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November 1, 2016
Vol. 58
No. 11

Road Tested / Stuck on a Concept? Try Music

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      Though my lessons on prime factorization were over, I still had many students who struggled to identify prime numbers, an important building block for upcoming lessons. I needed to find an effective intervention—and fast! In my desperation, I rediscovered an amazing tool that has since reenergized my classroom: educational songs. My 4th grade class in a low-income Oakland neighborhood is primarily comprised of English language learners (who often need vocabulary instruction) and students with behavioral issues and emotional disturbances (who need opportunities to express their energy). Using educational music has increased my ability to meet the diverse needs of all my students.
      I knew that songs could reinforce important concepts because they helped me when I was in school. To this day, I still use the ABCs to alphabetize my files, and I remember the Preamble to the Constitution from an old Schoolhouse Rock! video. Why not find a musical way to help my students remember prime numbers? I searched online and came across a variety of songs and music videos that weren't very good, but I also found some great sites like Flocabulary.com (which uses hip-hop to teach concepts across K–12 subjects) and Rock2theCore.com (which features K–5 music videos aligned to the Common Core State Standards for language and math). The next day, I played Rock2theCore's "I'm Prime" video as part of my math warm-up and my students were hooked. The song's chorus reinforced the conceptual meaning of prime numbers and helped students memorize prime numbers up to 41. I frequently reassessed the class with quick 1 to 4 question mini-quizzes—and they finally grasped it. They even started singing about prime numbers when we lined up for lunch; they were reviewing facts just for fun!
      Since then, I have used music in my classroom every single day for warm-ups, transitions, brain breaks, review games, and dance time. I mainly use educational songs because they allow me to maximize every instructional minute, but I also play classical music during writing assignments. Thanks to this simple addition, my classroom environment has changed dramatically and my own enjoyment of teaching has increased as well. Engagement is higher, student retention of facts and vocabulary has improved, and we have a stronger sense of community. One of my students who has frequent behavioral challenges completely changes his attitude the moment a song begins. He is able to reengage with the class and move forward with his learning.
      Singing academic songs together gives my English language learners plenty of opportunities to practice vocalizing key vocabulary in a comfortable, low-pressure context. I have seen newcomers, who joined my class speaking no English, truly blossom when music accompanies a lesson. Videos on ScratchGarden.com and Grammaropolis.com have animations that help students visualize language concepts, such as chronological order, and math concepts, like shapes and angles. Now, I choose one math and one language song each week that reinforces our units, and we rock out to them multiple times a day. I also send home lists of free music sites so that students can review content with their families.
      Too often, I have asked my students to sit in their seats quietly while my voice dominates instruction. It is a relief for them to hear academic content being delivered in a completely new way, which activates different parts of their brains—and their bodies. We occasionally use dance videos that get us up and moving, engaging my kinesthetic learners. For example, students do movements that correlate to the meaning of each Greek or Latin root word when I play "I Know My Roots." I have noticed that these videos work best during a lesson warm-up or a transition when kids get fidgety.
      Incorporating educational music into classroom instruction is certainly not new, but I somehow forgot about this simple and effective strategy. Teachers in every grade level of my school are now using educational songs. We've even played some of the songs for community building at school assemblies, such as Rock2theCore's "The 5 C's Chant," "Community," and "Confidence." In fact, we now do the "5 C's Chant" as a school when we convene for announcements every Monday morning. I'm thrilled to have rediscovered a strategy that I can share with other teachers who find it equally effective.

      Would you like to write for the next "Road Tested" column? Visit www.ascd.org/educationupdate for submission details.

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