Below is the start to my post for Discovery Education about using Hamilton the Musical in the classroom! Check it out!
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“And the world’s gonna know your name –
What’s your name, man?

Alexander Hamilton.
My name is Alexander Hamilton.
There’s a million things I haven’t done
But just you wait. Just you wait…”

For the past four years, I have used Lin-Manual Miranda’s performance at the 2009 White House Poetry Jam to introduce my students to Alexander Hamilton. And every year, they demand a second viewing. Lin-Manual’s ability to tell Hamilton’s story through hip-hop is absolutely amazing and my students often sang the song weeks later.

Lin-Manual Miranda is the genius behind Hamilton the Musical, the hit musical that tells the story of the first treasury secretary and of our young nation. When tickets for the production went on sale I immediately bought them. I cannot explain how amazing the show is. Mr. Miranda not only does a remarkable job bringing Alexander Hamilton to life, he breathes life into the founding of our nation. After seeing it, I could not wait to bring it to my class.

While Act 1 does an amazing job focusing on Hamilton’s experience during the War of Independence, as a classroom teacher it is the second act that I feel could help illuminate the differences between the Jeffersonians (Democratic-Republicans) and the Hamiltonians (Federalists). Two of the songs in particular, “Cabinet Battle #1” and “Cabinet Battle #2” directly highlight the foundational differences between the beliefs of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.

For this lesson, I am going to focus on “Cabinet Battle #1” which focuses on core economic differences between the two secretaries. In this rap battle, President Washington mediates a discussion regarding Hamilton’s economic plan. The lyrics are fast and full of history! As my students would be overwhelmed with this at first, I need to back up and discuss the differences between the two men.

Source: Hamilton vs. Jefferson: Using Hamilton the Musical in the Classroom | Discovery Education

My friend Joe Sangillo wrote a great post for Discovery Education about how he uses PowerPoint presentations in the class. It got me thinking a lot about the struggle that I am currently having with “PowerPoints.”

My thoughts.

I love writing a skeletal outline on the board with drawings! But my students have requested that I do “PowerPoints” – we tested it one day when we had similar information on my board (with my drawings) and overwhelmingly they said that the slides were easier to follow as they could focus on one thing at a time.

While normally this would be spread out over a larger board, to attempt our experiment this was written on my 8 foot vertical board.

My “PowerPoints” typically have images paired with words, occasionally with fake tweets from people, have questions and activities associated with them. Students have access to them prior to the class and a few parents have thanked me for them.

This is an example of a “PowerPoint” Slide.

But I hate them. I feel a bit stifled. Like a square peg being forced into a round hole – or vice versa. I’ve never been a peg so I’m not sure which feels a bit forced. But whichever one it is, that’s how I feel.

I’m attempting to find a balance between me and the “PowerPoint.” Some way that I can still feel creative.

I guess in the end it is only one of my teacher tools. Batman probably, at one point, hated his cape but everyone was like “Hey Batman, you totally have to wear your cape. You’re a superhero and all! Superheroes wear capes.” And he probably went to his Batcave and thought a bit – looked at the cape and attempted to figure if or how it could work for him. Then he was like, “Right, since I can’t fly like the others, I can rig this cape to make me glide in the air – it’ll be my Batglide.”

I’ll eventually find a way that feels comfortable for me and my students. I’m just not quite there yet.

*Note: I use quotations with PowerPoints as as my school is a “Google” school, we use “GoogleSlides” which is like PowerPoint Lite.

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