Music Lesson Plans for Social Justice: A Contemporary Approach for Secondary School Teachers

Music Lesson Plans for Social Justice offers a fresh, innovative approach to teaching general music. This book is a timely collection of lesson plans and units that artfully blend music making with relevant issues of social justice. Particularly accessible to middle and high school classroom music teachers, it includes a companion website with links to all of the music listening and videos. Authors Lisa C. DeLorenzo and Marissa Silverman, accomplished music educators with extensive careers thinking about the relationship between music education and social justice, have composed student-centered lessons with thoughtful discussion prompts, experiences with diverse genres and styles of music, and technology-integrated music making projects that will activate students' creativity and empathy. Unit topics-ranging from “War” to “Climate Change”-include cross-disciplinary lessons with the arts playing a central role in developing understanding. Well-researched introductory materials as well as “how-to” guides for topics, such as “composing in the classroom,” make the text especially practical and approachable. This book is an essential resource, with ready-to-go lessons and classroom materials. Music teachers will now have a unique, new lens for engaging students in purposeful music making toward social justice.

Lisa C. DeLorenzo is Professor of Music Education at the John J. Cali School of Music of Montclair State University. She teaches music education courses and supervises student teachers. Her interests in creative and critical thinking and movement/dance as well as connections between democracy, social justice and music teacher education have provided material for numerous books, as well as articles in practitioner and research journals.

Marissa Silverman is Professor of Music Education at the John J. Cali School of Music of Montclair State University. A Fulbright Scholar, her research interests include music and social justice, interdisciplinary education, community music, and topics in the philosophy of music and music education.