Kids love Math On The Mic

Musical math teacher  

  gets standing ovation from Georgia schools chief

 ATLANTA Fifth-grade math teacher Travis Brown has found a very receptive ear to his sing-along math songs: Georgia Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox, who visited the school on Monday.

 Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox (left) with Travis Brown’s (center) fifth-grade math class.

The third-year teacher showed the superintendent how he applies songs from his self-published book, Math on the Mic, and how they help students understand math formulas in accordance with the Georgia Performance Standards. “Let’s Pi Around,” for example, is sung to a variation of “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” and helps students learn the circumference of a circle.

      It wasn’t the first time Brown has shown his work for Cox, who invited Brown and a group of students to present the songs to her leadership team last summer. They were so impressed that she invited Brown to give a presentation at the annual Georgia Association of Educational Leaders retreat at Jekyll Island.

    Then came Monday’s visit.

    “I was really overwhelmed,” said Brown, who credits Peyton Forest Principal Karen Barlow-Brown, with whom he once worked as middle-school teachers. “When I first spoke to Ms. Cox about coming," said Brown, "I didn’t think she’d necessarily be able to come because of her busy schedule.  

    “It was me she came to see, but really, it was also because of my principal, too. Ms. Cox said, ‘You must really have a dynamic leader to feel so empowered to do this kind of work!’ And she’s right.”