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Kindergarten - Grade 9 in Southborough, MA

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Seeing History Through the Music

Daintry Zaterka
Ninth grade album cover project reflects the transformative events of the 1960s 
The walls outside John Beloff’s Ninth Grade Modern History class tell the tale of a turbulent decade in our nation’s history - without a single word. Instead, students have visually captured the transformational events of the 1960s through album covers inspired by political songs of the era.
For ninth graders, this assignment is the second part of an in-depth study of a key political event between 1964 and 1972. After crafting a research paper, students are assigned a song that is linked to their event, such as “Ohio,” which Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young wrote after the Kent State killings, or Sam Cooke’s anthem, “A Change is Gonna Come,” and its relationship to the Civil Rights Act. Using their knowledge of the event and the lyrics from the song, students must design an album jacket to accompany the song that visually represents that moment in time. Students can design in the medium of their choice - watercolor, acrylics, pen and pencil, or collage - but with the goal of conveying what this event meant to people. “When you create something artistically that visually represents the impact of an event, it can sometimes mean so much more,” says John. “This project gives the students another way to express their understanding of how events in history connect.”
Unlike many school projects with strictly defined parameters and benchmarks, this project is unique because it is largely freeform. Students have three weeks to create their album cover. The only homework for this class during that period is to listen to their song, study the event, and create. Although most choose the album cover, students do have a secondary option of creating a music video instead. This project is also enthusiastically supported by Art Department faculty members Billy Claire, Chris Kimball and Jane McGinty, who offer critiques and provide the students with studio time to work on their projects.
While the creativity and artistry that goes into the album covers is impressive, it’s the perspective that students gain on history’s seismic events that has a greater impact. One student handing in the project noted, “‘For the first time, I understand why people react to an event the way they do.”

 
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