Winter Break EXTRA CREDIT

Here's a gift that will keep on giving!   Giving you more knowledge, and extra credit, that is.

Complete one, or both of the essays below.   Make sure that your essay is neatly handwritten, or computer printed, and you enclose the attached rubric.  

Option #1
Theme: Diversity (Constitutional Rights)

Throughout United States history, Supreme Court decisions have addressed the issue of the constitutional rights of various groups. These decisions have limited or expanded the rights of members of these groups. 

Task: Identify two Supreme Court cases related to the rights of specific groups and for each

• Describe the historical circumstances surrounding the case
• Explain the Supreme Court’s decision in the case
• Discuss how the Supreme Court decision limited or expanded the constitutional rights of members of this group

You may use any Supreme Court case from your study of United States history in which the Supreme Court addressed the issue of the constitutional rights of various groups. Some suggestions you might wish to consider include Worcester v. Georgia (1832), Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Korematsu v. United States (1944), Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964), and Roe v. Wade (1973).

Option #2:
Theme: Change — Constitutional Amendments

When the Founding Fathers wrote the United States Constitution, they included the amendment process. The amendments that have been passed brought political, social, and economic changes to American society.

Task: Select two constitutional amendments that have changed American society and for each
• Describe the historical circumstances that led to the adoption of the amendment
• Discuss the political, social, and/or economic changes the amendment brought to American society

You may use any constitutional amendments that have changed American society. Some suggestions you might wish to consider include the 13th amendment (abolition of slavery, 1865), 17th amendment (direct election of senators, 1913), 18th amendment (Prohibition, 1919), 19th amendment (woman’s suffrage, 1920), 22nd amendment (presidential term limits, 1951), 24th amendment (elimination of the poll tax, 1964), and 26th amendment (suffrage for 18-year-old citizens, 1971).

Winter Break Project 2015

CLICK HERE for a Google Docs Version of this post

Learning Target: After completing an internet based exercise, students will analyze, and evaluate the effects of Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Point Value: 100 points (same as a test)

Background

From its first case in 1803 (Marbury v. Madison), the Supreme Court has become a very powerful force in American life and culture. Of the three branches, the decisions of the Supreme Court, through a process known as Judicial Review, have arguably the most direct impact on the day-to-day lives of the American people. As a result of this project,  you and your classmates will gain a greater understanding of the court’s impact on your life

What do I Have to do?

I.  You will research several important Supreme Court cases.  For each case you must be able to discuss the:

1. Facts and Details: When did it take place? Where? Who was involved? How did it get to the Supreme Court?
2. The Conflict: In other words, why did this case reach the Supreme Court in the first place?  Was there a law, or action of the federal, or state government that was being challenged?  What right, or civil liberty is being challenged?  For example in the case of Tinker v. Des Moines, a students’ right to free expression under the First Amendment was questioned.  
3. The Outcome of the Case: How did the SC rule? Why did they rule this way?
4. The importance of the case: How did the ruling affect the lives of Americans? Did it limit, or expand the civil rights of Americans? Did people have MORE freedom because of the court's decision, or LESS freedom?  Did this case EXPAND, or LIMIT the POWER of the Government?    

II.  After completing your research, you will arrange your findings in a table or chart.

III.  The Cases:  

Expansion of Power of The Federal Government:
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Expansion of Individual Rights:
Brown v. Board of Edcuation (1954)
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Roe v. Wade (1973)

Limiting of Individual Rights:
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1856)
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Schenck v. United States (1919)
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Nixon v. United States (1974)

Power of Government:
Wabash Railway v. Illinois (1886)
US v. EC Knight (1895)
Muller v. Oregon (1908)
Schechter Poultry v. US (1935)
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)  

IV. Resources
Bill of Rights Institute
Mr. Nassivera’s Site - Landmark Cases
HipHughes - “Supreme Court Cases for Dummies”
Hip Hughes - “The Warren Court in Ten Minutes”
HipHughes - “The Dred Scott Decision”
Hip Hughes - “The Exclusionary Rule”
PBS - Landmark Cases
YouTube playlist - “Supreme Court Cases”

Here's a link to the videos on Google.

Here's a link to the Vimeo Playlist for the videos. 

