Flocabulary Team, Author at The Flocabulary Blog

November 24, 2009
Flocabulary Team

Rhyme ‘n Learn

Joe Ocando was teaching middle school in Washington Heights NYC as part of the Teach For America program when he thought of starting Rhyme n' Learn. Inspired by Flocabulary, and "particularly concerned with the low numbers of US citizens in graduate STEM programs," Joe began creating math and science raps. Citing research results from the Teacher's College at Columbia University, Joe continues to create high-interest "edu-raps," and bolstering what more and more people already know: hip-hop in the classroom works!

Read on!

November 2, 2009
Flocabulary Team

Straight out of the classroom: Teachers and students submit (awesome) academic raps

Welcome to November, Hip-Hop Classroom. We had to post these raps - fresh in from Loudon, VA and Cheshire, CT. First, we have a truly top-notch rap about the Vietnam War from Ms. Zecher in Sterlin, VA. The key content/vocabulary is even in bold, just like Flocabulary. Fantastic work Jen Zecher - let's get this on wax! Up next, 5th graders from Doolittle School in Cheshire, CT created a rap about science of sound concepts. We love it! Here's what teacher Tracy Ajello wrote when she submitted the rhymes: "Hi, my fifth graders wrote this rap to teach about grade…

Read on!

June 17, 2009
Flocabulary Team

Lesson Plan: Writing Academic Raps

* How To Write Vocabulary Rhymes * Many students say that memorizing vocabulary words is a struggle, so we designed a simple lesson plan to help students learn, master and retain difficult vocabulary by writing a rhyme. This exercise can be done while a beat is playing (free beats are available here) or without music. Step 1. Choose Your Vocab Word and Pre-teach In this case, let’s use the word vain – an SAT-level vocabulary word that students might have to grapple with as early as middle school. A. Teach the word and the definition: Vain (adj.) too proud, into…

Read on!

April 23, 2009
Flocabulary Team

The Hip-Hop Game of Skillz

That's right: A hip-hop board game that educates players about the history of the genre and the culture intertwined with it, connects "rap culture slang" to standard English, and more. Learn more about this innovative and engaging (and educational) game here. How did we find out about this? Folks connected to the Hip-Hop Skillz creators reached out to us! Here's what Shon wrote: "I enjoyed looking at all the work other educators are doing to use hip-hop as an engaging tool to embrace youth culture and get them involved more actively in the learning process. I noticed you did not…

Read on!

February 17, 2009
Flocabulary Team

Rappers are Millionaires (Not!)

Another great, complete lesson plan from Daniel D. Zarazua, this one uses the complexities of the "rich rapper" myth to address various topics related to microeconomics. It also gets students thinking critically about portrayals of wealth in the media, and about how economic principals can affect their lives in unexpected ways. Mr. Zarazua writes, "I've use it in different contexts, but students analyze constructions of 'wealth' as presented in music videos, concepts such as supply and demand, monopolies, distribution, and costs of living." This lesson plan is a great way to connect with students' "out-of-school" interests and expertise to teach…

Read on!