the bible rap

So I had this great lesson plan for school today. I wanted them to memorize the books of the Bible, so I had all of these mnemonic devices worked out. They were a little complicated, so I planned to spend the entire 85 minutes on it. First, I was going to teach them about memory, and how to create tools for remembering things. Then, we were going to break up into small groups and work out our own acronyms and stuff.

Then one student raised her hand.

Mr. Neff, there are extra books in this list.

She was right. The Catholic canon of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) has about seven extra books in it. How did she know that so quickly?

Oh, I already know them by heart.

By heart? Already? Wow. How did she do it?

Two students then came to the front of the class and performed "The Bible Rap" for the rest of us. Every book of the Bible (sans seven) from the Old Testament to the New. All set to a clapping rhythm and cool, campfire-inspired sound effects. The class loved it. (I loved it, too.)

It turns out that there was at least one student in each of my classes who knew the Bible Rap and was willing to sing it to the class. We dismantled my previous plans and improvised. We changed around some of the rap to be a little more "modern" and we all learned it as a class.

What a blast I had today. Some really great kids.

The true test, of course, will be Monday. How much will they remember?

Posted: Thu - January 8, 2004 at 09:18 PM

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the bible rap

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