Social Studies, all grades, 20th century history and culture
Sub Plans:
Introduce students to We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel.
Present them with the lyrics. Students wish individually or in small groups to sort each person/thing into one of the categories below.
If they know who or what the listed person/thing is, they should mark it with their level of familiarity (i.e ♥= vaguely familiar ♥♥♥= very familiar)
**Use of Al is NOT PERMITTED for this activity, which means no Google either!**
**Wikipedia is allowed AND ENCOURAGED, especially if they are unfamiliar with something**
Person (alive)
Person (dead)
Event
Place
Media/Culture
Nonliving Object
Once they are done, students are encouraged to compare their work with their peers to see what differences they have.
Extension Activity:
Students rewrite the lyrics by swapping out what they see as outdated cultural references for contemporary, more relevant ones. Fall Out Boy did this somewhat recently, but you probably have students who can do a better job than they did!
Complete lyrics (verses only, no chorus) below:
