Hamilton versus Jefferson Class Singing Competition

This is a really fun way for your students to learn about the birth of the first party system in the United States. This lesson includes an original Rock n Roll song entitled Ham n Jeff in MP3 format and a word document that presents the lyrics in a color coded layout (word document is in the free preview file) so that you can conduct a classroom singing competition. As part of this unit I have the students create posters showing "The Ideals of Hamilton" and "The Ideals of Jefferson". They also create slogans to promote their party and slogans to criticize the other party (mudslinging). We turn the slogans into wagon and stage coach stickers (bumper stickers).
As the culminating activity I divide the class into two teams, Team Hamilton and Team Jefferson. We listen to the song while projecting the lyrics on the overhead screen and each team can see the sections where their team sings alone and where the whole class sings together. I tell the students NO STUDENT IS FORCED to sing, but if you choose not to sing, please copy the lyrics down completely and create 10 True or False questions based on the information in the song. For some reason my students always choose to sing. Finally, we play the song and the students sing while I stand in between the two teams with the volume meter (right arm held up into the air) indicating which team is singing the best. Bonus points if the class next door can hear us and complains about the noise (not recommended for teachers without tenure!).