Students So Motivated They Talk to Their Parents: A Success Story
Allison Ehinger is a high school English teacher who has worked in the well-to-do suburbs and in the inner-city. Never afraid to "make a complete fool" of herself, Allison not only played Flocabulary songs for her students, but danced and sang along. The results, both among suburban students who loved the program and among inner city students who started up conversations with their parents at home, were phenomenal. Here's her story:
"For the previous three years, I taught 8th grade English in a typical affluent, suburban school. My first year, there wasn't a set vocabulary program, so I floundered through the first couple months teaching vocabulary through the reading. Yes, I know that most English teachers teach vocabulary through the reading, although I am convinced that does not work, but I was a newbie trying to keep my head above water. That year, my mom - yes, I know - went to the National Middle School Conference and brought back the first and original Flocabulary. She even brought back the t-shirt and I wear it on the first day of Flocabulary every year and on test days. Again, cheesy? Absolutely! I decided to try it with my honors class: 45 words and SAT level was more suited to them. It was unbelievable.
Yes, at first the kids thought I was nuts as I was dancing up and down the aisles making a complete fool out of myself, but it worked. The kids begged me to play the song one more time before their test. We made music videos. The kids actually used the vocabulary in their writing - the first time I had ever seen that truly happen. After Transformation, I had the kids rank how effective they felt learning the rap was to remembering and using the vocabulary. Out of a class of 32, 31 students gave using the rap a 5/5 which meant they needed the rap to remember all of those vocabulary words. I ended up starting to connect the different raps with what we were doing in class. I made associated grammar worksheets. My kids identified phrases and clauses in the raps, identified types of sentences, constructed symbols to represent the message or theme of each rap. I used the Dr. Doctor while we read The Pearl by John Steinbeck. The worksheet said, Yes, the doctor is hip-hop, too. Cheesy, but it worked. I used Transformation to teach theme. I used Shakespeare is Hip Hop while we studied A Midsummer Nights Dream. The list goes on and on. It was unbelievable that at the end of the year the students were still using the words from the first rap in their writing, and not because it was a requirement. Those new words just made a way into their writing and speaking vocabulary.
I was able to receive a copy of the Blue Level Word Up Project to test run in my desperate attempt for the corporation to adopt the vocabulary program. We started rapping Battle of Brooklyn when we studied the Revolutionary War with the history teachers. The history teachers were rapping Battle of Brooklyn in their rooms as well. Same goes for Southern Ladies. Can you hear me? We were able to see the same growth we saw in our honors students with all of our classes.
I am now teaching 9th grade English at a much more inner city school, and we just started our first Flocabulary unit yesterday. They are taking to it as well. Last night was Back to School Night, and I cannot express the number of parents who came in talking about how their child never comes home and talks about school, and these parents had already heard all about rapping vocabulary in the classroom. Parents, who get the standard nothing when asked what their child did/learned in school that day, were able to get true answers. They did do something worth mentioning; their crazy English teacher rapped vocabulary with them. Not only does this program improve my students writing, speaking, and reading vocabulary, it is something that is facilitating conversation at home, and sometimes that is just a powerful as what happens here at school. I am positive I will see the same wonderful results I saw with my old students in my new school and am excited to get started!"
Allison Ehinger
High School English Teacher
Jeffersonville, Indiana
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