The Flocabulary Blog

April 13, 2011
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Students Animate "Would You Drop It?" Song

In the World War II chapter of Hip-Hop U.S. History, Flocabulary raises the moral dilemma: "Would You Drop the Bomb?" But why just pontificate when you can animate? In Mr. Pitner's U.S. History class in Arizona, students enhanced their understanding of historical issues by creating awesome animations for the song. You can view all the videos here. Thanks for sharing the videos on Twitter! Here are some ill illustrations from 3rd period: ...and this video by 4th period has a humorous mix of animation and live action. The dance moves during the hook are key! Wondering why the students are…

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March 25, 2011
Flocabulary Team

An Animated Zoom Through Scale

Calling all science teachers, art lovers, young philosophers and people who like playing with really cool stuff! The world can be a big place, and a very small one. If you've ever wished that you could see DNA or float among asteroids, the internet has granted your wish. Explore the different scales of the world, from sub-atomic particles to the stars! Click here to get started. Warning: You're about to be mesmerized.

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March 23, 2011
Flocabulary Team

MC LaLa brings you Manifest Destiny

Just like the Americans during Manifest Destiny, MC LaLa can't stop! Hip-hop education wizard Peter DiLalla is dominating the nation with his new history rap. Manifest Destiny was the belief that Americans were destined to travel west and take over the entire North American continent. (Of course, conveniently ignoring the people who'd lived on that very land for thousands of years...) "Arkansas? No we don't stop! Oklahoma? No we don't stop!" Don't want to stop listening? Check out MC LaLa's other videos on his YouTube page. Thanks once again, Peter, for sharing another excellent teaching tool with all of us!

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March 21, 2011
Flocabulary Team

Should you teach how to tweet?

For many teachers, keeping students from texting and tweeting during class is a never-ending (losing) game of Whac-a-Mole. But one teacher decided to embrace the art form of short form communication. Andy Selsberg wrote: I don’t expect all my graduates to go on to Twitter-based careers, but learning how to write concisely, to express one key detail succinctly and eloquently, is an incredibly useful skill, and more in tune with most students’ daily chatter, as well as the world’s conversation. He argues that teaching to write concisely is not only realistic for 21st century communication, but also allows for surprising…

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March 8, 2011
Flocabulary Team

“There are so many ways for students to demonstrate what they learn.”

Insights from the teacher behind the Chinese Knowledge video. Adina Lerner is a middle school social studies teacher in Manhattan. We had a chance to visit her classroom twice last year and got to see what she and her students had done with Hip-Hop History of the World: Part I. We saw their amazing video, and we saw a lot more. Ms. Lerner shared some of her insights with us last week. 1. Tell us about the process of making the Chinese Knowledge video. I had a really motivated sixth grade class last year, so I presented the idea of…

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