Using Songs to Build International Understanding and Solidarity by Bob Peterson http://www.rethinkingschools.org/publication/rg/RGResource01.shtml: Songs, like poetry, are powerful tools to build consciousness and solidarity on global issues. We begin everyday in my classroom with our "song of the week." Students receive the song lyrics and keep them in their three-ring binders. The songs generally relate to topics of study. I allow students to bring in songs as well, although they must know the lyrics and have a reason for sharing the song with classmates. By the end of the week, students may not have memorized the words to the "song of the week," but they are familiar enough with the lyrics and music so that the song becomes "theirs." Even with some of the songs that I would imagine the children think poorly of - say, some of the slower folk songs - by the end of the week the children demand to hear them a second or third time each morning.
Here are the topics listed in the blog. Each topic lists songs with social conscience.
THE COLONIAL PAST
CURRENT NORTH/SOUTH GLOBAL REALITIES
GLOBAL SWEATSHOPSFOOD AND AGRICULTURE
GLOBALIZATION ON THE HOMEFRONT
CULTURE, POWER AND ENVIRONMENT
