Strategies and techniques for teaching history and stimulating secondary school students' awareness of and interest in the past is the focus of this document. Using drama as a tool enhances learning and maintains interest and attention by designing and acting out appropriate settings, historical circumstances, dramatic action, and historical…

Develops a lesson explaining the farm tenancy system in which displaced farmers work on large landowners' farms. Describes various forms of tenancy: small farmer, cash tenant, share tenant, sharecropper, and migrant worker. Provides lyrics from eight folk songs and lists questions to help students retrieve information about farm tenancy in the…

Teaching the Vietnam War in high school history courses is a challenge to the instructor, and study that relies only on textbooks may neglect the controversy surrounding the War and the issues that faced the nation. This paper discusses how to use songs about the Vietnam War as an instructional tool to investigate the role of songs during the War…

In considering the historical contributions of women in a high school history course, a series of projects were developed that were activity oriented, created student involvement in historial research, and organized to feature the roles women have played in the development of the United States. Classroom procedures are introduced based on early…

The study of popular music can be an effective method of examining social and cultural life. Popular music emphasizes the variety of human existence, goals, outlooks, and biases. A pervading theme in popular American music between 1959 and 1984 has been the theme of "America." Over 200 songs reflect personal, social, and political concerns about…

Popular culture genres of the mid-nineteenth century--the anti-slavery almanac, dime novel, panorama, and propaganda play--provide secondary school teachers with an historical medium to help students understand the conditions of slavery. Following an introduction to the uses of these genres in teaching, separate sections contain historical…

Activities focusing on three popular culture genres of the late nineteenth century--the muckraker magazine, the dime novel, and melodrama--help secondary students appreciate the ethnic diversity, social problems, and social themes of turn-of-the-century urban America. Material is divided into four sections. Following an introduction, the first…