Intro to the Surf Sound

History of Rock and Roll

Teacher: Mr. Joseph Pierce
Date: 2/15/22
Class: 6

Prior Knowledge: Class knows about the rise of Rock and Roll. Students have learned about
the interest in the marketability of the American teenager. Students have learned about the
crooners and the rise of dance. Students have learned about the rise of girl groups.

Class Objective: Students will be able to identify how the Surf sound of artists like The Beach
Boys impacted American popular culture and reflected the move to suburbs going on at the
time.

Assessment of the Class: Students will be given an exit ticket as a way to check
understanding of what we learned today.

Instructional Materials: teachrock.org, projector, computer, Google Slides, handouts, and

student laptops, pen or pencil

Personal Improvement Objective: Focus the lesson on the students learning the information
rather than hammering them with all the information I know.

Lesson Plan

Introduction:
Students will be shown the poster to the 1963 film Beach Party. Students will discuss what they
think the music in this film would sound like.

Activity 1:
Students will be randomly assigned into pairs. Students, using their ChromeBooks, will move
through four groups of video prompts. After watching the two videos for a station, they will
answer the prompts on a handout provided to compare and contrast different elements. They
will then repeat the process for the three other stations. Students will wrap up with a full class
discussion on the listening activity.

Activity 2:
Students will be shown population graphs of Portland and Chicago. The years of the graphs are
1950 and 1996. Students will learn about the move from Urban to Suburban areas and what
events led to this move.
Activity 3:
Students will hear some recordings of music from The Beach Boys and compare and contrast
their relationship to this move to the suburbs. Students will also see a video clip from a short film
about the suburbs in Santa Monica during this time.

Conclusion:
Students will be given an exit ticket to fill out as an assessment of what we discussed today.