Seventh graders delved into Lin-Manuel Miranda’s critically acclaimed musical Hamilton with a cross-curricular project that blended social studies and English language arts. The hit Broadway show explores the founding of the United States and features important historical figures such as George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and of course, the “ten dollar founding father” himself, Alexander Hamilton. Working with a partner, students took a song from the musical and broke it down by its historical context and poetic elements. They analyzed the real-world events and characters that drove the story as well as the actors who portrayed them. They unpacked the figurative language, mood, and key concepts conveyed by Miranda's lyrics. The students then created displays using visual, audio, and textual elements to summarize their findings, and set them up in the school library so that they could study each other's displays to gain a fuller understanding of the musical as a whole. To wrap up the project, the seventh grade enjoyed watching the filmed version of Hamilton released by Disney in 2020. This project coincided with the seventh grade's study of the Revolutionary War and was jointly taught by English language arts teacher Emily Spina and social studies teacher Will Richard across their respective classes.
