Cassie Crim is using her rapping skills to help her students learn math and motivate them, creating a video of herself remixing a popular rap song.
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"I really just try to connect what I do in my class room as a teacher with things they enjoy," said Crim, who teaches advanced algebra and geometry at Joliet West High School.
Crim took popular hip hop song Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" and rewrote the lyrics. With the help of a college friend, she produced a video about math and her goals to help students succeed.
"I was able to speak their language to break down some of those barriers because I know a lot of my students in math, they struggle and they hate it," Crim said.
She posted the video on social media just two days ago and had more than 44,000 views by Saturday afternoon.
"I literally had a student tell me the next day, 'You know what Ms.? I don't like math but you doing this video that just inspired me to work even harder,'" she said.
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The words were music to her ears.
Her viral video is different than another video captured last year when she and her husband were targets of a racial attack at Chicago's Margarita Fest.
"I felt treated in such a way that I don't know that someone should not necessarily have to go through," Crim said of the incident.
Her new video aims to create positive change among her students.
"At the end of the day, I am in charge, I'm here to help you, just respect me, do your work, do your practices, do what you need to do so you can be successful," she said.