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Erica Marion
Redmond
RE 3070
04 March 2015
The Music of 9/11
Media
The song I will be using for this lesson is America by Imagine Dragons. This is an
alternative rock song that was released on the album Night Visions in 2012 (Pellicane). While
the song itself has not won any individual awards, the album that it was released on reached No.
2 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2012 and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative and Rock
Album charts in the U.S. (Wikimedia). It also won a Billboard Music Award for Top Rock
Album and was later nominated for the Juno Award for International Album of the Year
(Pellicane). It is a certified platinum album by the RIAA, and has won numerous international
awards (Wikimedia).
Lyrics
Is this just an illusion
That I made inside my head to get me by?
20 years in debt
20 years in the government
20 years can never get me by

Then I feel you close

Feel you close like you wanted me to

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Feel you close like you wanted me to
Believe in you

Rise to the top of the world, America

America, dont you cry
Lift me up
Give me strength to press on
Rise to the tope of the world, America
America, dont you cry
Lift me up
Give me strength to press on

From farmers in the fields

To the tallest of the towers that fall and rise
1-7-7-6
The names upon the list
For all the ones that gave until they dies
Dont you hold back
I can see in your mind, and you mind will set you free

And I feel you close

Feel you close like you wanted me to
Feel you close like you wanted me to

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Believe in you

Rise to the top of the world, America

America, don't you cry
Lift me up
Give me strength to press on
Rise to the top of the world, America
America, don't you cry
Lift me up
Give me strength to press on

Rise to the top of the world, America

America, don't you cry
Lift me up
Give me strength to press on
Rise to the top of the world, America
America, don't you cry
Lift me up
Give me strength to press on*
*Lyrics by Victor Ly
Standards
The Common Core State Standard I will use is for this activity is CCSS.ELALiteracy.RH.6-8.7, which says, Integrate visual information (e.g. in charts, graphs, photographs,

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videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts (Common Core). I will have
students create their own music video for the song America by Imagine Dragons after
researching some of the major aspects of the attacks that took place on September 11, 2001.
This would meet the criteria of integrating visual information into their work. The North
Carolina Essential Standard I will use is for Seventh Grade Social Studies 7.C.1 and the
Clarifying Objective 7.C.1.2. The Standard says, Understand how cultural values influence
relationships between individuals, groups and political entities in modern society. The
Clarifying Objective states, Explain how cultural expressions (e.g. art, literature, architecture
and music) influence modern society (NCPDI). The second activity I will have the students
complete will address these two standards by having them analyze the song Where Were You
When the World Stopped Turning by Alan Jackson, which had a huge impact on public opinion
after the events of 9/11. After completing their research, students will engage in a class
discussion about their findings.
Activities
Activity One: Music Video for America
For this activity, I will have my students watch the official music video to America by
Imagine Dragons. After a brief discussion of the images and significance of the ones featured in
the music video, I will have my students research the events of September 11, 2001. After
completing their research, the students will individually create their own music video to the song,
which they would post onto TeacherTube.com and later present to the class. I have included
some questions I will ask students before and after watching the official music video as well as
some sample responses.
Pre-Viewing Questions

Post-Viewing Questions

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1. What do you know about the events of
September 11, 2001?
2. How can music change how you
interpret an historical event?
Sample Response to Pre-Viewing Questions

1. What kind of response did this music

video evoke in you?
2. What effect did the images shown in
the music video have on you?
Sample Responses to Post-Viewing
Questions

1. Ex: terrorist attack on World Trade

Center; many people died; Pentagon

1. Answers will vary (happy, sad,

patriotic, etc.)

attacked; one plane landed in

Pennsylvania, etc.
2. Ex: can make you see it through a
different lens; can make it more real;

2. Answers will vary (makes the events

more real, etc.)

etc.
I have also included the Teacher Notes here for this activity.
1. Use the Pre-Viewing questions to give the students an idea as to what the video is about
as well as the topic they are going to be focusing on, which is the 9/11 attacks.
2. Let the class watch the video, and give them time to discuss the themes seen in it.
Students should also be given time to discuss their responses to the Pre-Viewing
questions before they are asked to respond to the Post-Viewing questions. All questions
should be phrased as open-ended.
3. After giving students time to discuss their answers to the questions, the teacher should
introduce the activity to them. Students should be given around 30-45 minutes to
research the events surrounding 9/11 and the changes that occurred after those events.
4. The teacher will then give students 30 minutes to complete their music video by
synthesizing their research and using images to back up their research. Upon completion,
students will upload their videos to TeacherTube to be presented in front of the class.
Note: students will only show brief clips of their music videos to the class.

