporary Latin Artists and Activism

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Using Algebraic Expressions to Calculate Touring Costs

Grades: Elementary K-3
Subjects: Math

Unit Plan:
Math and the Music Industry

Grades: Middle
Subjects: Math

Math is inherent in the music industry. Whether calculating touring costs, analyzing industry data, or determining fan engagement on social media, math interprets numerous aspects of the music industry. Through five lessons, students practice math skills within the context of the music industry. Utilizing important artists as case studies, students...

Trace It Back:
Jackson Browne

lesson:
Using Algebraic Expressions to Calculate Touring Costs

Grades: Middle
Subjects: Math

How can writing and evaluating algebraic expressions be used to anticipate a musician’s touring costs?

Trace It Back:
Margo Price

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music

Unit Plan:
Civic Environmentalism

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History, STEAM

Civic environmentalism is a collective action to address critical environmental issues and implement solutions through democratic processes that will result in an improved and sustainable community. Through six lessons, students identify, analyze, and explore specific details and events related to the origins of the environmental movement in the United States...

Student Edition:
The United Farm Workers Movement through Music and Poetry

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

Trace It Back:
Nina Simone

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

Trace It Back:
Mitski

Grades: AP/Honors/101, Elementary K-3, High, Middle

Student Edition:
“Lean on Me”: Expressing Gratitude and Care with Music

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Emotional Learning

How does Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” express gratitude and the importance of mutual care?

lesson:
The Reclamation of the American Cowboy

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How has the image and history of the American cowboy been reclaimed in the 21st Century?

Trace It Back:
Kate Bush

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

Trace It Back:
Gary Clark Jr.

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

Trace It Back:
Prince

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

lesson:
How a Bill Becomes a Law: Legislating the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How does a bill become a law in the United States of America?

lesson:
Singer-Songwriters and the Environmental Movement (Elementary Version)

Grades: Elementary 4-6
Subjects: Art/Design, Science, Social Studies/History

How did the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 70s address the concerns of the environmental movement?

Trace It Back:
Lana Del Rey

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

lesson:
9/11: Country Music Responds

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How did Country musicians’ responses to the September 11th terrorist attacks speak to the feelings of some Americans after the tragedy?

lesson:
Celebrating Community with Art and Poetry (High School Version)

Grades: High
Subjects: Art/Design, ELA, Social Emotional Learning

What different types of communities exist, and how do the people in our communities impact us?

lesson:
Celebrating Community with Art and Poetry (Elementary School Version)

Grades: Elementary 4-6
Subjects: Art/Design, Social Emotional Learning

What different types of communities exist, and how do the people in our communities impact us?

lesson:
Debating Dylan’s Nobel Prize

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: ELA

What are the arguments for and against Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature?

lesson:
Negotiating Native Identity through Art, Poetry and Music

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Art/Design, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How have Native American musicians, poets, and visual artists negotiated their identity, and what role does physical space play in these negotiations?

lesson:
“Here”: Managing Peer Pressure and Anxiety

Grades: All Ages, Elementary 4-6, High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Emotional Learning

In what ways does Alessia Cara’s “Here” defy popular music conventions, and what does the song say about peer pressure in youth culture?

lesson:
The Beatles Work Towards Success

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Math, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How did The Beatles' rigorous work schedule during the years 1960-63 build their strengths as performers, as musicians, and as a band?

lesson:
Artists Protest McCarthyism

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How were musicians and artists affected by McCarthyism in 1950s America?

lesson:
Singer-Songwriters and the Environmental Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How did the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 70s address the concerns of the environmental movement?

lesson:
Dan Penn

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music

How did black artists and white songwriters and musicians interact in the Soul era, and what contributed to that interaction?

lesson:
Dylan as Poet

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA

How did Bob Dylan merge poetry with popular music?

lesson:
Folk Music, Rock and Roll Attitude

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music

How did Bob Dylan’s early experiences with Folk and Rock and Roll music influence his songwriting?

lesson:
Female Singer-Songwriters in the Early 1970s

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What did the success of the female Singer-Songwriters of the early 1970s reveal about the changing roles of women in the United States?