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Florida teacher goes viral with TikTok video of Kid Cudi song parody to teach class

Marlee Christianson said she likes to put a certain twist on popular songs to help make learning fun for her students.
Credit: @missmarlee23

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Every teacher across Florida has their own style to help students learn.

For one educator, the use of music has supported her fourth-grade class in learning different lessons during class.

"There are so many different types of learners," St. Johns County teacher Marlee Christianson said. "Music is just one of those ways to reach those different modalities and there is research and strategies that prove that."

"They learn better with music, chants or songs."

Christianson said she likes to put a certain twist on popular songs to not only get the main idea of the lesson across to her students but to also make learning fun.

"I just love the songs that I make," she said. "The kids love it and it's really fun." 

One of the songs that she wrote went with the tune of "Day 'N' Nite" by Kid Cudi to teach her students about days and nights. 

A video that she posted of her teaching the lesson in that song rythym on Feb. 22 went viral on TikTok. As of the time of this writing, the video has earned 2.9 million views. 

The social media post gained plenty of traction that Cudi himself commented on the video saying, "LOVE!!!!" 

Christianson responded to his comment by saying, "Glad you like it! They love singing it!" 

She also mentioned to Cudi about her students thinking that the rapper was an actual kid, to which he replied saying, "I get this a lot." 

@missmarlee23

My millenial is showing… Learning about Day and Night I HAD to use Day ‘N’ Nite by Kid Cudi. Couldn’t miss that opportunity. #kidcudi #daynnite #teachertok #iteach4th #teacher #science

♬ original sound - Marlee Christianson

For Christianson, it wasn't her intention for the video to go viral but said that she just loved the songs that she makes and hopes to inspire other teachers to be creative in the classroom. 

"I knew that if I put it out on social media, it might reach out to people who have the same teaching style and I just hope that people use it," she said. "There are a few people who have asked if they can use it [the song] and for me, that's really exciting because I spent time making them."

Although Cudi commented on her video, Christianson said that she has not yet had any further communication with him regarding visiting the school, but just the fact that he liked the TikTok video meant a great amount to her and the students. 

Christianson has also made parodies of other songs to teach her students lessons like "Anti-Hero" by Taylor Swift to talk about the rock cycle, "Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles to lecture about atmosphere layers, "Industry Baby" by Lil Nas X to teach about converting percents, decimals and fractions and "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo to review hallway expectations.

The St. Johns County teacher said that she plans on making more songs and is looking forward to recommendations from her students on which songs to turn into lessons. Although it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes effort to create a song parody, Christianson said the work is worth it when it shows how impactful it is to her classroom and others who use her musical lessons. 

"I had an assistant principal once who told me to keep doing this because the students are super engaged," she said. "It has been really fun and it's really nice to see other teachers appreciate the songs and want to use them. The more people that see it, the more people it reaches."

To see Christianson's song parodies that help teach her students different lessons, you can visit her TikTok page.

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