Teachers get schooled in rock hall of fame

The program is supported by the Ohio Humanities Council.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Danielle Dachtler doesn’t have any Top 40 hits, but rock ’n’ roll has made her a star nonetheless.

The first-grade teacher at suburban University School has become a favorite for playing the Beatles’ “Good Day Sunshine” every morning and using rock ’n’ roll to teach math, reading and other subjects.

Dachtler spent the past week at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Summer Teacher Institute, sharing her experiences with 70 teachers from around the country.

From her Alan Freed puppet to teaching pupils hand motions for the bluesy “Night Time Is the Right Time,” Dachtler keeps her 7- and 8-year-olds engaged and moving. She said pupils are jealous of her class at University School, an all-boys private school in Shaker Heights.

“I’ve become known as the rock ’n’ roll teacher,” she said. “Who really fights over a teacher?”

The rock hall’s program, in its 12th year, aims to make other teachers as in-demand among pupils and as in-touch with teaching. The program, supported by the Ohio Humanities Council, helps teachers explain the artistic and cultural significance of popular music, while meeting state educational standards.

Among the teachers in the audience for Dachtler’s presentation was Pedro Mena, an art teacher at the Town School for Boys in San Francisco, who said he was eager to learn more about the history of rock.

He said he wants to expand on past projects, such as having pupils create art for protest songs in the style of the revolutionary Fillmore auditorium posters from the ’60s.

“I want to develop more on social justice in song,” Mena said. “It’s great to show them what rock ’n’ roll can do.”