As part of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHoF) partnership with rock and roll legend Steven Van Zandt’s TeachRock organization announced earlier this year, LIMEHOF will host the second in a series of free TeachRock workshops for teachers sponsored by Harmony Insurance at LIMEHOF’s Stony Brook location, 97 Main Street, Stony Brook, on Sunday, October 15 from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

These workshops are free (registration required) for teachers in the Long Island and New York City area. This workshop has a 50^th Anniversary of Hip Hop theme and Hip-Hop artists Half-Pint from Son of Bazerk and DJ Johnny Juice from Public Enemy have recently announced they will participate. Both artists also have backgrounds in education.

“TeachRock champions the integration of arts in public education through a groundbreaking, transformative methodology, promising a paradigm shift for generations to come,” said Tom Needham, LIMEHoF’s Educational Programs Director. “This approach can propel high school graduation rates and foster lasting change.”

These are free workshop events, sponsored by Harmony Insurance, open to local area teachers with registration. Teachers can register on TeachRock’s workshop registration page https://teachrock.org/LIMEHOF/.

The workshops will be taught by TeachRock Star Teacher Stephanie Arnell who is a veteran Freeport Public Schools educator who has helped her district embrace arts integration and had fun doing it! She’s excited to share her tips and the free TeachRock lesson plans she uses with local educators. All attendees are granted free access to the museum following the event and are eligible for NY CTLE credits through TeachRock.

“We are so excited to have two of Long Islands Hip-Hop icons join us in discussing the dynamic growth of rap music, culture and sampling since the early days of the art. These legends share their stories and experiences from the 80s to present,” said Arnell. “Looking at curriculum through a musical lens keeps students engaged while they don’t even realize they are learning. For example, learning the history of MLK Day through Stevie Wonder’s song “Happy Birthday” or using data from Beyonce’s Instagram account to practice calculating ratios.  I’ve seen in my classroom the way students’ gravitate towards TeachRock lessons and I’m excited to spread that enthusiasm to teachers and students on Long Island.”

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.

“TeachRock teachers don’t tell kids to take out their earbuds, they ask them what they’re listening to and then make connections between their favorite music and the core curricula they need to master to succeed in life,” said TeachRock founder Steven Van Zandt. “This partnership will help my TeachRock team create more of those educators whose cool class keeps kids coming to school.”

The workshops are made possible by Harmony Insurance. “Harmony Insurance is proud to sponsor TeachRock’s Long Island Music Workshops for teachers, aiming to inspire and educate through music,” Harmony Insurance said in a statement.

“We’ve seen for years how the shared interest in music helps forge connections between teachers and students, and every year we witness how arts-integrated math, science, and social studies classes pull students from the margins and inspire them to participate,” said Bill Carbone, TeachRock Executive Director. “We’re thrilled to partner with LIMEHOF to help as many LI teachers as possible get excited about inspiring their students through the arts.”

For more information about LIMEHoF’s education programs please visit https://www.limusichalloffame.org/teachrock/