HW 12/22/15

Hello, All:

Please watch the following video.  It will be very helpful for you, as you work your way through the winter break project.  You must take notes on the video.

Supreme Court Cases For Dummies- US History Review from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.

HW 12/17/15

Hello, All:

Here's your HW for Thursday night, 12/17.

1.  Watch, and take notes on the following videos.

Complete the attached worksheet.   You must hand in the notes, as well as the worksheet.

HW Week of 12/7/15

Hello, All:

Here are your HW assignments for the week of 12/7/15.

MONDAY NIGHT: 
If you didn't complete the DBQ's in class, today, please complete them for HW.  Here is a link to the DBQ.  

TUESDAY: 
1. If you didn't finish the Bill of Rights situation worksheet in class, please complete it for HW. Click the link for the assignment 
2. BRING HEADPHONES TO CLASS ON WEDNESDAY!

WEDNESDAY: 
Continue working on the Amendment mini-project we began in class, today.

The Mini-Project is due by the end of the period, FRIDAY!!!

HW Week of 11/30/15

MONDAY NIGHT:
READ Chapter 5 Section 3 of the Textbook.  

Complete the READING STUDY GUIDE 

TUESDAY NIGHT:
Complete the RATIFICATION DBQ!  

Will count as a quiz - If you don't hand it in = 55! 

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: 
Read "The Living Constitution" Pages 154-160
Complete the Reading Study Guide 

THURSDAY NIGHT
Read pp. 160-163 of "The Living Constitution" 
Complete the Reading Study Guide - "The Executive, and Judiciary"

FRIDAY NIGHT
Read p. 166-173 of "The Living Constitution" 
Complete the Reading Study Guide - "The Bill of Rights and the other Amendments" 

Cons. Conv Outline

Hello, All:

Here's a picture of the outline we created in class for the essay.  I also included the Brainstorm Map to help you.  Good Luck! 

HW Week of 11/23

Hello, All:

Here is/are your assignment(s) for the week of 11/23.

Thematic Essay

Thematic Essay: Constitutional Issues

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 adopted several compromises to resolve disagreements over major issues facing the new nation.

Task:
Identify two issues from the Constitutional Convention of 1787 (what were two disagreements that occurred?).

For each issue identified

• Describe the disagreement that arose over the issue at the C.C. (tell us about the disagreement; don’t just say what it was! Who was it between? What was it over?)
• Explain how the issue was resolved through the use of Compromise (Give the details behind the compromises; how did they work? What did each side get?

You may use any issue that was discussed at the CC. . Some
suggestions you might wish to consider include, but are not limited to:
• Representation in Congress
• Slavery
• Taxation

MONDAY NIGHT:
Complete a First Draft 

TUESDAY:
Complete a Second Draft

WEDNESDAY:
Complete your FINAL DRAFT.  DUE MONDAY NOV 30th.  NO EXCEPTIONS.  

***YOU MUST INCLUDE THE THEMATIC ESSAY RUBRIC***

***ANYONE WHO DOES NOT HAND IN THE ESSAY on 11/30, WILL RECEIVE A GRADE OF 55*** 

Critical Period Video Quest

The Worksheet

The Rubric

The Slideshow
 The Videos "Thirteen Little Republics"

liberty2-thirteen little republics (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.

A National Vision
liberty3-a national vision (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
All Is Not Well
liberty4-all is not well (convert-video-online.com) (1) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
The Constitutional Convention
liberty5-the constitutional convention (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
Behind Closed Doors
liberty6-behind closed doors (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
Blueprint for a New Nation
liberty7-a blueprint for a new nation (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
The Great Compromise
great compromise (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
Not Another Monarchy
liberty8-not another monarchy (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
How Do We Protect Our Liberty?
liberty9-how do we protect our new liberty (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
Bill of Rights
liberty11-bill of rights (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
Slavery
liberty12-the question of slavery (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.
A New Kind of Power
liberty13-a new kind of power (convert-video-online.com) from Mike Tesler on Vimeo.

HW Week of 11/16/15

MONDAY NIGHT: 

1. TAKE NOTES ON THE LECTURE from CLASS: 

2. WATCH THE VIDEO 

COMPLETE THE WORKSHEET

BRING HEADPHONES TO CLASS WITH YOU ON TUESDAY!!! 

