Growing Up a Beatle

Think about a particularly sad or difficult time in your life.

Briefly answer these questions:

    1) Was there a particular song that helped you through this difficult time? How did                   it help?

    2) Does music have the power to turn a bad situation around?

    3) Why do people often turn to music in difficult times?

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Guided Practice:

           

1. Handout 1: Growing Up in Liverpool.

Complete the questions on the handout during our discussion.

2. Study a map of the world. Locate Great Britain and the United States on the map.

3. Now lets look at these maps of (one and two)  Liverpool.

4. Answer the following questions in groups on the handout:

    a) How would you describe Liverpool’s geography, particularly in terms of river and sea access?

    b) Why do you think Liverpool was a major trade city?

    c) How does trade impact a city? 

Share answers with class.

In groups again, answer:

    a) Where did WWII mostly take place (continent)?

    b) What kinds of items do you think might have been shipped into and out of Liverpool     during World War II?

    c) How might Liverpool’s status as a port city have affected what happened to it during     World War II?

    d) How might the experience of American cities during World War II have been different/Was the war fought on US soil?

Discuss answers with class:

Answer as a whole group: 

     5. How do you think living in a port city might affect the things residents were able to buy in an era before air travel and shipping were commonplace? Hint: Would they have been exposed to new things before others living inland?

6. Define the term “cultural diffusion.” 

7. Ask students to imagine they have been hired to help one of the Beatles write his autobiography. They have been assigned to work specifically on the chapter discussing the way growing up in Liverpool influenced their Beatle as a young man. They will work in small groups and use their newfound knowledge of history and geography to help their Beatle enrich his book.

8. Divide  groups of no more than four students each. 

9. Distribute Handout 2: The Autobiography of a Beatle.

Distribute the handouts for Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 

(Required video: Gerry Marsden on "American Music Brought to Liverpool," the Beatles performing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," 

George Formby performing "Leaning on a Lamp Post"), 

Group 4, Group 5 

(Required video: "Cunard Yanks," Gerry Marsden on "American Music Brought to Liverpool")

Group 6 

(Required video: "Wabash Cannonball," Gerry Marsden on Skiffle, Graham Nash on Skiffle). 

These contain source materials for each group's section of the autobiography, including photographs, quotations, and videos. Be sure to assemble all the materials, including a video station, prior to the start of the lesson.

Formative Assessment: Your autobiography will be graded individually.

Closure: S. share group work from above.