Sample Lesson Plans
Arts integration creates meaningful connections between academic content and creative expression.
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The sample lessons featured here demonstrate how music, storytelling, writing, movement, theatre, and visual arts can deepen understanding across subject areas while supporting academic standards and fostering creativity.
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Each lesson is designed to actively engage learners through hands-on experiences that encourage students to create, perform, collaborate, reflect, and make authentic connections across disciplines.
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Lessons can be adapted for a variety of grade levels and learning environments, including classrooms, residencies, after-school programs, homeschool settings, and virtual learning.
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Every sample includes connections to academic and arts standards and reflects my collaborative approach to lesson design, developed in partnership with educators to support specific curriculum goals and learning outcomes.
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Whether exploring literacy through songwriting, bringing history to life through storytelling, or strengthening social-emotional learning through creative expression, these lessons demonstrate the power of the arts as a pathway to deeper understanding.
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Blowin' in the Wind
In this arts-integrated lesson, students examine how songwriters use rhythm, repetition, and thoughtful questioning to communicate powerful messages. Inspired by the structure and themes of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," students analyze lyrical techniques and collaborate to create original songs that connect music, language arts, and social-emotional learning.
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Where Does the Sidewalk End?
In this arts-integrated lesson, students explore Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends through choral reading, movement, music, and visual imagery. By examining rhyme, repetition, meter, and descriptive language, students deepen their understanding of theme, mood, and author’s purpose while discovering the natural connections between poetry and song.Â
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Blues, Jazz, Country, by Way of Train
From the rhythms of the rails to the stories carried through song, students explore how trains shaped the sounds and experiences of blues, jazz, and country music. Centered on the music of Jimmie Rodgers, Trixie Smith, and Robert Wilkins, this arts-integrated lesson combines history, literacy, and music as students analyze lyrics, investigate cultural contexts, and create original 12-bar blues songs inspired by the enduring legacy of the railroad in American life.
From Idea to Story to Song
How do ideas become stories—and stories become songs? In this arts-integrated residency, students use music,
In this arts-integrated residency, students combine storytelling, songwriting, and music to transform ideas into original story-songs. Using picture books, rhythm activities, and collaborative writing, students explore story structure, descriptive language, syllables, and musical elements while creating and performing a Mars-themed adventure.