Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Rock your lessons using popular music and pop culture to engage students. The standards-aligned lessons provide interdisciplinary connections using music as the starting point for in-depth explorations and guided activities. Use the search feature to find lessons and collections sorted by subject, music genre, type of activity, and topic. Subjects range from Civics to CTE to STEAM to Art/Design and many others. Each lesson begins with an essential question and includes procedures, student handouts, and videos.

tag(s): artists (87), cross cultural understanding (176), dance (33), empathy (36), jazz (17), musical instruments (54), social and emotional learning (107), sociology (23), STEM (304)

This diverse collection of resources provides many opportunities to experience the culture of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas through visual arts, dance, music, and more. Resources include lessons for grades K-8 that focus on learning about indigenous people through integrating the arts with science, social studies, and language arts. Other resources include videos that feature Native Americans discussing their crafts through interviews and storytelling. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. Lessons correlate to National Core Arts Standards, Common Core, and Next Generation Science Standards.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (176), cultures (209), dance (33), holidays (193), native americans (117), north america (15), stories and storytelling (60)

Square Dancing is considered a uniquely American dance form, although it has strong roots in 17th Century English and French dance forms. This lesson for grades 3-5 uses the inquiry process to introduce students to square dancing and guide them through completing a "Kids Guide to Square Dancing." As a final project, groups of students create an instructional video and perform a square dance for their peers. The lesson includes links to videos, supporting lessons, and suggestions for making the instructional video presentation. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): dance (33), process writing (37)

This lesson provides students with an understanding of traditional Latin dance styles using videos and comparisons to elements of dance using standard terminology. The study focuses on different types of dance that include salsa, mambo, merengue, rumba, cha-cha, bachata, and samba. In addition, activities introduce the geography behind the dances and provide an introduction to the history behind the dance styles. As a final activity, student groups select a country and dance style to research and present to their peers. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (176), dance (33), spanish (112)

This extensive collection from The Kennedy Center features many lessons, media resources, and articles relating to ballet. Use this site to learn about ballerinas as athletes and discover the history of ballet and its influence on cultures, politics, and art. Scroll through the home page to find articles on bringing community connections through dance, learn how to prevent injuries, and prepare for a visit to the ballet. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): dance (33), russia (36), stories and storytelling (60)

Discover the culture and history of dance worldwide and its importance in telling stories through movement and music using this rich and varied collection of resources. This site contains groups, lessons, information from featured artists, and more, covering many dance genres. In addition, media resources feature videos that teach dance, provide information on dance companies worldwide, and visit featured artists.

tag(s): chinese new year (5), cross cultural understanding (176), cultures (209), dance (33), hispanic (36), jazz (17), native americans (117), poetry (196), stories and storytelling (60)

myShakespeare provides interactive content, including videos and study tools to accompany six of the most well-known Shakespeare plays. In addition to the play's complete text, the supplemental materials include video performances of key scenes, character discussions, complete audio recordings, and pop-up notes that share insight into the literary devices used within the text. Another option includes viewing portions of each play in modern language to help guide comprehension of the material. The Notebook portion of the site offers study tools that have comprehension questions and includes the ability for students to highlight and annotate the text. Finished notebooks can be saved, shared, and exported to teacher accounts. Select any play to begin; at the top of the page, you will find links to the materials, including a summary, the number of videos, toggle glossed words on or off (alternative words for items in the text), and notebook activities. Then, as you scroll through the page, available items appear next to the selected area on the right and left side of the screen. Use the links to share to your Google Classroom account as desired.

tag(s): england (50), literature (221), plays (32), shakespeare (99)

Learn everything you ever wanted to know about acting, producing, directing and the theater in general. This site is focused on the English Canadian Theater, but is applicable to all dramas. Find an introduction to acting, biographies of actors, and video interviews with professional actors. For those interested in other theater related work, visit the design and production area to learn about sets and props, costumes, wigs, make up and all the physical details of the play and environment. Learn about script writing at The Playwright's Corner. Find activities for improvisation, Shakespeare, script creation, and study guides. Don't miss the FREE teacher, parent, and student resource links.

tag(s): acting (19), design (79), plays (32), shakespeare (99)

Find drama instruction including lessons, games, and strategies. Choose the Games link to find a game of the week as well as many other activities for icebreakers, improvisation, storytelling, and more. Explore many different dramatic strategies through brief descriptions, videos, and downloadable templates. Choose from several primary drama lessons including one on anti-bullying. There are also history-related "dramas" such as World War II Evacuees to bring historical events to life. A new addition to the site is Making Drama Out of a Crisis - teaching drama online or socially distanced. The site was created in the UK, so some of the pronunciations and spellings may differ from those in American English.
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tag(s): acting (19), back to school (55), bullying (48), digital storytelling (155), stories and storytelling (60)

Find a wealth of resources for using drama in the ENL/ELL classroom. The same activities can also be useful for other subjects. The improvisation resources are especially exciting, offering definitions, examples of activities, links, and visual examples of how you can use improvisational techniques. In addition, information and activities on using plays, process drama, and reader's theater for language teaching abound. Use play writing for another aspect of language teaching. There is a complete curriculum for offering an independent class in drama for ENL/ELL students. Although this site may appear plain vanilla, there are sprinkles throughout, making this tool very valuable and informative.

