Annie Head’s grade eight students at Port Clinton Middle School recently completed a unique language arts lesson. Students selected a historical figure that changed the world in some way. Then, they had to write a modern “rap” rendition based on their chosen person’s life, including figurative language, repetition and allusions.

The students got a bonus if they tied in Kurt Heilmann’s American History Class. At the end of the lesson, students watched Hamilton in class.

“As we analyze the impact of word choices, figurative language, repetition and such in Hamilton, performing their own rap gives them their ‘shot’ at it!” said Head. Students selected a wide range of historical figures for their raps such as Ruby Bridges, William Shakespeare, Muhammad Ali, Paul Revere, Phyllis Wheatley, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Steve Jobs.