Web Watch

Don’t look now, but it may not be long before ed schools have to start adding courses in music theory. In an attempt to give their lessons added flare and stickiness, according to The Washington Post, a growing number of teachers are incorporating music into their instruction. Web sites selling educational songs are flourishing (see, for example, www.songsforteaching.com), while educator-songwriters find themselves in increasing demand. To wit: The Chromatics, a group comprising mostly research scientists that performs standards-based songs about astronomy, has sold nearly 15,000 copies of its albums.

Eric Chandler, a guitar-toting 2nd grade teacher in Loudon County, Va., says his heavily song-based instructional approach was inspired in part by Quantum Learning, a teaching method that emphasizes the importance of classroom atmosphere. Chandler, who reportedly beguiles his students with a stream of pop-inspired ditties on everything from subtraction to geography, eventually plans to record albums covering the Virginia Standards of Learning for every elementary grade level. Don't smirk: He just got a grant to buy a portable recording studio.