20世纪80年代是美国历史上变革的十年。 从冷战引发的核恐惧，到消费主义、艾滋病和禁毒战争的兴起，政治和社会问题给美国文化留下了不可磨灭的印记。 For their final project of the year, ninth grade students in Topics in Modern America (TMA) were assigned a song from the 1980s reflecting or commenting on the day’s issues. After studying the lyrics, they were asked to create an album cover for that song that visually captures the song’s commentary using only events and images from the decade.  

该项目要求学生研究并深入了解他们的歌曲在政治和文化事件轨迹中的发布时间和地点。 就像真正的专辑封面一样，每个项目都必须有正面和背面，包括歌曲的名称、乐队或艺术家的名称、发行年份、唱片公司、歌词和词曲作者。 Creativity, artistry, and connectivity to the day’s historical events are the key attributes of a successful project.

与许多严格定义参数和基准的学校项目不同，这个项目是独特的，因为它主要是自由形式的。 学生们有三周的时间创作他们的专辑封面。 在这段时间里，这个班唯一的作业就是听他们的歌，研究事件，然后创作。 学生们在创作专辑的媒介上也有很大的创作自由度。 “The concept for each cover must directly link the lyrics to the issue, conveying, either digitally or through hand-drawn art, the song’s message as intended by the band/artist that performed it,” says History Department Chair and TMA teacher John Beloff. 虽然学生们在春季学期结束时也有一个更传统的评估，但他们很享受这个以多种方式展示自己理解的机会。 “This is one of the popular assessments, and it really showcases the creative and dynamic thinking of our students,” says John.