TUESDAY TO THURSDAY:
COMPLETE THE "CRITICAL PERIOD" VIDEO QUEST. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE WORKSHEET. 

FRIDAY: 
COMPLETE AN OUTLINE, Based on the following essay topic 

Thematic Essay: Constitutional Issues

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 adopted several compromises to resolve disagreements over major issues facing the new nation.

Task:
Identify two issues from the Constitutional Convention of 1787 (what were two disagreements that occurred?).

For each issue identified

• Describe the disagreement that arose over the issue at the C.C. (tell us about the disagreement; don’t just say what it was! Who was it between? What was it over?)
• Explain how the issue was resolved through the use of Compromise (Give the details behind the compromises; how did they work? What did each side get?

You may use any issue that was discussed at the CC. . Some
suggestions you might wish to consider include, but are not limited to:
• Representation in Congress
• Slavery
• Taxation

Videos to help you:

  

AOC QUIZ

CLICK HERE for a link to the quiz. 

Please complete all of your work on looseleaf paper.

When you're done...Please start your HW.  

Please READ Chapter 5, Section 2, "Drafting the Constitution."

Complete the READING STUDY GUIDE 

Review - The Articles of Confederation

CLICK HERE, for Chapter 11 of We The People

Read pp. 94-100.

Answer the questions on p. 102, "Lesson Review"  1-6.  If you do not finish the assignment, you can complete it for HW.  It will help to review for the exam, tomorrow.

Articles of Confederation Assignment

CLICK HERE  for the worksheet.  There are THREE sets of primary source documents.

Complete the exercises for each set of documents, as well as the follow up questions

HW Week of 11/9/15

MONDAY NIGHT: 
Read chapter 5, section 1 of the textbook.  
Complete the Reading Study Guide
Complete the Re-Teaching Activity

TUESDAY NIGHT:
Complete the Articles of Confederation Primary Source Packet 

THURSDAY: 
Review for a quiz FRIDAY on the Articles of Confederation.  Here are two videos that will be very helpfu

FRIDAY: 

Revolutionary War DBQ

CLICK HERE for the link to the DBQ.  

It is suggested that you print out the DBQ, and bring it to class.

HW Week of 10/19/15

Hello, All:

Here are your HW assignments for the week of 10/19/15.

MONDAY NIGHT:
1. Please take notes on slides 4-8 of the presentation below.  

2. Watch the following video: 

3.  Complete the worksheet that accompanies the video.  

TUESDAY NIGHT:
Complete the Chapter 4 Section 1 Reading Study Guide 

Complete the Chapter 4 Section 1 Re-Teaching Activity.  Please note that you are ONLY responsible for the re-teaching activity, on page TWO of the packet.  

WEDNESDAY: 

Please take notes on Slides 10-15 of the Presentation above. 

Complete the Chapter 4 Section 2 Reading Study Guide 

Complete the Chapter 4 Section 2 Reteaching Activity.  The Re-teaching activity is on page TWO of the packet.  

THURSDAY:
Complete the section quizzes on sections 1 and 2 

Section 1 

Section 2

FRIDAY:
Watch 

READ: "We The People" Ch. 7. 

Complete the "Lesson Review" Questions on p. 68

Tonight's HW: FIW DBQ

Hello, All:

HW for tonight...

Please finish the French and Indian War DBQ.  When finished please complete the DBQ worksheet.

Here is a link to the DBQ 

Here is a link to the scaffolding questions

Here is a link to the worksheet.   Remember, a THESIS is an educated guess, an inference, based on your knowledge of a topic.

DUE MONDAY!!!

WEBQUEST - THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

This is an IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT.  You will be using a variety of internet sources to identify, and evaluate the causes, major events, and effects of the French and Indian War.

This assignment is due BEOP 10/7/15 (WEDNESDAY).

You may choose to print a copy of the file, or answer the questions on looseleaf paper.  You must answer all questions in complete sentences.  You do not have to copy the questions.

Here is a link to the file.

HW Week of 10/5/15

Hello, USH'ers:

Here are your HW assignments for the week of 10/5/15.  Please note that we will be collecting all of the assignments for the week this FRIDAY 10/9/15.

