More than 25 years ago, Ron Clark took up a job as a school teacher and on the first day of school, his students made sure he understood that they were not interested in learning. Ron took their comments to heart because he agreed that if they were bored and disengaged, then whatever he tries to teach them would not stick. That’s when Ron got the idea to find ways to get the students excited to learn, so he can transform them into life-long learners.
Ron decided to take popular songs and create educational parodies by changing the lyrics to teach geography and history. One day, he came to class and decided to do something different. He put away the old textbooks and started singing and dancing.
Ron admits that he looked foolish doing it, but “when you’re a teacher (or even a parent), you go to be willing to sacrifice all your humility and every bit of who you are to do what’s best for kids. And if you’re doing what’s best for them, they will thrive and they’re going to learn.”
His class went from boring to a Broadway show. They were playing games and having fun while learning, and every day was a different performance. The students went from hating school to loving school, and Ron knows that if he couldn’t bring the material to life, then it’s not going to excite the students who are living in a world full of technology and video games. When he realized how much of an impact he had on his one class, Ron had an idea to inspire more by building his own school. That was when the Ron Clark Academy was born.
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