This week I noticed that my students were having difficulties keeping the properties straight, they were constantly confusing the different properties with the different names. This is understandable because some properties are common like associative and commutative.
As I tried to think of a different way to make them remember which was which I could not come up with anything that really stuck with them. Then came the day in which I had planned a song for them to listen to and read the lyrics. I thought it was a great way and was so happy I planned it, I could not believe I forgot about it. Then I read the song, it was terrible. I knew my students were going to hate it right away and to make it worse, I could not find the recording I had originally found online.
So using the little skills I had a I turned that boring song into a rap song, writing my own lyrics I thought my students would like all while trying to make it catchy so they would remember each property. I then found a beat on youtube, and with my awful singing/rapping voice, recorded the song. The next day the students came in from recess and I played them the song as the intro to my lesson. They all could not believe that I wrote it and was rapping it, they said the lyrics were better than my rapping skills (HA).
Either way, the next day when it came time for their tests I saw students rapping a verse or two to themselves while taking the test to make sure they were selecting the right definition. Other students told me they rapped it to themselves the night before to help them study and it made studying more fun. This really showed me that you can make lessons enjoyable, fun and still have your students learn the material you just need to know your kids before hand so you can appeal to them in the appropriate way.
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