***IF EVERYONE HANDS IN THEIR HW ASSIGNMENTS ON FRIDAY, WE WILL NOT HAVE WEEKEND HW!!!*** 

MONDAY NIGHT:

1. Take notes on the following lecture.  This is the lecture that we completed in class today. 

2. WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS: 

The French and Indian War for Dummies 

The Albany Plan of Union 

Based on your notes 

3. Answer the following questions..

1. What were the causes of the conflict between France, and Britain, for control of North America? 
2. How did the British Victory in the Seven Years' War, become one of the causes of the American Revolution? 
3. Analyze the meaning of the following quote: "A torch lighted in the forests of America set all Europe in conflagration (flame).

TUESDAY: 

Review Chapter 3 Section 4 in your textbook.  

Complete the Reading Study Guide 

WEDNESDAY: 

Complete the Guided Reading, and Re-Teaching Exercise

THURSDAY: 

Complete the Section Quiz 

PREPARE TO HAND IN ALL OF YOUR HW ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE WEEK, FRIDAY. 
INCLUDE THE ATTACHED RUBRIC.  

FRIDAY:
???? 

CHAPTER 2 LECTURE NOTES

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

HW Assignments Week of 9/28/15

Hello, USH'ers:

Here's your HW for the week of 9/28/15.

MONDAY NIGHT:

Complete the WORKSHEET enclosed in the following link. 

TUESDAY:
1.  Review Chapter 2, Section 3 of your Textbook. 

CLICK HERE for a folder containing your HW assignments for this week. 

2. In the "Tuesday Night" folder, please complete the "Reading Study Guide," and "ReTeaching" exercise.  

WEDNESDAY: 

1. Review Chapter 2-4 of your Textbook. 

2. Complete the Chapter 2-4 "Reading Study Guide" 

Thursday:
1. Complete the Chapter 2-4 Reteaching Activity. 

Friday: 

1.  If you did not complete Friday's assignment in class, please click here to finish. 

Watch

Complete the following worksheet. 

Summer Assignment Exam

CLICK HERE

HW Assignments Week of 9/9/15

Welcome to RUSH (Regents US History/Government) 2015-2016!

I will be using this blog to post your assignments. Generally, I will post your assignments for the coming week on SUNDAY NIGHT.   It's up to you to decide how to budget your time.  You can complete your assignments day-to-day, or you can go ahead.  Many of my students like to finish their assignments early, so they have less to do over the week.

Week of 9/9/15.
1.  Download, and print the classroom contract.  CLICK HERE for the contract. 
2.  READ and REVIEW the contract with a parent, or guardian.  Check off the appropriate spaces on the contract.  You and your parents must also SIGN the contract.
3.  OBTAIN all of the necessary supplies for this class, including the classroom supplies.  Your supplies are:

• 1 Looseleaf Binder with Looseleaf Paper
• Notebooks are NOT acceptable for use in this class 
• 1 Assignment Book or Planner
• 5 Subject Dividers for your looseleaf book
• 1 Folder 
• 1-2 pens 

4.  OBTAIN the classroom supplies for this class.  Your classroom supplies are: 

• ONE package of LOOSELEAF paper 
• TWO Packages of Pens (Blue or Black Ink) 
• One package of Markers

PLEASE HAVE ALL SUPPLIES IN BY NO LATER THAN 9/16! 

5.  Continue working on the SUMMER ASSIGNMENT, if you haven't completed it already.  The Summer Assignment is due on 9/21.  There will be an exam on the information contained in the Summer Assignment on 9/25.

R&R History Lesson - Birth of Hip Hop

 1. Please readHandout 3: New York City Timeline 1960s-1970s, and Handout 4: "The Message" Lyric Excerpts;
2.  Based on the handouts, answer the questions below, in your notebook, and it is due BY THE END OF THE PERIOD!!! 

• Why do you think this song was titled “The Message”? What is its message?
• What are the images in the song that reflect life in the city in the 1970s?  (e.g. broken glass, vermin, etc.)
• Why do you think Hip Hop became so popular with the people in urban communities such as the Bronx?
• How did “The Message” reflect the social and economic conditions of the Bronx in the 1970s? Think about both the equipment that was needed to produce it and the themes reflected in its songs.

