I feel like when I imagine doing something like [distributing student information sheets], I would be apprehensive and fear that I would be thought of as "the nice white guy trying to connect with his poor, black students."
Totally. For me, the key difference pivots on "students" versus "student." When I critiqued the relevancy of The Wednesday Wars for underprivileged classrooms, Sarah urged against assuming underprivileged kids want to read books on gangs and then assigning them books on gangs. But that wasn't what I was suggesting at all. To do so would oversimplify our students; to do so would be "the nice white guy trying to connect with his poor, black students." It treats the students as some homogenous entity. Those of us in underprivileged classrooms see everyday how varied the interests of the students are. We see how many students dislike gangs and try to avoid them. We also see how many students embrace gang culture. And we see how very many do both. Further than that, we see how gang culture is given center stage in the media coverage of underprivileged teens (when gangs are only one element of their lives). In my humble opinion, the key to being truly present versus being the "nice white guy" is dropping that "s" off students, rejecting the homogenized paradigm, and learning about the student. If many students like the same thing, than it makes sense to incorporate that thing. But it seems to me that information is currently best gleaned from students on an individual level.
I'm curious as to how you approached this. Did you have any hesitation in this regard?
It began organically. As Ramina mentioned, mentor-teacher-extraordinaire Rich Farrell cuts deals with his students (work hard and silent for throughout class and some talking will be allowed toward the end). During one of these talking-times, a few kids began rapping what I later learned was "Love Sosa." Rich quickly quieted them, but I noticed one boy shaking his head and saying "no....no...". I followed up with the young man later, asking why he was so opposed to the song. "That guy killed my friend," he replied. I asked him what happened, and he said his friend had been a up and coming rapper who had been killed by Chief Keef (or someone Chief Keef had hired). I asked him to write the name of this rapper, so I could look him up. He wrote, "Lil Jo Jo." I had heard about this in the news but didn't have a very thorough understanding of the feud. I familiarized myself with Lil Jo Jo, Chief Keef, and their feud resulting in Lil Jo Jo's murder. If anyone's interested, I'll embed two key videos below. I think video embeds on Blogger only work when the blog is viewed on desktops/ or laptops. Tablets usually just show an empty space. Also, please be aware that the language is very graphic, and in the second video young teenagers are wielding a lot of weapons. (Also...now and again the Lil JoJo video gets removed by Youtube and then re-uploaded by someone or other...so I don't know how long the link will be valid.) Under house arrest at his grandmothers for a weapons charge, Keith Cozart ("Chief Keef," a Black Disciple associated rapper) cut this song:
In response, a rival Lil JoJo (a Gangsta Disciple associated rapper) cut this song. BDK, in case anyone doesn't know, stands for Black Disciple Killer.
After watching this, I returned to class with questions about Lil JoJo, and had a few very compelling and informative conversations. (It's important to remember that TEAM is a lottery school, so unlike neighborhood schools, in which violence is not only black on black but often BD on BD and GD on GD, rather than BD on GD and vice versa, TEAM has both BDs and GDs.) Obviously, we should be extra mindful when discussing such sensitive and volatile issues and material with students. But it's important that the students led the conversation to gangs, not the other way around (like in Sarah's hypothetical of a white teacher ignorantly assigning a gang book to underprivileged students). Again, you're not getting to know the "students" but the "student." For example, another student interest in underprivileged classrooms I've been in is "Love Somebody" by Maroon Five. Unexpected, yes, but I went and looked that up also:
The engagement of students in these conversations was riveting. The teens brought incredible energy to these conversations. So, when I had the forms ready for Marshall, we just handed them out. Simple as that. No bells or whistles. My experience so far is that students like them. And the knowledge you come out with can effect other assignments. Once (after TEAM but before I handed out the information sheets at Marshall) when a boy was completely disengaged from class (and had been for days, drawing in his notebook) his face lit up when, as he wrote "Sosa" (one of Cozart's nicknames) in his notebook (instead of doing the assignment), I asked if he liked Chief Keef. "How you know Chief Keef?" he asked. I playfully hammed up the old-guy, "Well, I try to keep up with what the kids are listening to these days." He laughed and I moved on to other students. There were ten minutes left in class, but when I was grading papers later I realized that student had gunned through 75% of the worksheet he had been ignoring after our exchange.
[I]t also seems like a necessary bridge that we must cross, especially the more disconnect we have with the socio-economic backgrounds of our students. In other words, this kind of "please, I'm legitimately trying to connect with you" is just something that we have to do.
I mean...obviously I don't think this paradigm is the only effective one. But at least for me, it's not a, "please, I'm legitimately trying to connect with you." It seems from your question you're concerned they may reject this overture, that you may have to convince them to participate. In my experience so far, it's much lighter. Even when it gets heavy, it's not forced. It feels like getting to know a new collaborator, client, and friend. If they say no, I don't press. One of my interest sheet questions is, "What is your favorite brand of clothing?" One student answered by drawing a very large question mark in the space provided for an answer. (I don't know for sure, but it seemed like a critique of the question.) Great! That's a wonderful answer! I'm just saying that this may seem like pulling teeth before you do it, but it's not at all. As Ramina can attest to, it's one of the most fun and easy parts of teaching I've had so far. Students really take to it. Far fewer are suspicious than you'd think (at least in my experience so far).
I think the problem you are having with the notable differences in Lil Wayne's and Chief Keef's stylistics can actually be used to your advantage. On the one hand, you have a plentitude of opportunities to discuss the techniques you mentioned like word-play, metaphor, and rhyme. This can then lead into an exploration of how those techniques strengthen his flow and impact. With this sort of model, you can then encourage the students to take a critical lens toward their more favored artist, Chief Keef. Where are his clever rhymes and innuendos? If it is not the word play that you like about Chief Keef, then what is it? This can then finally lead into an interesting compare and contrast activity. Maybe they like Chief Keef not because of his rapping skills (just like Kanye, who sucks at rapping but is brilliant in his own way) Chief is able to express and re-enact an identity of the Chicago streets that many students may have an authentic relationship too and, thus, connect with. Or they just think he has good beats.
Totally! These suggestions are amazing! That exploration of Chief Keef...you've articulated in a paragraph what I've been trying to get at for months, talking my coworkers ears off in the process. So...thanks so much! The tinge of resentment I feel for it being so easy for you is overpowered by my appreciation of the clarity of the articulation. I look forward to exploring the topics you suggested with students in the coming months.
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