History you can dance to

What happens when a history teacher and a flash animation teacher team up to produce music parodies that inform and amuse with a beat you can dance to?

Find the answer on YouTube's historyteachers Channel, where out can see the products of Amy Burvall and Herb Mahelona's collaboration.

In dozens of videos, the pair tell Cleopatra's story by way of "Fergilicious" by Fergie, recount the French Revolution through the lens of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and, for lovers of rock classics, explain the greatness of Alexander via The Knack's "My Sharona."

And if you've ever been stirred by Shakespeare's "Band of Brothers" speech in Henry V, you'll love their retelling of the Battle of Agincourt as imagined through Marianne Faithful's "As Tears Go By."

Washington Post blogger Valerie Strauss tells the story of the duo, and the effect their collaboration has on students, here.