Category: We Didn’t Start the Fire
-
We Didn’t Start the Fire – Lesson Plan
In 1989, Billy Joel released the song We Didn’t Start the Fire. I created a lesson sequence in which students analyse the song’s interpretations of the past, and and wrote an article about it in December 2009’s edition of Teaching History for the Historical Association. The learning really comes in when we consider why Billy Joel…
-
We Didn’t Start the Fire – Video Download
Many people have created videos to accompany the song, but I felt that I should have a go at developing my own. The version of this video I placed on TeacherTube is in the Top 10 most viewed videos of all time and has received over 900,000 views. You can watch it in the video player…
-
We Didn’t Start the Fire – Syllable Grid
The third stage of the We Didn’t Start the Fire the lesson sequence requires students to write an updated verse for the song. Some students struggle with the division of syllables and beats, so I devised this simple grid to help them structure their verses to fit the original song pattern. The original lyrics follow a…
-
We Didn’t Start the Fire – Backing Track
The third part of the We Didn’t Start the Fire lesson sequence involves students writing their own verse to ‘update’ the song. As annoying as it is to hear the song over and over again, the students usually like to have the song played on repeat so they can practise their lyrics. The media file below…