Los Angeles Academy teacher LaMar Queen has found a new method for his students to excel in math, rhyming through Hip-Hop.
Eighth Graders at Los Angeles Academy are using Hip-Hop music to build a connection and assist them in improving their math skills.
He was recently featured in the Associated Press and tells the AP ,
“Math is a bad word in a lot of households but if we put it in a form that kids enjoy, they’ll learn.”
The raps are used to help memorize algebra, geometry and even Shakespeare. Queen, who has been at LA Academy since 2007, says the idea for rapping came two months after he was hired to teach and told that his class was boring by his students.
Taking this honest criticism as motivation, the 26-year-old created a lesson plan that included his debut song ‘Slope Intercept.” Word soon spread around the school and Queen received positive criticism from the school faculty as well.
Aside from allowing the students to memorize formulas like in “Slope Intercept”, Queen also puts inspirational pieces in his verses. These lines include “be a math sensation”, get “A’s on your papers”, and “Listen to your parents.”
In April he won a national award for outstanding math achievement from “Get Schooled”, a pro-education initiative launched by Viacom and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Queen is now looking to make rap math a business and launched a website, MusicNotesOnline, to market his rap CD and DVD, and expand the use of rap in education to other academic subjects.
Check out the Associated Press’ coverage on Queen below.
