I teach 11th grade AP US History in an ethnically diverse magnet school in Philadelphia. Most of my students come into the class with grade level reading skills, meaning they need only minimal instructional support, such as vocabulary, to access the college level readings required in an AP course. More often they need support in writing evidence- based arguments that the College Board will accept as a thesis so we will use the essential question “evaluate the extent that music caused change in society” to acquire the skills required to make sound arguments. Consider also that 12% of my students are just below their grade reading level which makes AP readings frustrating and hence need additional reading strategies such as chunking or graphic organizers.

Part of the AP US History curriculum is required to cover the idea that “New demographic and social developments changed US culture and led to significant political and moral debates that sharply divided the nation”. I cannot assume that the entire student body will meet these ideas at the same point of exposure, some will have background knowledge in the idea of brain science, psychology, status quo, and/or content history, etc.  We will use short quotes from both secondary source experts and primary sources to gain insight. Graphs and map visuals will also be used. Lecture will be given to introduce the framework around the time period or brain principle. Then, students will use those anchors to drive their research for evidence to support a hypothesis on the extent music did or did not influence a change. Their finding will be reported out.

My students are still adjusting to being back from online learning and the spring has manifested an additional challenge of fatigue. I sense the gratitude of not being socially isolated from last year’s class has faded, yet the feeling of being work overload remain. I hear the students express frustration with work to one another more and more, not just from one specific class, as I have in past years. My hope is that the compelling nature of music as a universally understood, intuitive, and emotional experience coupled with paralleling the history of social justice movements with hooks to understanding the ones we experience in our lives will inject some passion and natural curiosity into what we are learning.

Teaching Strategies

Lecture on the Idea of Philly as a Beacon City with Guided Notes and then Music’s Effect on the Brain – Students will need direct instruction on some concepts due to the time constraints of the course. Lectures will be limited to 7 min intervals with breaks in delivery for questions and notetaking.

Personal Family History – Once we talk about Philly as a beacon city for the black community, as it has a strong church presence and flourishing middle class, we will ask students to share the experience of their families, parents, grandparents, about ways in which music enhanced or was silenced in political struggle in their countries of origins i.e., Muslim countries might not allow for musical expression of any sort outside of Qur’anic recitation for example.  This will give context to not just US history and give a wider scope by comparing with the relationship between music and social movements, political participation, in other nation states. In addition, it promotes buy in for the students and community as students share piece of themselves.

Inquiry Based Learning – Student explore a real issue of social justice that affects us today and will apply both the lessons learned from previous movements and use evidence to argue the extent of music’s effect on this current justice push. I will ask open ended questions but I want students to come up with their own as well. I want them to ask “How can we tell if something was impactful or not? What should we look for as evidence?” I do not have all the answers, also I do not want to impose assumptions I have about movements on my student narratives. They need their narrative to make sense in their own lives.

Think Pair Share – In order for me to quickly assess evidence of thinking, foster community, and allow students the opportunity to process thoughts into memory, the strategy of turning and talking, also known as Think Pair Share will be employed after every prompt on the notetaking doc.

Jigsaw – In order to foster collaboration and to attack a large amount of research at once, we will divide and conquer. Each student will be given a manageable amount of research, from a vetted website, with a guided note organizer to report out from.

Guided Notes – Used to help students keep themselves accountable for covered content through the lectures and webquests. Points of the guided notes also ask students to reflect on concepts by having them write things in their own words or apply content to specific questions. Reflections and feedback given from students have been asking more recently to have concrete questions to answer, these notes are a way to allow for open/creative responses while still giving students a framework to feel they are on the right track.

Art and Primary Source Analysis – Used in the lecture to illustrate how music may be powerful at certain times. We will look for where the artist made a conscious choice in their art or their words to communicate what is important to their culture, and then ask ourselves how impactful it was to the individual, community, or larger society. . This is important in showing that I am not making assumptions or trying to put my bias into the ideas communicated.

Secondary Source Analysis – College Board requires that student decipher secondary sources and apply those ideas to historically defended arguments. I give students a choice of which quotes to decipher so that they can attack a quote at the level the are either comfortable in, or interested in but I will offer a variety of them on topics of brain science and history content.

Self-Assessment – Used to shift ownership of learning to students while getting a snapshot of their emotional comfort with absorbing this material. They need to reflect on learning to absorb it and the exercise of checking in with oneself and communicating that to a teacher can be a powerful exercise. After each lesson, students are identifying their comfort using a scale. Asking “What is standing out to you so far?” “What have you learned?” “What are you most proud of yourself for doing in this unit?” in the middle of the unit and the end help keep them motivated and will give me key insight into how this experience is going for them.

