I designed Broadway Economics hoping it will help people learn economics through Broadway musical songs. There are several ways you can use the songs from Broadway Economics to enhance your teaching.

1. Pre-class music

Before your class starts, play a song related to your lesson! I try to time the songs I play so they end right as class is scheduled to begin. This suggestion takes no additional time out of your lesson and has a couple added benefits. Many students will show up early to hear the song-of-the-day, and when the song ends, you have their attention and they are ready to learn! (You won’t have to say “OK class, quiet down as we begin”.)

I often will start my class period by asking students what the economic message was from each song.

2. Make test questions from the content.

All songs on Broadway Economics have links to the lyrics. For an exam question, why not have students analyze the economic message from a song?

3. Create follow-up assignments based on the songs.

You could assign students to listen to a song on their own time, and then create an assignment to dig into the economic issues deeper. Some songs have follow-up questions posted and we are planning to create study questions for each song.

Do you have more ideas for how this could be used? Please send me an email.