Pennsylvania teacher remixes popular songs to help students learn
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (CBS) -- A local teacher is getting creative with his lesson plans and teaching students about all different subjects by remixing popular songs. He goes by "Teach with Mr. C" on TikTok.
Sean Connolly teaches at Hanover Elementary School in Northampton County, and he woke up with CBS News Philadelphia to explain where the idea came from.
Connolly said he was inspired to bring the creative approach to his classroom by going on TikTok himself.
"The first one I did was Backstreet Boys. Instead of 'Tell me why,' it was count by nine," Connolly said. "And then we did 'Anti-Hero' by Taylor Swift, and she liked it herself. And then ever since then, we've had over 100 million views now with all these different videos."
Connolly also has one for the Phillies' victory anthem, English singer Calum Scott's cover of "Dancing On My Own." He said it took him 40 minutes to remix the song.
"It depends on the song," Connolly said. "I have a little drive to work, so I listen to the song over and over and then I think about what I want to do. So, it depends. The Phillies one took like 40 minutes. After they made the playoffs, I was like I have to do this."
Connolly thought it would be just for fun but has since turned into other teachers using the videos in their own classes.
"I think that's the coolest thing that's helping me with everything I'm doing," Connolly said. "Because I get comments every day like 'I wish you were my teacher,' 'I wish my teacher did this,' 'I'm showing this to my teacher' and so on and so on. And I think that is something that is so cool to know what I'm doing is helping so many kids and I want to keep doing that."