R&R History Lesson - GRUNGE

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What was Grunge and where did it come from?

OVERVIEW

"There's a feeling of burnout in the culture at large. Kids are depressed about the future."

-- Music critic Simon Reynolds, 1992, about Generation X

The pre-Grunge era of the early 1980s was a time of media saturation, but many young people did not see themselves or their concerns accurately reflected in the slick music videos offered by MTV or in other mass media. The resulting alienation and apathy helped pave the way for the emergence of a new sound that became known, simply, as Grunge.

Sometimes called the “Seattle Sound,” Grunge began in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s and early 90s. The Grunge generation grew up on Heavy Metal, Punk, and Hardcore, drawing on elements of each to define its sound. The resulting aesthetic combined the droning, distorted guitar tones of Metal, the alienation and anti-authority attitude of Punk, and the edgy, physical stage shows of Hardcore. Like Punk, Grunge was full of anger, but with a dose of angst, self-deprecation, and depression added to the mix. And though the intimacy and spontaneity of live performances often gave it a similar feel to Punk, Grunge was more musically complex. More varied instrumentally, Grunge also accentuated dynamic shifts that evoked the frustrations of youth. Grunge musicians tended to reject the latest fashions and projected a feeling of indifference that was reflected in everything from their lyrics to their disheveled appearance. Adopting a thrift-store look, artists embraced lumberjack-style apparel -- most notably flannel shirts -- while pushing back against the exaggerated masculinity it often implied.

In its early years, Grunge was largely a localized phenomenon, emerging out of the club scene in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle had been deeply affected by the economic recession of the early 1990s, when unemployment was at a high and Starbucks did not yet have the ubiquitous presence it does today. Grunge, with its dour visuals and indifferent lyrics, seemed to encapsulate the grey and depressed mood of the region at the time. As the 90s progressed, the commercial success of groups such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam catapulted the Grunge sound into a national spotlight for which its creators and adherents were largely unprepared.

Today's Lesson:
You will be working to create a  three-paragraph review of early Grunge music. The class will watch several music videos together, and students will be given a set of documents that they will use as source material for their review.

VIDEOS

• Black Sabbath, “Paranoid” (1970), example of Heavy Metal
• Black Flag, “Rise Above” (1981), example of Hardcore Punk
• Mudhoney, “Touch Me I’m Sick” (1988)
• Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)
• Pearl Jam, “Alive” (1991)

Procedure:
1. Carefully review the following handouts: Handout 1: Document Set; Handout 2: Discussion Questions; Handout 3: Graphic Organizer, and Handout 4: Music Review Template.

2. Use the discussion questions in Handout 2 to help you analyze the documents in Handout 1. As you do so, you should take notes, using the graphic organizer in Handout 3. It is not necessary to fill in every bubble on the graphic organizer; conversely, they should feel free to create additional categories and bubbles. 

Rock and Roll Lesson 5/19/15 - New Wave Day II

1. View a clip of Jerry Lee Lewis performing "Great Balls of Fire." 
2. Answer the questions below.  

• In what ways does this early Rock and Roll performance prefigure New Wave music?
• In what ways does the fashion, the delivery, and the music itself prefigure New Wave?

3.  View the 1956 clip of Connie Francis performing "Little Blue Wren." Make notes as they watch and listen.  Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great Balls of Fire" came out the following year, in 1957.  

Compare the two clips, and answer...

• How is the instrumentation different in the two songs?
• How is the vocal style different?
• How are the performers' personalities different?
• How could the style of Jerry Lee Lewis' song be considered a reaction to the other song's style?

4.  Based on the two clips, what connection can you make between early Rock and Roll and New Wave music? 

5.  Play the clip of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." 

6. Based on the clip, make a list of things in the song, "I Will Survive" that are elements which New Wave rebelled against. 

PUNK ROCK ALBUM COVER PROJECT

1. Please read Handout 4: Guidelines for Designing Your Album Cover. 
2. Using construction paper; crayons, markers, or colored pencils; scissors,  old magazines, etc., use he materials, as well as the information in your ocument sets and the understandings gained from them  to create an original album cover for a fictitious Punk Rock band in the 1970s. 
3. Students may use any additional materials they have to complete the assignment.

