Here's a good story. Middle School teacher David Yancey has been trying to connect his students to learning in his Social Studies class in new ways. He noted that students he taught often found the lessons and material boring, so he decided to use music and rapping to engage them. To quote an article from NBCnews.com: "Students have always hated social studies since the dawn of time," Yancey told NBC News in an email. "I realized that students almost choose to be disconnected from the material. In an attempt to bridge the gap, I chose to ask my mentoring group 'What songs are in right now?'"
According to the article, once the students got over the inital laughter, they really started to connect with the material. Yancey posts the lyrics on his overhead for students to follow along with him during his raps. He takes the most currently popular songs and changes the lyrics to fit the lesson he's teaching. For me the coolest thing about this story is that it coincidentally takes place in one of my former school districts, Rockdale County Public Schools in Conyers, GA. I taught in that district for 4 years before we moved away. It is a challenging area to teach in, so bravo to this teacher for finding a better way!
Read about it here.
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