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5. Follow up with students by asking them what the experience of creating a music video
was like, etc.
Activity Two: Song Analysis
For this activity, students will use the song Where Were You When the World Stopped
Turning by Alan Jackson to show how music can impact public opinion. Students will listen to
the song, and then research the impact the song had on the publics view and understanding of
the events of 9/11 as well as the publics response to the song. The Pre-Listening question I will
ask for this assignment will be the same as the first Pre-Viewing question from the previous
lesson. Based upon their research findings, students will then have a class-wide discussion
facilitated by me in which they respectfully talk about their research as well as the impact the
song had on them. Throughout the discussion, I will ask prompting questions to keep students
thinking about the subject and focused on their classmates responses.
Prompting Questions Examples
1. What were some of your findings that related to public opinion after the song was
released?
2. Did this song have any effect on how you perceived 9/11? If so, how?
3. What kind of a response do you think Alan Jackson was trying to evoke when he wrote
this song? Did his efforts work?
4. Etc.*
*Different questions may arise based on the information that the students bring up during the
discussion.
Teacher Notes

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1. Use the Pre-Listening question listed as the first Pre-Viewing question (How can music
change how you interpret an historical event?) from the previous activity to prepare
students for what they are going to be hearing. Tell the students to think about these
questions as they listen, and tell them to wait until after they hear the song to discuss
them.
2. Play the song for the students. Give them time to discuss their reactions to the song and
their responses to the Pre-Listening question.
3. Introduce the new activity to the students. Tell them that they will use the song Where
Were You When the World Stopped Turning as the basis for their research about the
effect the song had on public opinion after 9/11. Tell the students to take notes on their
research findings as they will be presenting these findings in the group discussion that
will occur.
4. Give students 30-40 minutes to research. Circle around amongst the students to help
them with any questions or problems that should arise.
5. Gather students back together and have them organize their desks into a circle for the
discussion.
6. Ask a Prompting Question to start off the discussion.
7. At the conclusion of the discussion, make sure to touch base with the students to ensure
that they understood the importance of the activity and the important role music can play
in current events.
Developmental Dimensions of Adolescents
In both of my activities I ask students to think abstractly about the effect that music and
images can play on how people perceive certain events (in this case 9/11). This matches up with

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the cognitive-intellectual development that young adolescents experience. In This We Believe, it
states that young adolescents Increasingly are able to think abstractly not only concretely
(AMLE). My Pre- and Post-Viewing questions for the first activity were designed to have
students think abstractly about the media presented to them, and the Prompting questions I would
ask during the discussion in the second activity were designed to do the same thing. I chose the
song America for two reasons: one, because I really like this song just on a purely entertaining
level, and two, because of the songs optimism. The optimistic part of the song matches up with
the moral development of young adolescents discussed in This We Believe. In the book it states
that young adolescents are generally idealistic, desiring to make the world a better place and to
make a meaningful contribution to a cause or issue larger than themselves (AMLE). By
completing these activities and the discussions, I want the students to understand the impact that
can be made on societys issues by something as simple as a song.
Media Literacy Connections
By showing my students the music video for America I will be showing them how
media communicates vales and ideology (JCP). The music video uses images and video clips
from American history to show what a strong and untied country America has been in the past
and how those values can continue into the future. My second activity asks students, essentially,
to figure out what value message the song Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning
sent out to the public and how it impacted how they viewed the events of 9/11. By showing the
music video for America, I will also be showing students that media have aesthetic qualities,
and that familiarity with the aesthetic dimensions of media can lead to deeper understanding
and greater enjoyments (JCP). I want to show students that when the video director decided to
include the images and clips from American history, they were making a conscious decision to

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use familiar scenes from history to get the audience to connect to the content and message of the
song. This is evident by Post-Viewing questions which ask students to reflect on what they saw
in the video and how it impacted them.

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Works Cited
AMLE. This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents. Westerville: Association for
Middle Level Education, 2010. Print.
"English Language Arts Standards History/Social Studies Grade 6-8 7." English Language
Arts Standards History/Social Studies Grade 6-8 7. Common Core State Standards
Initiative, 2015. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
Imagine Dragons. "America - Imagine Dragons." YouTube. YouTube, 23 June 2010. Web. 04
Mar. 2015.
Jackson, Alan, and George Strait. Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning. Arista
Nashville, 2002. MP3.
JCP. "Media Literacy: Key Concepts." Media Literacy: Key Concepts. Jesuit Communication
Project, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
Ly, Victor. ""America" Lyrics." Imagine Dragons Lyrics. MusixMatch, 2012. Web. 03
Mar. 2015.
NCDPI. "North Carolina Essential Standards Seventh Grade Social Studies." North Carolina
Essential Standards Seventh Grade Social Studies (n.d.): n. pag. NCPublicSchools.org.
State Board of Education, 23 Aug. 2012. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.
"Night Visions (album)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
Pellicane, Marisa. "Band | Imagine Dragons." Imagine Dragons. Universal Publishing, 2015.
Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
Reynolds, Dan. America. Imagine Dragons. Alex Da Kid, 2012. MP3.