WebQuest Research – A Webquest allows students to work at their own pace and learn more detailed information about a specific topic being studied and creates a greater sense of importance for that topic. I ask students to read evidence anchoring the ideas of music and social cohesion, emotional regulation, and spread of cultural values. They will also be given resources to explore social justice movements. This exercise will provide the researched evidence to support thesis statements on continuity and change. In both exercises, students will be given one reputable website in order to begin their search as well as specific questions to answer in their notetaking doc.  Finally, students will be asked to do their on search via monument audit and take guided notes on what they find to support a thesis claim.

Thesis Writing and Argumentative Essay – Students need to learn how to write a thesis for college and also for the APUSH test administered through College Board. Students get a point on 2 of the 3 free responses sections of the test for making an argument relevant to the prompt that has at least two categories of analysis.

Dr. Fisher, Janina. (2022). The Living Legacy of Truama Flip Chart.

Randall, William and Rickard, Nikki. (2017). Reasons for personal music listening. The Psychology of Music. Vol 45 (4) 479-495

Brewster, Bill. (2014). Last Night a DJ Saved my Life. Grove Press

Orejuela, Fernando and Shonekan, Stephanie. (2018) Black Lives Matter and Music. Indiana University Press

Africans in America. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/map3.html

Muller Lecture Notes

Richardson, David. The Emotional Life of the Brain

Honing, ten Cate, Peretz, Trehub. (2015). Without it no music, biology and evolution of musicality. Philosophical Transactions. The Royal Society Publishing

Smith, Eric Ledell. “The End of Black Voting Rights in Pennsylvania” The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Music and the Brain Slide Deck

Revolutionary America Slide Deck

Free Black Philadelphia Music Classwork

Context Example: Philadelphia 1776- 1870

LINK                              FILL IN NOTES FOR THESE:

Part 2:

Now that you have some historical background, find a piece of historical evidence (google is fine) that you can apply the brain and music concepts we have covered too. How might music have helped achieve some of these gains in their civil rights struggle or foster resilience against oppression? How might it have fought against ideas of white supremacy?

Part 3:

Write a thesis statement to the prompt: Evaluate the extent that music influenced cohesion in the black community from 1700-1850.

Socially Conscious Music Essay:

Think of a historical era you want to research more about and look at how music effected the outcomes for this movement. Particularly focus on Philadelphia, and then branch out if you need to

Ideas of time periods to address..

Use of music during Jim Crow/Great Migration

Use of music for women’s rights to vote

Use of music for gay rights

Use of music for civil rights movement

Use of music for gun violence/police brutality today/BLM

Also, ask yourself: What now? What do we do with this info as Philadelphians?

Directions: Choose a song (or multiple songs for compare and contrast) with a social message (this song can be from any era) and analyze its historical context. Focus on the lyrics and address the following questions below in essay form. Your essay must be at least 500 words. There is no word limit. Due by . This assignment will require additional research to address some of the following questions.

• To whom is the song addressed?
• What issues, problems, or events are presented in the song?
• Does the song seem to be written in response to a specific event?
• What points of view or attitudes are revealed?
• What were the circumstances at the time the song was released?
• Does this song suggest any solutions to the issues/problems addressed?
• How effective is this song as a social protest?
• What, if any, relevance does this song have to American/Philadelphian society today?

RUBRIC

Appendix A – Standards Addressed

District Standard – The SD of Philadelphia, while adhering to PA Standards for Reading and Writing in History, also cites “social studies is meant to enhance students’ understanding of their society and their world, with that enhanced understanding comes the seeking out of solutions to our society’s issues.”

PA Standard – CC.8.5.11-12.C – Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

PA Standard – CC.8.5.11-12.D – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).

PA Standard – CC.8.5.11-12.G – Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

PA Standard – CC.8.5.11-12.I – Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

PA Standard – CC.8.5.11-12.J – By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.

PA Standard – CC.8.6.11-12.B – Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.

National Standard:

Content Topic 5.11: College Board (the national organization AP students will take their test with) requires students to “Explain how and why Reconstruction resulted in continuity and change in regional and national understandings of what it meant to be American”

Content Topic 6.3.II.C: Facing increased violence, discrimination, and scientific theories about race, African American reformers continued to fight for political and social equality in the “New South” from 1877-1898.

Content Topic KC 8.2.III.F: The 1970s saw growing clashes between conservatives and liberals over social and cultural issues, the power of the federal government, race, and movements for greater individual rights.

Content Topic KC 8.3.II: New demographic and social developments changed US culture and led to significant political and moral debates that sharply divided the nation between 1945-1980.

Content Topic KC 9.2.II: The US population continued to undergo demographic shifts that had significant cultural and political consequences.

• KC 9.2.II.C: Intense political and cultural debates continued over issues such as immigration policy, diversity, gender roles, and family structures.

Skill: Analyzing secondary sources. Students will be able to examine a secondary source and describe the author’s argument, how well the author supports the argument with evidence, and how it relates to other historical interpretations.