Incorporation of Song in a Math Classroom

Rise/Run, that’s how you can find the slope of a line.  The 7th graders have been studying this concept and other concepts related to linear relationships.   Several students were struggling to remember some of the essentials. So, I added “song” into my classroom.  Trying something like this for me was a first. I have to be honest, when I thought it up, I thought only a few of the kids would like it and the rest would hate it. I anticipated bad attitudes.

What did I get instead?  Excited 7th graders! I told them they could use any school appropriate song and they had to write their own words to match the assignment.  They had to incorporate one of 2 main concepts and I challenged them to add more for additional points. If they did not want to sing, they had the option of doing a chant/cheer.  I let them have all sorts of choice on this assignment---the size of their groups, the people in their groups, song vs cheer, and concept(s) covered (from my list).

How would I summarize the learning experience?  The kids loved it and totally embraced it. I had 2 different students tell me it was the best math assignment “ever”.  (Really? And I thought I had some pretty good math lessons previously in the year.) After doing this assignment, I had a couple of students ask how to find the slope of a line. I told them to think of the songs from class, all were able to successfully find the slope without additional help.

Would I do this again?  Absolutely. I would not do it on a regular basis because it would then lose its appeal the fact that it was different.  But, it was a great experience for the students, it helped them to remember the content, and they had fun doing it! It was a win, win for all involved.