Topic: Youth/Teenagers

lesson:
The Water Walker: Indigenous Wisdom and Water Contamination

Grades: Elementary 4-6, Middle
Subjects: Civics, STEAM

In what ways do indigenous views of water align with scientific views, and how do indigenous activists use artistic expression to advocate for water protection?

Student Edition:
Chicana Punk and the Chicano Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

lesson:
Chicana Punk and the Chicano Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

What is Chicana Punk, how does it relate to the Chicano Movement, and how did it transform the Punk music scene?

lesson:
The Zoot Suit: Style and Swing in the Wartime Economy

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

What was the cultural, social, and historical significance of the zoot suit during the period of World War II?

lesson:
Aguinaldos: Venezuelan Songs for the Holiday Season

Subjects: General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

What are Aguinaldos, and how do children in Venezuela celebrate the winter holiday season known as La Navidad?

Trace It Back:
Alice Bag

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

lesson:
The Birth of Hippie Culture in the 1960s

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the Grateful Dead reflect new ideas about life and society in the 1960’s?

lesson:
The Musical Roots of the Surf Sound (Elementary Version)

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

How does the “Surf Sound” in Rock and Roll reflect early surf culture, and what are the roots of this genre of music?

Trace It Back:
Selena Gomez

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

lesson:
Greta Thunberg, Music, and the Climate Crisis

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Science, Social Studies/History

How have musicians helped spread climate activist Greta Thunberg’s message?

lesson:
The Teamwork Behind the Beatles (Elementary Version)

Grades: Elementary 4-6
Subjects: CTE, Social Emotional Learning

How did the input of manager Brian Epstein and record producer George Martin help The Beatles develop and refine skills that aided the band in presenting their music and personalities to a mass audience?

lesson:
Deadheads and Reagan’s America in the 1980s

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Who are the Deadheads and how did their lifestyle contrast with the conservative values promoted by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s?

lesson:
Counterculture in the 1960s

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

How did the counterculture movement of the late 1960s challenge traditional American behaviors and values, and how did the Grateful Dead reflect these changing views of life and society?

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:
100 Years of Dance

Grades: Elementary 4-6, Middle
Subjects: General Music

Why might people dance, and how have dance trends changed in America since the 1920s?

lesson:
The Vietnam War: A Document-Based Question

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

In what ways and to what extent did the Vietnam War change American culture, society, and values?

lesson:
The Beatles, a New Kind of Star

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How did The Beatles establish a new paradigm for the image of "the star," and how did that image support their global success?

lesson:
From the Stage to the Studio

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

What caused The Beatles to cease touring in 1966 and how did the innovative music they then created during their subsequent immersion in the recording studio both reflect and influence the world at that time?

lesson:
The Beatles and Teen Culture

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the Beatles’ image as a “rock band” affect young people in America?

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:
The Beatles and American Segregation

Grades: All Ages, Elementary 4-6, High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the Beatles take a stand against segregation while touring America? And what did it mean for popular music culture?

lesson:
“Twist and Shout” and Post-War Britain

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music

What role did cover songs like “Twist and Shout” play early in the Beatles's career, and how did their experiences growing up in post-WWII Liverpool and performing in Hamburg nightclubs help them to develop as a professional musical ensemble?

lesson:
Glam: The Return of the Teenager

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

How was Glam Rock part of a new teenage culture in the 1970s?

lesson:
The Who’s Generation

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

How did the Who represent “My Generation” in mid-1960s England?

lesson:
Car Culture in Postwar America

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did car culture intersect with and inspire Rock and Roll?

lesson:
Birth of the American Teenager

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did teenagers become a distinct demographic group in the 1950s?

lesson:
The Impact of 1960s Antiwar Music

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How did antiwar protest music provide a voice for those opposed to the Vietnam War?

lesson:
The Sound of the Suburbs

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the music of the Beach Boys reflect the suburbanization of postwar America?

lesson:
Beatlemania

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What were the factors that contributed to the rise of Beatlemania?

lesson:
Rock and Roll Goes to the Movies

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did movies help to introduce Rock and Roll culture to mainstream audiences in the 1950s?

lesson:
Dion and the Teen Idols

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

What role did the so-called "teen idols" of the late 1950s play in bringing Rock and Roll into mainstream American culture?

lesson:
Punk as Reaction

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, Social Studies/History

How was Punk Rock a reaction both to the commercialization of Rock and Roll and to the social climate in late 1970s Britain?

lesson:
The San Francisco Scene, 1967

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

Why did nearly 100,000 young people descend upon San Francisco in 1967 for a “Summer of Love"?

lesson:
The Emergence of Grunge

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music

What was Grunge and where did it come from?