PUNK ROCK DBQ

Procedure. 

1.  Please click on  Handout 2: Punk Rock Discussion Guide and Handout 3: Punk Rock Document Set.  You will use the documents to  help you answer the questions.   

• Music
  • “Virtuosity” is defined as having great technical skill. For which of the bands in the videos is virtuosity more important?
  • According to the interview with Bono, what was Punk Rock’s attitude toward virtuosity? Does he believe you need to be a virtuoso to make Rock and Roll?
  • Look at the track listings from two different albums. What do you notice about the lengths of the songs? How does the length of the songs on the Clash’s 1977 album reflect what Bono is talking about?
  • Does the music created by the virtuosic artists convey the same message as the music performed by the other groups? How might their messages differ?
• Audience
  • What do you notice about the performers’ interactions with the audience in the two videos? Is the audience involved? What distinguishes the audience from the performers?
  • How would you describe the role of the audience in this picture of Led Zeppelin?
  • How would you describe the role of the performer in this picture of Rick Wakeman?
  • Who do you think was going to the performance? Watch the clip of the "Sex Pistols Discussing the Music Scene" and speculate as to how they might react to such a concert.
• Social Context
  • According to the Graham Parker video, what was the outlook in Britain in the late 1970s? What are some of the specific words Parker uses to describe the general situation?
  • What do you imagine the situation of young people in particular in this period would have been? What words do you think would best describe their outlook on life?
  • Why might young people turn to music to express themselves in this type of situation? If you had been living in this situation, how might you have gone about expressing yourself through music, even if you didn’t have any money or musical training?
  • Do you think a young person living in this situation would have been more likely to attend a Stadium Rock concert or a Punk Rock show? Why? Do you think that one of the performances in the videos best represents the social and political events of the time? If so, which one and why?
  • What do you imagine the music you would have made in this situation would sound like? (Note the words Parker uses to describe two album titles from this period, which include the words “howling” and “anarchy.”)
  • Can Punk Rock be considered a form of protest music? If so, what were the people who created it and listened to it protesting?
  • How might Punk Rock have been empowering to young people in this time and place? Think about the role of the audience, the sound of the music, and the “DIY” attitude of Punk.
• Album Covers
  • How are the two sets of album covers different?
    Elton John (1975) and Meat Loaf (1977)
    The Sex Pistols (1977) and The Clash (1977)
  • Which covers seem to better represent the idea of virtuosity? The idea of “DIY”? Why?
  • What message do you think the Sex Pistols and the Clash were trying to convey with these album covers? (Note: “Bollocks” is British slang with multiple meanings, but is generally taken to mean “nonsense” or “rubbish.”) Did they make them because they couldn’t afford professional artists to design their covers? What other reasons might there be?
  • Which album cover do you find most appealing, and why?
  • Why do you think the Clash decided to use this cover for their 1979 album London Calling? Compare it to this this cover from a 1965 Elvis Presley LP. What message do you think the Clash were trying to convey about their music? About how they saw themselves fitting in to the history of Rock and Roll?
     

History of R&R Lesson 5/11/15 - PUNK ROCK

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How was Punk Rock a reaction both to the commercialization of Rock and Roll and to the social climate in late 1970s Britain?

OVERVIEW

"It's a call to arms to the kids who believe that rock and roll was taken away from them. It's a statement of self rule, of ultimate independence."

--Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols

"That’s a very, very great place to be as an artist, when your imagination is your only limitation. It’s not your ability to play like a virtuoso, it’s not your ability to have your family pay for piano lessons when you’re a child, or to have a well-trained voice or to have gone to creative writing classes. Punk Rock was about three chords, four if you were lucky, five if you were decadent -- and having something to say."

--U2’s Bono on the influence of Punk Rock

By the mid-1970s, the live performances of many successful Rock and Roll bands had moved to larger and larger venues. “Stadium Rock” invited tens of thousands of fans to sit and watch bands perform, often from a great distance, and often accompanied by elaborate staging, massive banks of equipment, sometimes extravagant costumes, and virtuosic solos. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, Journey, Queen, Yes, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer led the field, commanding increasingly hefty ticket prices along the way.

