Appleton teacher makes music video to welcome students back to school

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) -A teacher in Appleton kicked off the new school year in style! Paul Miller made a music video to welcome back his students to virtual school.

“I have a tradition in my class where I start off every year singing a song,” said Miller. “But we had to rewrite the script and try something new and different this year.”

Appleton schools are completely virtual. So, to continue on with his musical tradition, Miller re-wrote the lyrics to the Friends theme song called “I’ll Be There For You” performed by The Rembrandts.

“Honestly, it was about a week ago that I had the idea. I spent a day writing the song, a day recording the music, and then my wife and I came to school on Sunday afternoon when no one was here and we got all the video footage,” said Miller.

The video has gotten a lot of responses online.

“Really the attention we are getting this year is completely off the charts,” he said. “I have gotten messages from Arizona to India. Apparently, Friends is very popular in the Spanish speaking school of Mumbai,”

Miller says his music video is just one of the ways he approaches teaching on a day-to-day basis.

“Learning is about being uncomfortable and challenging your skills and pushing your ideas, so I try to get a little uncomfortable in front of the students on the first day,” he said.

Miller teaches English at Appleton East but is willing and able to fill in as music teacher if he’s needed.

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