That’s A Rap

Let’s continue the theme of music engaging learners. This is especially true in light of recent developments in children’s education. Several education departments in Australia have begun building brain training into their teacher courses. There is a recommendation to provide this instruction in pre-service teacher training.

Brain training? Succinctly, how the brain learns. More particularly, how developing brains, i.e. children’s brains, learn.

Cognitive load is one area that needs more attention. Providing more opportunities for creativity is another. Combining music and creativity is a great way to stimulate those neural pathways.

Several years ago, I was responsible for a team of upper primary school teachers. We taught a group of 10-12 year old students. A feature of our programs was the rich task at the end.

Rich task? A student-designed solution to a problem posed by the learning program. In this case, the rich task at the end of an English program was to write, rehearse and perform a rap.

The rap needed to have rhyming couplets and tell a story. Also, (and here’s the rich part) it had to be set to music.

Using iPads and Apple’s GarageBand software, we let the students loose. They paired up and created.

Journeys of discovery led to some engaging productions. Several raps were performed at whole school assemblies.