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Grammar gets a good rap Educator sports tights, cape, lyrics in battling enemies of correct speech Tuesday, February 19, 2002 By Carmen J. Lee, Post-Gazette Education Writer
The urgent announcement could be heard just above the crackle of radio static.
"This just in. The notorious super villain Double Negative has just escaped from prison," the radio newscaster said quickly.
A reporter on the scene tried to get an interview with the whiny-voiced criminal. But he was blasted with the thug's anti-grammar gun, wounding the reporter with a bad case of poor subject-verb agreement.
"I think that Grammar Man better be watching his back," the reporter said hoarsely and groaned.
What is Grammar Man to do?
What any self-respecting superhero wearing bright red tights and a yellow cape would do.
Pull out his secret weapon, which in this case is educational rap and a lot of enthusiasm.
"Ad-jec-tives! What do they mean?" said Grammar Man, aka Chuck Herring of Monroeville, as he launched into a rap song recently before 400 Penn Hills elementary school pupils.
"They're words that describe people, places and things.
"They go together like a husband and wife
"'Cause they add spice to any noun's life!...
"Ad-jec-tives ... Ad-jec-tives ..."
In the spirit of those who brought "Schoolhouse Rock" cartoons to television airwaves in the 1970s, Herring has created a series of CDs and teaching guides based on educational rap lyrics he has written.
He started four years ago after his stint as dean of students at Turner Elementary School in Wilkinsburg ended with the removal of the private company that had been brought in to run the school.
His wife, Christine, a third-grade teacher in the Franklin Regional School District, urged him to pursue his dream of using rap music to teach black history.
With his wife's encouragement, he formed Millennium Education Co. of America and produced the "Not Just a Month" CD and teacher's guide about black historical figures and their accomplishments. The materials were popular in several Pittsburgh schools and were featured in two national black magazines.
But what would Herring do for an encore?
"I prayed. All my ideas come from God," he said.
The idea for Grammar Man came in a dream, complete with sidekicks White Out and Delete and arch villain Double Negative.
Most of rap lessons focus on the parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. They're presented in a radio serial format with a story line about the adventures of Grammar Man. Herring said he's working on adding a new character, Comma Chameleon, to the series who will rap about punctuation.
While Herring created the Grammar Man CD and accompanying teaching guide in fall 2000, the materials didn't catch on as quickly as the ones on black history.
That's why Herring decided last year to bring Grammar Man to life in a show he bills as "Mr. CEE's Edutainment Extravaganza featuring Grammar Man!"
Last year, Millennium Education became a nonprofit corporation and received grants through the Multicultural Arts Initiative from The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Endowments.
With some additional administrative help from the Kingsley Association, Herring -- or Grammar Man -- is making appearances at schools in several Allegheny County school districts and has visited his wife's school in Franklin Regional as well.
He also is scheduled to appear at 1 p.m. March 2 in Monroeville Mall.
Rounding out Herring's educational series are rap songs he's composed on multiplication and safety. Those subjects are still in need of characters, but he performs them with the same animated enthusiasm even without the red tights and yellow cape.
"Stop! Drop! Cover your face, no doubt! Roll! Roll! Put that fire out!" he said loudly in the Forbes Elementary auditorium in Penn Hills Friday. He covered his face and did other hand motions as he bounced up and down to the accompanying music.
The 400 youngsters in kindergarten through fifth grade who sat on the floor before him giggled and clapped as they joined in on his Firefighter's Anthem rap.
"What you gonna do? What you gonna do? When that big, bad fire jumps on to you?"
Forbes Principal Sari McNamara heard about Herring and his Grammar Man show through a pupil's family and was pleased with the program.
"It was very interactive. The students were engaged the entire time," she said. "It was fun and also a good learning experience."
The fun part seemed to be the clincher for the youngsters who watched the show.
"I thought it was excellent because they had a lot of great songs," said fifth-grader Melissa Rust, 10.
Third-grader Taylor Johnson, 8, enjoyed seeing Herring in his red and yellow superhero outfit.
"It was nice," she said. "I liked his rap."
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