Alvin Ailey Lesson Plan: Individual Development and Identity

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Alvin Ailey Lesson Plan. 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Alvin Ailey, and supports the standard of identifying and describing the influence of perception, attitudes, values, and beliefs on personal identity. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Show this video of an Alvin Ailey Dance Company rehearsal to your class. Invite students to share observations about the dancing, music, costumes, and more.

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Alvin Ailey topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
  

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign Alvin Ailey Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about Alvin Ailey while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Produce an interview with Alvin Ailey about how his experiences inspired his work. 
• Make-a-Map: Create a concept map identifying central themes of Ailey’s work.
• Creative Coding: Code a museum exhibit with artifacts symbolizing Ailey’s legacy as an artist. 

More to Explore 

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of Ailey’s inspiration with these topics: Blues, Jazz, and Dance. 

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.