I watched a movie this morning about KIPP from Oprah a couple years ago as well as one on Teach for India, and it started me thinking.... At KIPP, students are taught multiplication tables by "rolling their numbers" (like the video shows). It is extraordinarily effective. When I think back to my own education, I remember almost every song or rhyme that taught me something traditionally taught through rote memorization (even ones from pre-school: "North America, South America, Auuussttrralliaa!") So here is my big "how might we" for the day:
How might we train teachers to use songs and music to teach fundamental skills and increase student investment?
One of the biggest challenges that low-income teachers face is that their students all come into the classroom with vastly different fundamental skills and knowledge. It is hard to teach a child algebra if he doesn't know his multiplication tables. What does KIPP do? They say, let's use music. Music impacts people across cultures and can be tailored to be culturally relevant. Music is repetitive and catchy. Music can be extremely effective in teaching fundamental skills.
I see two major areas to attack:
1) Information/resource dissemination: As a teacher, I acknowledged the power of song/rap/music in the classroom, but I had no idea how to leverage it. Some exceptional and/or musical teachers devote hours to perfecting rhymes to teach their kids, but it should not necessarily be a teacher's responsibility to come up with rhymes and tunes that already exist. Teachers should have access to music related to the fundamentals of any subject.
2) Training on how to use song in the classroom: So now I have a sheet with the lyrics to "Read, baby, read" sitting on my table. What do I do with it?? It is not enough to provide access to musical tools to teachers. It is also important to provide workshops to train teachers on how to best leverage these songs as a tool in their classrooms.
I guess this is the beginning of my brainstorm about thesis topics..... and s356 ideas!
p.s. thank you to all who have commented (it makes me happy to know when people read) :)
idea 2: a "youtube" for teacher professional development
ReplyDeleteAnisha! We should talk. Knowing about PD developments is part of my job! There is a free site similar to what you describe called TeacherTube. Teachers also come together on various self-created social networking sites called Nings (check out Jim Burke's English Teacher's Companion Ning, it's one of the largest). I'm not sure if you have access, but you should also look at what the ASCD is doing in online PD. They are the largest non-profit association. And there are a couple for-profit companies that are doing online PD, though all this is pretty new. I can get you a longer list for research purposes, if you would like.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if your projects are supposed to address this issue, but the challenge I see is that almost always, quality costs money. Is access to what you envision free? If it doesn't have the potential to make money, who will invest the time and money to create and maintain whatever it is you design? These are among the questions I'm supposed to keep in mind at work, but I don't know if they are relevant to your project.
You should talk to Jane Kim (a year behind us in TFA) about her awesome raps!
ReplyDelete- Erin