ITVS Community Classroom lesson plans pair educational film modules drawn from ITVS’s acclaimed documentary films with standards-based lesson plans, activities, and other interactive content.

Lesson Plans

Viewing Topic: Arts & ArtistsView All
Art and Transformation

Students will be introduced to Brazilian visual artist Vik Muniz and the motivation behind his art project “Pictures of Garbage.” They will also meet some of the residents and works of the world’s largest landfill, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They will explore the artist’s responsibility to the communities s/he represents.

From the Women and Girls Lead, Volume 1 Classroom collection
From the film Waste Land

Can You Own a Sound?

The basic foundations of copyright law and how the music industry began to respond legally to sampling as hip-hop grew in popularity in the 1990s.

From the Copyright Criminals Classroom collection
From the film Copyright Criminals

Gender Violence

This lesson analyzes rap music lyrics and their impact on the listener, paying particular attention to misogynistic and homophobic content. (includes 1 film module)

From the Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes Classroom collection
From the film Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Hip Hop Sampling: Theft or Tribute?

This module introduces students to the musical legacies of Clyde Stubblefield and George Clinton, two of the most heavily sampled musicians in hip-hop music.

From the Copyright Criminals Classroom collection
From the film Copyright Criminals

Hip-Hop and the Birth of Sampling

What sampling is, and how it came to be widely used in the early days of hip-hop music. It also explores the socio-economic conditions that gave rise to hip-hop as a form of cultural expression, and introduces the seminal work of the rap group Public Enemy.

From the Copyright Criminals Classroom collection
From the film Copyright Criminals

Homophobia and Gay Rappers in Hip-Hop

This lesson asks the taboo questions and challenges the listener to consider the role homophobia in hip-hop plays in maintaining the one-dimensional definition of masculinity that boxes in both men and hip-hop. (includes 1 film module)

From the Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes Classroom collection
From the film Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Human Dignity and Human Rights

Students will consider the consequences for individuals and communities whose fundamental human rights are limited or denied, and develop a plan of action for improving the lives of women in their own community.

From the Women and Girls Lead, Volume 1 Classroom collection
From the film Waste Land

Manhood and Gender Identity

This lesson delves deeper into understanding how gender roles, especially around manhood, are produced and projected in society as a whole and within hip-hop. (includes 1 film module)

From the Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes Classroom collection
From the film Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Media Literacy

This lesson provides students with an opportunity to do their own media research on and analysis of how media images are manufactured and marketed. (includes 1 film module)

From the Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes Classroom collection
From the film Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Points of View

This lesson examines the many different voices in the film and allows students to reach their own conclusions about and evince their own responses to these points of view. (includes 1 film module)

From the Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes Classroom collection
From the film Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

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