About The Rockademix Program
- What is Rockademix?
- How do you pronounce the name Rockademix?
- Who can use the Rockademix program?
- What songs are you using and how do they help kids learn?
- Does the Rockademix program cover the common core standards?
- What’s the difference between Kids Like Blues, Kids Like Music, and Rockademix?
- What types of professionals are lending their expertise to the creation of the Rockademix program?
- How are the Rockademix songs you’re now using different than the Kids Like Blues songs you were working with before?
- When will the program be ready and what are the stages of development?
- How is the program implemented?
- I’m a teacher and would like to use the program. What materials are available and how can I access them?
- What ages is the Rockademix program for?
- What is the Rockademix class?
- Who is in the current Rockademix class?
- What does the Rockademix class cost and what are the requirements to join?
- Why is the Rockademix class free?
- How often does the class meet? For how long?
- How do people hear about the Rockademix class?
- How can my child join?
- Who is the Rockademix teacher and founder?
- What is Jon Schwartz up to these days? Is he still teaching?
Rockademix is a non-profit program offering an exciting new teaching method that uses music, the visual and performing arts, and technology to help kids learn academics. It’s based on original songs rich in history, science, math, and language arts content. Students and teachers mine the songs for academic lessons and implement related visual and performing arts and technology activities. Designed by award-winning public school teacher Jon Schwartz, whose innovative teaching work has been featured by the US Dept. of Education, Rockademix is receiving praise and support from professors of education and Grammy Award winners.
It’s pronounced Rock·uh·dem·iks. Think academics that ROCK!
Rockademix can be used by any teacher, regardless of their competency in music or art, to help kids learn better by presenting material in an engaging, meaningful way that encourages active participation.
The Rockademix program is based on original songs rich in history, science, math, and language arts content. The songs unify different strands of academic material, including language arts, history, science, and technology, into a cohesive theme that the students can easily embrace and retain.
The Rockademix program is aligned with a variety of academic standards, including the Common Core.
Kids Like Music is the name of the non-profit created by teacher Jon Schwartz with a mission to help kids learn core academics through the use of music. As part of the Kids Like Music mission, Jon is creating Rockademix to enable all teachers to use the visual and performing arts to teach academics, regardless of their training. Jon’s former work teaching kids through music was called Kids Like Blues. His current Rockademix curriculum was inspired by that experience.
Jon Schwartz has enlisted the support and input of a variety of professionals in education, art, music, and technology, including professors of education, a PhD in history, Grammy and Platinum award-winning musicians and producers, choreographers, vocal coaches, and child development experts who specialize in speech and language acquisition and motor development.
The earlier songs required a teacher to have some understanding of the genre, whereas the new Rockademix songs can be implemented by any teacher because they’re based on core academic standards.
Rockademix is currently being piloted in a K-8 public school in Kansas with over 1,200 students. If you’d like to pilot the program or be updated on our progress, please contact us here.
The Rockademix program is designed to be taught 2-4 times per week for 30-45 minutes per class.
During the development phase, Rockademix program materials are being made available to select teachers who would like to implement the program. Please get in touch with us here for more information.
Rockademix is currently designed for children ages 5-12 but many teens and adults have remarked that they learn a lot from the material. Jim Pugh, a Rockademix contributor and piano player who has performed on Grammy-winning, Platinum, and Gold CDs, remarked, “The lyrics are incredibly informative. In ‘The Constitution Song,’ for example, there were things I’d either forgotten or never new!”
About The Rockademix Class
The class is a group of students that have volunteered to participate in the development of the Rockademix program. In the class, which is free to attend, we use all parts of the curriculum and by doing so are able to tailor the curriculum to meet the needs of teachers and kids.
There are currently approximately 20-25 students, ages 5-11.
The current Rockademix class is free to join and there are no requirements.
Mr. Schwartz set up the Rockademix class to be free and open to a diverse selection of students and age groups so that he could make sure the Rockademix program works with all students.
The Rockademix class meets twice a week for two hours after school.
Most people hear about it by word of mouth and some by flyers or online. Less than 25% of the current students are from Jon’s former class.
For more information about joining the Rockademix class, please contact us here.
About Rockademix Teacher Jon Schwartz
Jon Schwartz is an award-winning public school teacher whose work using music, the arts, and technology to boost student achievement has been recognized by the US Department of Education. The California State Senate named him “Tech Hero of 2011”. He is a published education author and his articles and videos have appeared in EdSource, Education Week, and Edutopia and SmartBlog on Education. He’s taught grades 1-6 in California public schools since 1997, and holds credentials in general and special education.
Jon is in the second year of a two-year hiatus from teaching public school and he plans to return in the fall of 2015. He is hard at work with his team at the Rockademix facility developing the state of the art Rockademix curriculum that uses music, technology, and the visual and performing arts to teach standard-based academics and increase student engagement.
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