Stevie Van Zandt’s TeachRock Was Considering More Long Island Classrooms – New Hubs Uk

Freeport music teacher Stephanie Arnell wanted her students to learn about farm worker rights activist Dolores Huerta, so she performed two songs related to her life to sixth graders.

At a Jim Crow South lesson, she turned to The Beatles and their refusal to perform in front of a segregated audience in Florida. Her classroom at Caroline G. Atkinson School is covered with the logos of bands from Run DMC to Nirvana for students to admire the artwork.

These lessons are part of a free curriculum called TeachRock, which offers online lesson plans, study units and materials for educators. Launched by rocker Stevie Van Zandt, a standards-driven, open educational resource helps teachers engage students with popular music from artists such as Beyoncé and Billy Joel.

A newly announced partnership between TeachRock and the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) aims to bring the curriculum to more local classrooms.

Nonprofit LIMEHOF recently announced that it has hired TeachRock as an educational partner. This fall, teachers across Long Island will be able to attend training at the newly established Stony Brook location. TeachRock offers over 200 educational plans online for grades K-12, covering everything from algebra to world history.

“We seek to educate people in a very wide range of ways through music,” Van Zandt told Newsday. “We provide teachers with the tools they need to deal with the modern world.” I am trying.”

LIMEHOF Vice President and School Board Chair Tom Needham, Sewanhaka School District Educator, learned about TeachRock several years ago during a teacher training in New York City. The non-profit organization and his TeachRock have hosted several events together, and in 2016 the organization’s Harry Chapin Award was presented to his Van Zandt for his achievements in music education.

When LIEMHOF opened its new home on Main Street last year, Needham said he approached TeachRock about working with them.

“Let’s do something bigger, and that’s what we want right now. It’s good for their organization and most importantly for the kids who go to school on Long Island,” he said. I got

A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and longtime guitarist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Van Zandt founded the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation (now the Rock and Soul Forever Foundation) in 2007. The TeachRock curriculum was published in his 2013.

He’s on tour with Springsteen and will play at UBS Arena on Long Island in April.

Earlier cuts in arts education had plagued him, so he wanted to find ways to improve graduation rates. Van Zandt, who also starred in HBO’s “The Sopranos,” said.

“I don’t like art being treated as irrelevant. It’s like doing it after school,” he said. “I thought it was very important to integrate the arts into the DNA of the public education system.”

To date, 60,000 educators have registered with the online site and it is used in other states. In 2021, Connecticut officials announced that the curriculum would be integrated into public schools statewide.

Free lessons are divided by genre, subject, and grade. A math class for middle schoolers incorporates Beyoncé’s Instagram account and how to use ratios to identify audience engagement on social his media. A description of the Cold War includes a video of Billy Joel’s 1987 concert in former Soviet Russia.

“We want our curriculum to be practical, useful, and purposeful,” says Van Zandt.

Some artists, including Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, have created exclusive online lessons for TeachRock. Hart shows children how math is tied to the musical vibrations of drums in online videos available on their website.

Locally, LIMEHOF plans to promote the curriculum to schools through monthly email blasts.

Starting in the fall, the LIMEHOF Museum will host TeachRock teacher training sessions. This place can accommodate class excursions.

TeachRock Executive Director Bill Carbone said: “The truth is, it can happen to adults, too.”

A Freeport teacher, Arnell is considered a TeachRock ambassador and has collaborated with TeachRock on many primary education programs and articles. Her school is the only affiliated school in the state.

She has been using this lesson for years and has also helped train other teachers at her school. In her curriculum, there are no tests as lessons are designed to help students develop critical thinking her skills.

“You may be an ELA teacher, you may be a social studies teacher, but there is something about this website, something about this curriculum that you can bring to your children,” Arnell said. Told. “And once you realize that, you have to be trained in terms of understanding how you can use this. Will what my district already ask of me work?”

Her Women’s History Month recent lesson on Dolores Huerta showed video footage of the California activist, including her work with Cesar Chavez. The song was often sung at United Farm Worker rallies, marches, and rallies. The lesson culminated in Los Angeles poet Nikki Darling’s poem “A Street Called Dolores Huerta,” set to music by singer Alice Bagg.

Arnell recognizes that some artists may not be familiar to children. , posed questions about his life.

“We do a lot of rock and keep coming back,” she said. “We have Chuck Berry and Elvis and I always try to connect that with the music of today. If it weren’t for these people a long time ago… we wouldn’t be who we are today.” .”

Student Kaiden Tucker, 11, says the class helps him learn more than just art.

“All of Miss Arnell’s lessons weren’t just about music. They touched all subjects and helped us out,” he said. “It helps me understand everything.”