Updated 04/14/2010 11:19 AM
YouTube Lessons Have Brooklyn Students Feeling The Beat
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
A group of Brooklyn teachers have quickly become a YouTube hit as they continue to use rhythm and rhyme to keep their students motivated. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.At Williamsburg Charter High School, students learn how to prep for the SAT's the traditional way, but also with instructional videos -- though not exactly your traditional instructional tapes.
The stars of the videos are their teachers, who say they try to keep the atmosphere light and get their lessons to really stick in kids' heads.
"We've been rapping for years, informally, just never got our big breakthrough," said Williamsburg Charter High School Assistant Principal John Sullivan.
"Everyone that I work with is young and hip and cool and we all come from a similar music taste background and I think it is really easy to get people onboard for this type of thing," said Williamsburg Charter High School teacher Athena Apostolou. "You just say to people, 'Hey do you want to make a music video?' And everyone is like, 'Yes!'"
But students don't let the teachers get away with thinking they're too cool.
"Honestly they're trying to be so cool, because in class they're so mean to me but now they want to be so cool but honestly when I watch it I am like 'Woo! That's my teacher!'" said Williamsburg Charter High School student Olivia Pilmer.
"I felt embarrassed for them. But I am happy that they have no dignity, that we have to be embarrassed for them," said Williamsburg Charter High School student Leonardo Claudio.
Some students say the videos are just what they need to raise their SAT scores.
"And they showed us the video and I watched it again the same night. When I got to the school and I was sitting at my test, I was starting to panic and the first thing I heard was 'relax, relax,'" said Williamsburg Charter High School student Lyanette Baez.
Even if they're cringing, students say they can't wait for the next video.