ONTARIO — Many students at Ontario High School would claim there are parts of science classes that are underwhelming, even some biology teachers.
First-year Ontario High School teacher Patrick Daugherty has found a way to help students regain excitement about the subject. He raps some of his lessons.
Daugherty said he has always been musical and he enjoyed performing in high school in athletics and theater.
“I’ve always been into music,” he said. “I love music.”
Then, in an attempt to get his students excited for class, he created a parody of Fetty Wap’s rap song, 679 titled Celly Wap when he was teaching in the Crestline School district.
“Some of our chapters in Biology are pretty dry,” the rapping teacher admitted. “So you have to find a way to spice them up — make them more exciting.”
As a result of his efforts to “get litty” with the lesson, some students say they have retained the information better.
“I like music personally, so that with biology goes really good,” said Quaylynn Madden, a sophomore. “Sometimes I catch myself singing the lyrics and I retain that information for tests and stuff.”
Daugherty added every student has a computer and or phone to bring to class, and he allows students to listen to their tunes when they are finished with their school work.
“Every kid sits there and just listens to their music. They really connect with music,” he said. “I wanted to put the things they are learning into a song.
“You ask any of these kids to recite something from (rap songs) and they’ll know the lyrics. If I was able to put the stuff into lyrics that they found cool, then maybe they could take that with them and memorize it.”
His first try, “Celly Wap” exploded, Daugherty said.
“The kids loved it. The school loved it. It was one of those things were I started thinking I should do a bit more of them. Any time you can connect to student or this generation of students, (the school board) loves it.”
