When two fifth-grade teachers from different districts merged their classes for a couple of jam sessions during Black History Month, words flew — as did fingers on computer keyboards seeking sounds for compositions.

The topics were not typical fodder for rap songs: the focus was on black entrepreneurs.

Students of Todd Giagni at Westmere Elementary in suburban Guilderland, and of Jeremy Dudley of Giffen Elementary, an inner-city Albany school, shared wit and talent as they researched, wrote and rhymed.

The two teachers were connected by longtime Westmere school librarian Micki Nevett, who died suddenly late last year.

Nevett matched Giagni, who also plays drums and guitar and teaches poetry as part of his curriculum, with Dudley, whom she had seen perform in his rap persona "Origin."

Although the two schools are only about 10 miles apart, they are vastly different in terms of population, income and neighborhood environment.

Just as entepreneurs explore new territory to become successful, students were asked to step outside their usual environments.

They traveled back and forth between schools for team building and song writing, and then performed at each other's schools for students and parents.

Notable names

Job one was researching black entrepreneurs, such as Berry Gordy, who created the Motown record label; John H. Johnson, who founded Ebony and Jet magazines; talk-show host Oprah Winfrey; basketball's Michael Jordan; John H. Murphy, a newspaper publishing success; and Duke Ellington, renowned big band leader and songwriter.

"Jeremy and I believe one of the reasons that this has been such a successful experience for our students is that we've been able to build a passion for music into the curriculum," said Giagni. "The students sensed our passion and couldn't help but get excited about the project."

He is building president for the Guilderland Central Teachers Association, led by Chris Claus.

Giffen students also got pumped up being able to use the iMacs available from a rolling computer lab at Westmere. The computers are loaded with the software "Garageband" that enabled them to download a range of sounds to complement their rap songs.

Software like Garageband "makes the possibility that students could someday write their own music or become a producer more real," said Dudley, a member of the Albany Teachers Association, led by Cathy Corbo.

After choosing entrepreneurs for this year, the next lesson for students was in taxonomy, the classification of objects according to their presumed natural relationship.

Students listed the letters of the alphabet and followed them with words — starting with each of the letters — that connect to the topic being studied.

"This is particularly effective for writing a song," said Dudley.

Students also learned basic song structure, how to count bars, and how to write a rhyming couplet.

— Liza Frenette