I only last a couple of years before I start going stir crazy. I need change, I demand change, and I thrive off of it. Like many people I'm sure, when I repeat the same thing over and over, no matter what it is, I start to feel depressive thoughts set in. At the onset of Christmas break this school year, I was literally beating my forehead on my office wall. I didn't want to go into work. No matter what I did, the situation stayed the same. The kids kept getting beaten up by their parents, by their peers, and by society... no matter what I did. My program was awesome, but it was stagnent. They were sucking my positive energy dry. My thought was, "How long can I possibly keep this up before I malfunction? Heart attack? Emotional breakdown? Stress related organ failure?" I was actually having thoughts of leaving teaching all together. I needed change. Luckily, my principal is innovative and constantly revolving as well. In the last six months he recognized my need to redefine myself and my program, and he made me an offer.
My principal introduced me to the world of Hip Hop Genius. Not that I'm a stranger to rap music. I remember quite clearly blasting 'Too Short', 'Spice 1', 'Scarface' and 'Snoop Dogg' loudly from my brand new little black Hyundai all souped up with 20 inch subs, tweeters and a massive amp. I remember drinking, speeding and singing my super naive heart out to the overly degrading lyrics. I didnt give a $#%& back then, and the lyrics I sang let people know that. Today, these are the exact same artists and lyrics that I tell my students to turn off or turn down when I walk into the classroom. Now these rap songs annoy me. I physically feel the insults that are being thrown at women and the negativity that is intertiwned into every verse. As a person, I swear all the time, but I cringe at language that is thrown around in the rap songs. I feel negative and I just want it off.
So now, all of a sudden, I am being challenged to take a look at the world of hip hop through an entirely different lense. Hip Hop Genius is a culture, it's a way of life that encourages creating something out of nothing. It has been mainstreamed and commercialized straight out of the inner city ghettos where kids have had to fight their way to freedom. The message embedded into the hip hop genius culture is that you can make it out no matter what dire circumstances you were born into. I understand why the students that I teach would embrace this hip hop lifestyle. Alot of the rap lyrics do tell my students' own personal stories, they can identify with the negativity, and they love the endless alludence to quick money. How else are they going to make big money? Certainly not working a minimum wage job.
My plan is to take the highschool curriculum and intertwine it with the hip hop world. I want to expose the artists for who they are (and there are ALOT of great positive rap artists) and get the students to understand that the music they listen to is truly defining them. My students are consistently ranting about the 'crooked' government, anarchy, conspiracies and zombie apocalypses...they don't understand that the lyrics they are blasting into their brains all day (while I try to teach) is societal brainwashing at its finest. I want to teach them to use this musical avenue to express and to come to a deeper personal understanding of themselves. The difference is, instead of an essay, a powerpoint, or a fill in the blank questionaire...they will be rapping. Not only just creating the lyrics, but also mixing the beats to accompany them.
Hip Hop infused teaching is not only tapping into their interests, but it is also encouraging them to get out of their own heads. Rap creation is the current school curriculum concepts expressed through journaling, poetry, creative writing, art and music. Hip Hop is expression. It's brilliant really....if it's done tastefully. I have to make this work within the framework of the positive bubble that I teach in. I will never sacrifice my positivity or my famous classroom vibe. I want to take the fun side of hip hop, the poetic side, the personal side, and use it as a teaching tool... without letting in the degrading harshness that engulfs a lot of the rap music world. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against swear words...but only if they are used in the right way, to reinforce. Of course I will let my students use fuck in their rap music....if their lyrics are meaningful and thought provoked. I am highly sensitive to negativity, when I'm around it my body actually tenses up without me realizing it. The kids will learn quite quickly what is, and what is not acceptable.
I love the whole idea of this. I love that I will be using an avenue that my students identify with and are inolved in each and every day, with or without school influence. I love that I can show them a way to take their thoughts and feelings and open them up to the world. I love that I can teach them to identify which lyrics are poisoning their minds and which lyrics are making them stronger. I can teach them to take control and rap their way to a brighter and more positive future. They can change for the better ...and they will.
I have renovated my classroom to feel like a coffee shop sitting in a back alley way. Graffiti will be encouraged. My office has become a recording studio. I have innovative, creative young artists from Chilliwack and Vancouver who have offered to help me begin this journey. I have amazing new mixing and recording equiptment that I have to begin to understand, and I have an entire curriculum overhaul to be made. I am in my element again.... I feel free.
