When students in Chloe Spears’ music classes at Sweetwater Elementary learned “Ain’t Gonna Let 
Nobody Turn Me ‘Round,” they didn’t just learn a song, they learned about people who changed history.
Spears said exposing students to new vocabulary, experiences and diverse voices through literacy is vital to their development.
Students have been reading books such as “Martin’s Big Words” and “The Story of Ruby Bridges” while learning the popular song from the civil rights movement to further explore the social climate during the 1950s and 1960s.
“These books opened the doorway for insightful conversations about race, injustice, and the difference between right and wrong. Students asked questions and encouraged each other to share stories from their families,” Spears said. “Afterwards, they listened to and analyzed our song. Students were able to pick out the themes and were better able to correlate them to the events happening during that time period.”