tag(s): acting (19), creative writing (125), plays (32)

Sponsored by the University of Warwick in Coventry England, this website is a scholarly, yet eminently entertaining and readable/usable website about the English Renaissance in drama. Opening to the main page will show you a blank (this is a project in process), but click on any of the links on the left and you will find everything from timelines (divided into political, theatre, social, and the life of Thomas Kyd) to key fragment studies of several playwrights' work. Any of the websites with a little padlock next to them are not accessible without signing in and you can't sign in unless you are a student of the university. However, there is enough free offering here to make it a worthwhile site.

tag(s): elizabethan (13)

This site, created by the Kennedy Center, offers a wealth of interactive lesson plans for grades K-12 dealing with a variety of topics, all with an "arts" spin. Search by subject, keyword, or grade level (K-4, 5-8, or 9-12). Some examples of topics include Native Americans, Civil War, Shakespeare, myths, melodrama, adjectives, monsters, baseball, and countless others! Be sure to check out the category "Our Best Resources Organized by Subject." After that click on the the top menu for Education and get even more resources. There are many interactive lessons: some with video, audio, or slideshows. The lessons provide an estimate of time required and complete, step-by-step instructions. There are printables included with some of the lessons.
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tag(s): african american (119), baseball (32), civil war (140), comics and cartoons (55), dance (33), folktales (34), greece (47), habitats (92), immigration (78), literature (221), mexico (46), musical instruments (54), myths and legends (41), native americans (117), painting (54), surrealism (2)

Full of scripts and related materials for reader's theater, this site offers a wealth of information for the teacher who wants to use reader's theater as a tool for reading or drama. Some of the links don't work, but many do, and you can find actual scripts as well as other ideas for making reader's theater a complete experience for students. There are also guidelines for setting up reader's theatre, rubrics for evaluation, and ideas for use with a range of grades and reading levels.

Editor's note: There is one group of links (to sites that start with "hometown.aol") that no longer work. Since this is only a small portion of the site, TeachersFirst continues to list the resource for its many GOOD links. Roll your mouse over the links before clicking and check the address in the gray bar at the bottom left of your screen. Don't bother with the hometown.aol links.
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tag(s): readers theater (12)

If you are looking for a new way to involve students in literature, this is a great idea. This site offers a two-day plan for students to create dramatic monologues for different characters in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. The lesson does require that students research sources for authenticity and suggests that students work in groups to come up with the monologues. The lesson includes standards, extension activities, vocabulary words (with audio) and links to other resources. This site requires Media Player. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): writing (326)

This is a wonderful site for high school educators who are interested in teaching the arts through theatre, music, art, or any of the humanities. It is a professional workshop site that offers 8 one-hour practical video seminars on how to teach the arts and on the passion of those who already do. The videos are free for streaming, but you can also purchase them as DVDs or VHS. You do have to register--for free. The self-described goal is a workshop to help teachers improve their teaching through seven different foci, including the diverse needs of students, instructional approaches, creating the appropriate learning environment to making the most of community resources, and encouraging students to be independent thinkers and creative problem solvers.

tag(s): creativity (87)

Students know something about Shakespeare, but they tend to think he was the only playwright of his day. This site helps them realize that he was only one of many in the Elizabethan period and that there was a Tudor period before and a Jacobean period after him. This is an exhaustive, albeit entertaining, and authoritative look at English drama as it moved from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. The articles are written by professors and they all contain links with explanations for all the referenced allusions. While rather encyclopedic in nature, having all the resources in one place is extraordinarily handy for the teacher of this period.

tag(s): elizabethan (13), renaissance (38)

An unusual site, this resource should be approached with care, but is worth listing for the interactiveness and uniqueness of it. It is a self-professed "resource for those who use theatre techniques for other or more than arts or entertainment purposes, and for those whose theatre styles incorporate other than traditional presentation styles." All of the links appear to work and provide a WIDE variety of activities and viewpoints. The caution comes in some of those links which can direct students to inappropriate sites for school. Please preview first.

The top of each site will give you a brief overview and then there is a row of book sources that you can purchase (clicking on them will take you to Amazon). Scroll down past those for the wealth of the site.

This is a site for those who teach theatre and those who want to be more involved in educational theatre throughout the USA and internationally. As the U.S. association affiliated with the International Thespian Society, this site provides everything a first-time director or a seasoned pro might want to begin a thespian society in his school. Or perhaps you just want to use some of the information from this site-- that's worthwhile too.

tag(s): acting (19)

This curriculum unit is designed to help fourth and fifth grade students acquire musical and dramatic skills and knowledge. The lessons can be taught in the regular enrichment class and can be completed in less than 30 minutes. It will take approximately nine weeks to complete the entire unit. While this is geared to a music class, it is adaptable to literature, history, art, or drama. The history of the theater will help students to understand that personal beliefs and societal values influence art forms and styles. Identifying significant works of drama will allow students to understand the diversity of cultures and styles. Students will be able to recognize the aesthetic qualities of the arts and they will learn to act, analyze and respond to performances, evaluate the quality of performances, and demonstrate performance disciplines.

tag(s): diversity (43)