STONY BROOK, NY — The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHoF) recently announced a partnership with rock and roll legend Steven Van Zandt’s TeachRockorganization. In recognition for his work to promote music education on Long Island, Van Zandt was presented with LIMEHoF’s Harry Chapin Award in 2016.
“TeachRock aligns perfectly with LIMEHoF’s educational commitment to education and encouraging more music, arts, and culture being taught in local school districts,” said Tom Needham, LIMEHoF’s Educational Programs Director. “Our shared goal is to encourage more Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens school districts to adopt the TeachRock curriculum and lesson plans for the cultural enrichment of its students.”
“We know that if you want a kid to succeed, you don’t tell her to take her earbuds out,” said TeachRock founder Steven Van Zandt. “You ask her what she’s listening to, and then you trace it back together. Kids come to us with the natural gift of curiosity, and the TeachRock curriculum helps teachers meet them there on the way to meaningful learning.”
Launched in 2002 by Van Zandt and the Founders Board of Bono, Jackson Browne, Martin Scorsese, and Bruce Springsteen, TeachRock.org provides free, standards-aligned resources that use music to help K-12 students succeed in science, math, social studies, and language arts, among other subjects. TeachRock improves students’ lives by filling every classroom with the sound, stories, and science of music. Nearly 60,000 educators—representing all 50 states—are registered at Teachrock.org.
One example of how TeachRock has been successfully incorporated on Long Island is in the Freeport School District. Stephanie Arnell, a Freeport-based teacher, has been using TeachRock with her students for years, and she's now leading professional development sessions with teachers throughout her district.
“Personally, I think every teacher should be using the TeachRock curriculum, and we have found that our Freeport students in all grades LOVE the content,” Arnell said.
LIMEHoF also plans to promote the TeachRock curriculum throughout the Long Island, Brooklyn, and Queens school districts in a variety of ways. Promotion strategies include the deployment of a LIMEHoF monthly email blast/web, as well as posting a monthly webpage news blast to highlight different TeachRock lessons for each month. Starting in the fall of 2023, LIMEHoF plans to host TeachRock teacher training sessions at its recently openedhome base location in Stony Brook village. There is hope that participating schools will be encouraged to visit LIMEHoF via class field trips.
Teachers interested in learning more about the training and in signing up for the newsletters can visit https://www.limusichalloffame.
org/teachrock/ or email info@limusichalloffame.org
“We hear so much about declining participation and engagement, and how that results in lower math and reading scores,” said Bill Carbone, Executive Director at TeachRock. “But nearly everywhere a TeachRock class is implemented we see the opposite: Engagement and grades are rising, and often the school ends up adding additional TeachRock courses to meet student demand. It’s a paradigm shift: Students aren’t cutting class; they’re clamoring to get in!”