LA teacher makes algebra cool with a hip-hop beat
Friday, June 18, 2010
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(06-18) 06:25 PDT LOS ANGELES, (AP) --
The class of eighth graders at a Los Angeles middle school tap their rulers and nod their heads to the rhythm of the rap video projected on a screen. It's not Snoop Dogg or Jay-Z.
It's their math teacher, LaMar Queen, using rhyme to help them memorize seemingly complicated algebra and in the process improve their grades.
"It gets stuck in your head," says Cindy Martinez, a 14-year-old whose math grade went from a C-average to a B.
Queen, 26, is now known at Los Angeles Academy as the rap teacher, but his fame has spread far beyond the 2,200-student school in this gritty neighborhood. He's won a national award and shows teachers and parents how to use rap to reach children.
"Math is a bad word in a lot of households," he says. "But if we put it in a form that kids enjoy, they'll learn."
Queen is doing what many veteran educators have done — using students' music to connect with them. Where teachers once played the rock n' roll tunes of "Schoolhouse
The class of eighth graders at a Los Angeles middle school tap their rulers and nod their heads to the rhythm of the rap video projected on a screen. It's not Snoop Dogg or Jay-Z.
It's their math teacher, LaMar Queen, using rhyme to help them memorize seemingly complicated algebra and in the process improve their grades.
"It gets stuck in your head," says Cindy Martinez, a 14-year-old whose math grade went from a C-average to a B.
Queen, 26, is now known at Los Angeles Academy as the rap teacher, but his fame has spread far beyond the 2,200-student school in this gritty neighborhood. He's won a national award and shows teachers and parents how to use rap to reach children.
"Math is a bad word in a lot of households," he says. "But if we put it in a form that kids enjoy, they'll learn."
Queen is doing what many veteran educators have done — using students' music to connect with them. Where teachers once played the rock n' roll tunes of "Schoolhouse
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/06/18/national/a023923D93.DTL&type=education#ixzz0rDF3RtBB