The following lesson plans are designed for an eighth grade classroom. The period for each class is 52 minutes. The lesson may need to be adapted in certain ways for your classroom, but this will give you the basic format of the course. I focus here on three lessons from "The Sixties" section of the unit. I feel that this section of the unit is the most instrumental in showing students how poetry and music have been used to deliver a message.
Just to review, by this point in the unit you would have been over the beatniks with the students. Starting out by giving the student some background on the time period, you would have continued by reading some of the sampled poetry and the students should have tried their hand at some beat poems of their own. Finally in the cumulating art project of that section of the unit, students should have made some artwork to accompany either their own beat poem or one of the poems that they discovered through your explanation.
It is worth noting that the general pattern of each of the three sections in the unit is similar. The teacher should start out by brainstorming with the students to find out what they know about an era. Secondly, the teacher introduces the text to the students, studying as you would any poem. The next step in the unit is where the poetry becomes more specialized. With the beatniks, poetry and art are combined as works are read aloud; with the sixties we put music to the poems; and with the spoken word section we actually treat the poetry as performance poetry.
Sample Lesson One-Building the background to the sixties
Objectives
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· Students will brainstorm what they know about the social issues of the sixties
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· Students will read the words to "The Star Spangled Banner"
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· Students will listen to Jimmy Hendrix's version of "The Star Spangled Banner."
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· Students will reflect in their journal
Materials
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· Text of "The Star Spangled Banner," recording of Jimi Hendrix playing "The Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, journals
Initiation
Begin the class by asking students what they know about the 1960s. How much input you will get from your class depends on many things; their age, grade level, who their social studies teacher was the year before, what your history curriculum is and any number of any other issues. It is safe to say that most classes, especially middle school students, will need a little prodding. Ask questions such as what was the war, what was going on with women, with African-Americans, etc. As they come up with ideas write down their ideas on the board and see what sort of images you come up with. Turn it into a great teaching moment by filling students in on the feeling of the sixties. Who are some of the big names from the sixties? What were some of the big events? Who has relatives that lived through the sixties? What did they do during the decade? Who has seen "Forest Gump?" (You might even want to bring a copy in and show parts of the film as part of your background.) It is a lot to cover in one class period and you can easily extend it to two or more if you prefer. Remember the best thing about these units is their adaptability.
Procedure
Once students have shared some of their knowledge and you and the class have had a conversation about the sixties, hand out a copy of the words to our nation's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Students have heard many versions of this song over the years. But Jimmy Hendrix's version is perhaps one of the most unique. After reading through the song once, allowing one or two students to sing a verse, play Hendrix's version for the class. Ask students what they heard. Without too much discussion, ask students to write down in their journals what this version of the song said to them.
Closure
Ask students to share the thoughts they wrote in their journals. Some students will undoubtedly be willing to share and again it will be up to you, the teacher, to help shape a conversation as to how and why the song would be controversial and an indication of the times.
Sample Lesson Plan-Two- Dylan and the Protest Song
Objectives
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· Students will read the lyrics of several 1960s song writers
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· Students will identify images in the poetry
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· Students will listen to the musical versions of the songs
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· Students will create their own "protest" poetry
Materials
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· Students' journals
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· Lyrics and music for a selection of sixties music
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· tape recorder
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· web organizers
Initiation
Ask students what an image is. Take a few minutes to talk about how important images are to poets. I often tell students poets paint pictures in our minds through words and images. Ask students to give you examples of images from literature or poetry that they are familiar with.
Procedure
After talking about images, ask students to read the lyrics of the poetry you have chosen. Ask students to go through the poetry and highlight some of the images. Take for example, Dylan's
Subterranean Homesick Blues
. What is going on in the song? How does it represent the era? What are the images that Dylan plays with in the song? Chances are that many of the students have never hear the song before, so see if they can imagine the type of music that might accompany the lyrics. Finally play the song for the students. Repeat this section of the unit as many times as you like with as many different artists as you like. Think of using Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Jim Morrison, CSNY, The Who, the Stones and a multitude of others
Now students are ready to write their own protest poem. Brainstorm the issues that are important to them. What would they like to change? Once you have shared these ideas, ask students to come up with a poem that can later be set to music. They may have to finish it for homework.
Closure
If anyone is ready ask him or her to share his or her poem!
Sample Lesson Three- Making the music
Sample lesson three begins the cumulating project for this section of the unit. I want students to set music to the poetry they have created. Since many of the students may not feel comfortable coordinating music with their work, the class will be working in groups for this section. Again, the type of work you get from your students will depend on the class you are working with. But music can be anything from drumming on a table to a group of students with guitars, drum sets and lead vocalists. Allow your students to provide the background that they can come up with.
Objectives
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· Students will share their protest poetry
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· Students will work in groups to set music to some of the poetry they have written
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· Students will perform their poetry for the class
Initiation
Go over the term "music" with your class. What is music? What types of music do they like? Who can make music? How? Who can demonstrate music making now? I'm sure about half my class would be glad to get up and do a off the cuff rap bit. Students are constantly drumming on desks and making noise in class. This part of the unit may sound difficult, but I believe it will be easier than it seems. Turn it over to the students.
Procedure
Get the students in groups of four or five. Pay close attention to the composition of the groups, making sure that some of the personalities you put together have the potential to create great music. Tell them they have approximately five minutes to share what they have written. Tell the students each group is going to set music to one piece and then perform for the class. You may want to give the students extra time for this, especially students who are going to take it beyond, desk tapping and scatting.
Closure
Students should perform their songs for the rest of the class. From here the section of performance poetry should be a natural for students.