The reaction against this trend began in Britain with the Pub Rock movement, which summoned a return to the raw sound of Rock and Roll and a move away from a growing commercialism. Musicians such as Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, and Joe Strummer (later of the Clash) played in bands that appeared in small pubs where they could easily interact with their audiences — much as the Beatles had done in their early days in Liverpool and Hamburg. The Pub Rock movement helped pave the way for the emergence of Punk, which put audience participation back at the center of the whole enterprise.

Like Pub Rock, Punk provided an aggressive retort to Stadium Rock and the commercial elements of 1970s Rock and Roll. Bands such as the Sex Pistols and the Clash performed at small, dingy clubs in which the divide between artist and spectator all but disappeared. Audience members often dressed as “punks” and were indistinguishable from the performers themselves. They were no longer spectators worshipping their idols from afar, but active participants whose collaboration was essential to the whole project. So-called "slam-dancing" even found the boundary between stage and dance floor shattered as fans moved amongst the bands.

At the same time, Punk was rooted in the bleak economic and social mood of Britain in the mid-1970s. Unemployment was high, particularly for young people, and a seemingly endless series of strikes led to a “winter of discontent” in 1978. Anger at government policies boiled over into the streets.

The message of Punk was thus anti-mainstream, anti-establishment, anti-commercial, and very angry. As did early Hip Hop in the United States, Punk Rock embodied a “Do-It-Yourself” or “DIY” attitude. Many bands were self-produced and self-recorded. The message was simple: anyone could go out and form a band and make music. Punk put Rock and Roll back in the hands of a young, working-class population, and it did this at a moment when they had something to say.

Procedure: 

1.Play the short clips of live performances fromEmerson, Lake & Palmer, "Nutrocker" (1971), the Sex Pistols, "Pretty Vacant" (1976) and the Clash, "Garageland" (1977).  Explain to students that "Nutrocker" is Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Rock version ofThe Nutcracker Suite by classical composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

2. Based on the clips, please complete the worksheet

3. Answer the following questions in your notebooks. 

• Why would a Rock and Roll band want to perform a version of a Classical composition?  What does this suggest about how they seem themselves as artists?
• Do the artists in the Sex Pistols and Clash videos seem to view themselves the same way?  Why or why not? 
• If you had to describe each performance in a single word, what would it be?
• What do you think are the main differences between the first performance and the second two? 

DISCO PART IV

Today's Lesson:
1. Carefully read the Handout, "Saturday Night Fever." 
2. Answer the questions that follow...

• How does Ebert describe the political and musical atmosphere of the 1970s? What does he suggest Disco music and dancing provided for young people in this environment?
• Why might Disco have been particularly appealing to people from working-class backgrounds? What did it provide them that they might not have found in their everyday lives?
• What does Kael suggest about what Disco dancers got out of dancing? What does she mean by “the need to be who you’d like to be"?
• Look at the last sentence of the Kael quote. What is Nirvana? What is Kael saying not simply about the characters in Saturday Night Fever but about why Disco was so popular with young people in the 1970s?

2. WATCH the movie trailer for SNF
3. Answer the following questions...

• What does Tony tell his father about when and where people say positive things about him?
• What word is used to describe Tony when he is on the dance floor?
• How are the people at the disco dressed? What kind of atmosphere does the disco offer?
• Based on what you have seen in the trailer, why do you think this movie was so successful? Why did it help to make Disco music, and the kind of dancing it encouraged, so popular?

DISCO - PART III

1. CLICK on Handout 1: Social and Economic Conditions in the 1970s. I
2. Based on the documents, complete the chart on page 4, and answer the discussion questions
1. Overall, what do the documents suggest about social and economic conditions in the 1970s
2. How might these conditions have helped make Disco music more popular? 
3. In this type of environment, why might many young people have wanted to “escape” to the disco?
4. How did American attitudes toward women and gay people appear to be changing in the 70s? 
5.  Think back to the performers you saw in the video of Disco hits earlier in this lesson. How might what you saw in those videos show the influence of the Women’s and Gay Rights Movements? Think particularly about the performers, the way they were dressed, and the ways they expressed themselves.

