What do Lady Gaga, a Medical Student and Flocabulary Have in Common?

Even if you didn’t want to like that Lady Gaga song, there’s a good chance you can faithfully parrot the sugary chorus of it. Be honest now, you know it: “Can't read my/ Can't read my/ No he can't read my poker face.” Some hooks are unforgettable, even after a single listen, and though you may not be able to glean anything particularly academic from “Poker Face,” we think a case can be made for using the pop-song formula as a teaching and studying tool. 

It may sound ridiculous (and we suppose it is to some extent), but students have long been putting information to music and using it as learning tool. In fact, we know of one medical student who starting writing anatomy and physiology songs so that he could pass his exams. Included in his oeuvre are crowd-pleasers like “Integumentary System, How Do You Do It?” and “If I were a Skeletal Muscle Tissue.” Let’s get to the point though:

We’d like to introduce Flocabulary, an online learning platform that delivers educational hip-hop songs and videos to students in grades K-12. Flocabulary has been around for a little over a decade and boasts a weekly audience of 5 million students. Their mission: “To motivate kids and help them reach their full academic potential, not only by raising test scores but by fostering a love of learning in every child.”

Flocabulary’s database of songs covers anything from the discovery of America and the Bill of Rights to the scientific method, grammar and Mark Twain.

You’re free to try Flocabulary at no cost for 14 days. Thereafter, you can choose from three plans:

• Flocabulary: ($5/month) Access to hundreds of original songs & videos in all major K-12 Subject Areas and standards-aligned lessons for each song
• Week in Rap: ($5/month) Every Friday you’ll receive the week’s biggest stories in a rap music video
• Flocabulary + The Week in Rap: ($7/month)

Here’s a sample of what they have to offer:

If your students are anything like ours, they love it when technology is integrated into the classroom. To help you do this, we’ve put together a resource that offers 50 of our favorite teacher-friendly websites and apps. Our descriptions of each resource are brief and lighthearted—and hopefully, substantive enough to give you a sense for whether or not they will fit your students’ and your needs. Check it out and share it with your friends and colleagues!