Motown Lesson Plan: Culture
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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Motown, and supports the standard of recognizing the impact of musical genres and artists on United States’ culture. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Ask students: How does music impact your life? How does it impact society?
Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND
- Read aloud the description on the Motown topic page.
- Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
- Have students read one of the four Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
Step 3: ENGAGE
Students express what they learned about Motown 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: Create a documentary analyzing Motown’s relationships with cultural, social, and political movements. (Essential Literacy Skill: Determine central ideas)
- Make-a-Map: Make a concept map identifying important moments and figures in Motown history. (Essential Literacy Skill: Summarize key details)
- Creative Coding: Code a flag representing the impact of Motown on the Civil Rights Movement. (Essential Literacy Skill: Make logical inferences from explicit details)
Step 4: APPLY & ASSESS
Apply: Students take the Motown Challenge, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.
Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Motown Quiz.
Additional Support Resources:
- Modifications for BrainPOP Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
- BrainPOP Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.