May 5, 2015: DISCO PART II

1. Play the video of the Village People on The Merv Griffin Show performing their hit song "YMCA." The Village People were named for New York City's Greenwich Village, an area with a large gay population and where the modern Gay Rights movement began in 1969 with the Stonewall Riots.
2. In your notebooks, please answer the following: 
   • According to the discussion, what is the attraction of a disco?  
   • Why might some people like this atmosphere more than others?
   • How would you describe the costumes and gestures of the Village People in their performance? 
   • How does the success of the Village People as a Disco band reflect the influence of gay culture on the Disco genre? 
   • Can you identify elements of this influence in any of the other videos viewed in this lesson?  Be as specific as you can.

Today's Lesson 5/1/15 - The Rise of Disco

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How did Disco relate to the sentiments and social movements of the 1970s?

OVERVIEW

The rise of Disco in the 1970s had an enormous cultural impact on the American audience. It was the music they heard on the radio, the music they danced to. It affected fashion. It affected club culture. It even affected film.

Disco's roots were multiple. It had connections to R&B and Funk, but it was also born out of the urban gay culture in New York City. But no matter its roots, it quickly moved into the mainstream with a string of best-selling hits by artists from Donna Summer to the Village People. The phenomenally successful 1977 film Saturday Night Fevertook Disco's commercial popularity to surprising heights. The film’s soundtrack produced numerous  Top 10 hits and the album sold over 15 million copies.

The vibrant sound and energetic dance moves of Disco provided young people with an escape from what film critic Roger Ebert called “the general depression and drabness of the political and musical atmosphere of the seventies.” The economic prosperity and countercultural exuberance of the 1960s had faded. By the mid-1970s, crime rates soared and the combined “Misery Index” of unemployment and inflation reached new highs.

With that as the backdrop, the lure of Disco proved particularly powerful for working-class youth. AsThe New Yorker’s Pauline Kael noted in her 1977 review of Saturday Night Fever, the film and Disco itself centered on “something deeply romantic: the need to move, to dance, and the need to be who you’d like to be. Nirvana is the dance; when the music stops, you return to being ordinary.”

But almost as powerful as the embrace of Disco was the backlash against it. For those who grew up with three-minute songs, bands playing instruments, and the raw aesthetic of early Rock and Roll, Disco was part of a new problem. Ultimately, Disco's rise helped to foster the fragmentation of the 1970s and changed the shape of popular music culture.

PROCEDURE: 

1. Examine the cover of Newsweekmagazine from April 2, 1979, and answer the following questions: 

• What is Newsweek? What does the title of the magazine suggest about what it covers?
• What does this cover suggest about the popularity of Disco? Was it perhaps more than just a style of music? How would you describe the mood of the cover?  

2. Read the following quote: 

Everyone here knows that 1979 will go down in history as the year Disco became the biggest thing in pop since Beatlemania and possibly since the birth of rock & roll.”

-- Music critic Stephen Holden, quoted in Ralph Giordano, Social Dancing in America, 2007

3. Based on the quote, and what you know about music, as well as history, answer the questions that follow: 

• What is a discotheque? What do people do at a discotheque?
• Why might a particular style of music come to be known as “Disco”? What does the name imply about the purpose of the music?
• What does the quote say about how popular Disco was in 1979?
• Under what kinds of historical circumstances do you think people would be drawn to music that makes them want to dance? Times of prosperity? Times of economic hardship?

4.  Please view the following videos of songs that were major Disco hits in the 1970s: Peaches and Herb, "Shake Your Groove Thing"; Sylvester, "Mighty Real"; and Donna Summer, "Love to Love You Baby."  Answer the questions below, in your notebooks.  

1. • How would you describe the music? Is it fast or slow? What instruments are used? What kind of beat does it have?
   • How does these performers look different from, for instance, the Beatles performing "She Loves You"?
   • How are the performers dressed? What words would you use to describe their appearance?
   • Who are the performers? Describe them in terms of gender, ethnicity, etc.
   • What are the people listening to the music doing? What kind of mood do they seem to be in? How would you describe the style of dancing they are doing?
   • Why do you think many of these people have come to the disco to hear the music and dance? How might this music provide them with an escape from the issues that they face in their daily lives?