The Flocabulary Blog

March 15, 2010
Flocabulary Team

Flocabulary Fridays, Word Up Baseball and more

Shelby Oates from Summerour Middle School (just outside of Atlanta, GA) is an educator with a never-ending supply of tricks up her sleeve - to motivate students, engage them in learning, and help them achieve to their highest potential. Check out some ideas she recently submitted for use with Flocabulary's Word Up Project program! ------------------------- "I have begun to use the program! My kids were excited just from the mention of the name! We have deemed our Friday's, "Flocabulary Friday" and though sometimes we have to miss a week due to other deadlines, it has become such a reward for…

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January 19, 2010
Flocabulary Team

Ideal Response Time

How much time do you give your students to answer questions you pose in class? Most teachers give students a second or less to respond, but a large body of research shows that this is far too little. Studies have found that teachers achieve the best results when they pause for three to seven seconds after asking a higher-level question. When given this time, students respond more thoughtfully and are able to make more meaningful connections to the content. But more time isn't always better. Studies also show that waiting too long creates apathy and boredom in the classroom. Giving…

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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!

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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…

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October 20, 2009
blake

4 Questions for Spectac: The Rapping Principal

“First Capture Their Hearts, and Their Minds Will Follow” Does the principal of your school moonlight as a rapper? Does he or she win Principal of the Year awards during the day and then collaborate with Grammy award-winning producers at night. Meet Mervin “Spectac” Jenkins, a former middle school principal in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Flocabulary has worked with Spectac on a variety of projects including Shakespeare is Hip-Hop and The Hip-Hop History of the World. We recently put Spec through our 4 question interview. 1. You've been both a working emcee and a middle school principal. Did you ever see…

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