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Jesse Briggs, a special education teacher at Western Guilford High, is known for teaching outside the books.

In his classroom, learning is achieved through music.

"Research has shown that music is helpful when trying to teach facts. You take a song, change the words to fit your lesson, and it seems to really get through," said Briggs, a graduate in psychology at UNCG. He got his teacher certification at Greensboro College.

Briggs teaches students with autism.

"It's about making a world where they (students) will be successful. You can't try to teach someone cause and effect, but you have to try something else if that won't work," Briggs said.

That's when Briggs began putting lessons to the tune of songs like "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles, singing, "We all live in a deciduous forest" in place of the chorus, "We all live in a yellow submarine."

Not only do the students enjoy listening to music, they enjoy making it, too, Briggs said.

Briggs, who plays guitar, rocked out with Caleb Taft on drums, Joey Bailey doing the back-up vocals and Brian Armstrong also on guitar.

Most of Briggs' students come to his class at age 15 and can stay up to 21.

While at Western Guilford, the class learns life skills Briggs hopes will help them in the workforce.

One characteristic of someone with autism is an obsession with following routines or schedules for their actions, or having specific ways of arranging their belongings, he said.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Briggs and his teaching assistant, Chris Reece, take the students to a job site at Emerald Event Center.

"They enjoy wiping down tables and cleaning, doing the tasks that we may look at as mundane," Briggs said. "For them, though, routine is what they like, and they really enjoy work."

Briggs said he also tries to teach them to be a little more flexible and break out of their routine -- a process which also takes a lot of practice.

"It's not easy, but many of my students learn to adjust well to change," he said.

But the students aren't the only ones learning in Briggs' class.

Both Briggs and Reece said they learn something from the students each day.

"It's just amazing getting to know these kids," Briggs said.

He taught at Eastern Randolph High before coming to Western Guilford to take a resource position and was later offered the teaching position.

Reece, who initially took the teaching assistant position on a temporary basis after deciding to leave a job with Merrill Lynch, teaching business and judo, said it only took a week for him to discover he was right where he needed to be.

"The school was going to move me after being here temporarily, but I was like, 'No, I think I will stay.' It was a good decision," Reece said with a smile.

Contact Adria Hairston at 883-4422, Ext. 244 or adria.hairston@news-record.com