When popular band, Imagine Dragons, made their hit single, “Radioactive,” were they thinking about the Revolutionary War? When popular 90’s song, “I’ve Got the Power,” came out, were people abuzz with talk of how well it related to the Magna Carta and Feudalism? Not likely.
Yet, over the first 12 weeks of this school year, Mr. Phil Dietrich’s fifth-grade class made history come alive by connecting songs by artists including Katy Perry, the Decembrists, Michael Buble`, Jimi Hendrix, and many more to a wide variety of historical events; events such as the two World Wars, the American Revolution, Civil Rights, Feudalism, and more.
Once students had thoroughly researched their events, they chose four songs they felt related in some way to the event they had just researched and were required to establish the connection between research and lyric. They then harnessed their inner lyricists by writing an original song about their event, and finally, students developed their graphic design skills to create their album’s cover art.
Songs were burned onto discs and students were able to “sell” their CD’s to their classmates! They paid 10 coins of classroom currency to “purchase” their classmates’ CD’s, for which they received a disc, complete with the 4 tracks and cover art!
Finally, students presented their projects in an effort to win a ‘recording contract’ on a contrived record label named King Records. Five ‘contracts’ were awarded to the students who best captured the essence of the project. The winning students were Madison Barlog, Hunter Farrington, Evan Field, Alyssa Kolesiak, and Kadin Overton.
Moving forward, students will be charting album sales to analyze market trends and create “Billboard Charts” based on album sales. Among the lessons learned, perhaps the most lasting will be that HISTORY ROCKS!!!