3rd-grade teacher puts learning to a beat

Jason Starke poses for a photograph in his third grade classroom at North Elementary School in Holts Summit.
Jason Starke poses for a photograph in his third grade classroom at North Elementary School in Holts Summit.

"Struggle builds strength" is a slogan papering the walls of Jason Starke's third-grade classroom at North Elementary School in Holts Summit.

And it applies equally to teaching, learning and doing both of those things through music.

"This is actually the last thing I thought I'd ever be doing," Starke, 31, said of teaching, coming from a finalist this year of Jefferson City Public Schools' teacher of the year award, after five years of service with the district. He's taught third grade for three years now, after a year each of first and second.

He was born and currently lives in Columbia, and originally went to the University of Missouri to study journalism; no one in his family has a background in teaching. However, the profession of journalism didn't feel right to him, and then one day, a lunch table-top ad for the Teach for America program inspired him.

He didn't do that program, but he did eventually become a fifth-grade teacher for a year and then third grade for another two years in inner city Baltimore, where his wife also got a job as a designer for the Under Armour apparel company.

"Teaching's teaching," he said of the different challenges in school there, although he added students are eager to learn everywhere.

The things that are most challenging to students are the things that are going to help them grow the most, he said. "When you do something you thought you couldn't do," it makes someone push themselves to succeed that much more, he added.

He employs some homemade music for about five to ten minutes a day to help his students achieve understanding.

Visitors to his "StarkeMr" YouTube channel find recorded songs about science and social studies topics, set to the instrumental beats of popular tunes:

"Turn Back the Cycle," a water cycle song set to Twenty One Pilots' "Stressed Out," with chorus vocals from his class;

"The Map Rap," about map skills, the eight states that border Missouri and the two major rivers in the state, set to Adele's "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)";

"Our Government Song," about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the three branches of government and the national anthem, set to Twenty One Pilots' "Heathens"; and "It's the Food Chain Ma'an," set to Kiiara's "Gold."

Starke explained his recording process is that he listens to the instrumental versions of songs during his commute and writes down the lyrics he comes up with once he gets to school. He finishes up at home, then gets to the most difficult part, recording; he usually has at least 10 takes.

Despite his talent, he said he's not a singer, and "I'm not a rapper either."

"It's easier to push play and hide behind the computer," he added; his performances started as live classroom sessions and then evolved into the recorded versions.

He said he's written songs for other occassions too, like for appreciation day of the cafeteria kitchen staff.

He enjoys singing along with his family too, though; he and his wife have an almost 3 year-old boy and a 1 year-old girl, and the family car staple is a compliation CD of Disney hits, among them "Hakuna Matata" from "The Lion King."