creativiteach

Yes, I’m a long-term Beatles fan. I was a young girl when they first appeared on the old Ed Sullivan Show. Who could resist, really?

But now I have a new reason to love the classic song, “Hey Jude”: Lucidchart’s “Lyrical Flowchart,” available on YouTube. Lucidchart is a company that prepares online diagramming software. To demonstrate the flexibility of their product they produced a video flowchart based on the lyrics to “Hey Jude.” In the process, they also designed a fabulously creative way to teach logic, flowcharts, and decision rules. Take a look.

Now, imagine having students choose another song to translate into a flow chart. While it may not be as cleverly animated (and yes, you may have to vet the lyrics), creating a lyrical flowchart for anything from Old MacDonald to the latest chart topper provides opportunities for both logic and creativity. The assignment will be easiest with songs that either tell a story of sequential events or have repetitive phrases. And if your tech savvy students decide to add a sound track or animation, so much the better. Send us a link—we’d love to see it!