World Geography (Music In the Classroom)

Songs make for high-interest texts that you can use to teach geography. Using music in the classroom is a simple way to engage your students and make learning fun while raising classroom energy. My journey using music in the classroom started when I found the Jute Mill Song while I was teaching about the Industrial Revolution. The song brings to light the life of the working-class mill workers, mostly women. When men had been called off to war during World War II, women were needed to fill the spots in the factories. I saw how it brought to life my lesson and observed my students’ increased interest in the concepts being taught. From then on, I was always on the lookout for songs related world geography and events that I could incorporate. I had found that music was something I could use to help gain interest and, therefore, enhance comprehension and understanding.

“Mary Brooksbank was a Scottish jute mill worker, social activist and trade unionist. She began work at 12 and had her first experience of trade unionism at the age of 14 when the girls at her jute mill successfully marched for a 15% pay rise. She was a fierce fighter for women’s rights throughout her life and wrote a number of songs about conditions in the Dundee Jute Mills.”
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