First-Year Chicago Teacher Creates Catchy Rap Song to Welcome 4th-Grade Class
Dwayne Reed may have found the secret to getting kids excited for school.
— -- A first-time teacher may have discovered a surefire way get students excited for the dreaded first day of school by creating a catchy rap song.
Dwayne Reed, a fourth-grade teacher in Chicago, created a song to replace the typical "Welcome Back" newsletters the school gives out, the description on the video's YouTube page reads.
Reed, who appeared on "Good Morning America" today, said he came up with the idea and recorded the catchy rap song in one day. The song begins with piano chords and quickly cuts to Reed sitting at a teacher’s desk with his feet up, snapping his fingers to rhythm of the beat.
"I just kind of wanted to spice up the old-fashioned newsletter, so I thought, 'Man, I'm kind of good at music, I know how to put lyrics together well. Let's go ahead and put a song that will get the kids excited,’" he said.
“Welcome to the fourth grade,” Reed sings. “So happy to meet you.”
Dressed in a chemist jacket with chemical formulas written on the blackboard, Reed sings that they’ll “learn about science” and “find ways to apply it.”
Switching to rap, Reed introduces himself to his students, saying that he’s from Chicago, likes to eat pizza, and that even though he dresses to impress, he “still rocks sneakers.”
The new teacher goes on to explain that “making songs to remember what you hear” is a learning tactic he’d really like to try.
Later, Reed even dons what appears to be an Albert Einstein costume while singing about the mathematics topics they’ll cover, such as fractions.
“I’ll always try to greet you with a smile,” Reed said. “I’ll always try to make the lessons worthwhile.”
Parents and students watched the video for the first time on Tuesday, Reed said.
"I definitely heard from a lot of other parents and teachers and they said, 'Hey, you've done a good job' so I'm real happy about it," Reed said.
He added: "It's going to be tough to top, maybe I'll like dance on top of my desk.”
With "Welcome to the 4th Grade," Reed sends a message to his students that he wants his classroom to be a place of hard work, respect and positivity, but that learning can be fun too.