Student Walk-Up Songs

I'm a rebel just for kicks, now

I been feeling it since 1966, now

Portugal. The Man

When a baseball player walks up to bat, you will often hear a song being played. Each player has a different song and that song means something to the player. This is commonly referred to as a walk-up song.

I adopted Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man as my unofficial school walk-up song last year. I was born in the 60's, my teen years were in the 80's and being a 'rebel just for kicks' seems to perfectly encompass my attitude. (And yes, I am very aware of the privilege I have to be able to say that.) 

I would occasionally ask a student what their walk-up song was last year, but that is a really hard thing to do without some serious (or maybe not so serious) thought. This year I have decided to make the question my first homework assignment of the year.

The students will be asked to pick a song that will tell me something about who they are. We will discuss what makes a song school appropriate and how we must be aware that public behavior may have to be different than private behavior. This is a very important continuous discussion with junior high students. This will also be a great time to discuss how social studies is much more than studying history and geography.

The students will share the lyrics they feel reflect themselves and we will listen to a snippet of it. My goal is to get a feel for what they think it is important I know about them as well as what kinds of music they are listening to. This will help inform some of my music choices for the class as well. Maybe we will make a class playlist too.

I would love some feedback on this idea. What would you do differently? What questions would you ask? How would you modify this lesson to work in your classroom? 

Creating Art in the Social Studies Classroom

I am having my 8th grade students create art centered around what they learned about Columbus or the Americas before Columbus. I really want to encourage them to think of art as a viable way to show their learning and not just for self expression. Here are the instructions I recorded. I put them online so that parents would have the opportunity to see what I wanted.

I wanted to do something to show my students that could not only show them a possibility, but also to show them that I was willing to participate in what I am having them do. Here is the song:

Here are the lyrics:

Some Island That I Thought I Knew

I think of all the time I spent looking for you

I went to the kings of both Portugal and Spain

I even drew some maps

Read a bunch of Marco’s crap

But still I only thought I knew where I was going

I talked the Queen of Spain into giving me 3 ships

I hired some sailors to follow me to the end, all to the end

Even when things got really rough

I was sure we had the right stuff

We would stick it out until the voyage was over.

But you didn’t have to surprise me

You were really San Salvador and not the West Indies

and I never really did know

that the place I found was not what I was looking for

What about when I stooped so low

got on my knees and kissed your sand and made a fool of myself

I would never figure it out though

Now you’re just some island that I thought I knew

Am I crazy for putting myself out here like this? Probably, but I sure should not expect my students to try to do something I am not myself willing to do. There is an even more important reason for me though, this is another shared experience that I want my students to share. 

I am really hoping that my lack of talent coupled with my willingness to share will help my students be more willing to try something they may not be so sure about. I am hoping that a few students will be more willing to put themselves out in front of the class with no guarantee that what they do will be embraced. I am hoping for them to choose something that is not safe.

What Does Their Passion Look Like?

I have to admit, I have a slightly addictive personality and I also have a tendency to get stuck on something for an inappropriate amount of time. My latest addiction (since yesterday) is a series of videos created by a young man known as Krispy Kreme or Froggy Fresh. (The story behind the name change is documented on his Youtube channel.)

Watch this video first:

The raps on this early outing are pretty juvenile: 

Talk crap and I'll give you a scar

Talk crap I'll throw eggs at your car

I'll cut holes in your tires

I'll put poop on your porch and I'll light it on fire...

The camera is shaky, but surprisingly well framed. The beats are sick and the mixing is spot on. 

One of his latest videos has much better raps:

Notice the camera work is still amazingly good. The rap has an amazing hook:

Why's James cryin'

Cause he just got dunked on!

I ain't even lyin'

Yo he just got dunked on!

He has some hilarious rhymes in this video, it seems that whoever writes the raps has an interesting but hilarious sense of humor.

Froggy Fresh doesn't just swag and clown, he also has a series of incredibly poignant videos that revolve around a recurring villain from his videos, James. In Mike's Mom we see his best friend and constant video companion Money Maker Mike getting a call. Mike's mom has been killed by James and Mike vows revenge.

The beats drive the action, they fit the song perfectly and drive the anxiety Mike is feeling. The rap is engaging and impart the emotion of the storyline. 

I can see it in his face

I can see it in his eyes

Mike be strong

Mike don't cry

Mike hold on 

Mike don't do it

Mike was gonna kill him

and everybody new it

The follow up video continues the story.

At first I watched the early videos enjoying the ridiculousness of the words, the incredibly well done beats, and awesomely weird scenes each video had. The more I watched though, the more I realized how well done the audio, video, and editing was for these videos. I don't know if there is an professional adult involved in this production or if one of these kids is the next Steven Spielberg/Joss Whedon. 

Imagine having these kids in your class this year. What could you possibly teach them that is better or even more important than what they have already accomplished? How could we leverage their passion for creating videos and creating a huge online cult following into our rooms? How do you know that you don't already have kids just like this watching the clock and waiting to get home to do what is important to them?

Creating a Classroom Community with Shared Experiences

You may be familiar with this video. If you Google 'the worst music video ever' it is number one on the list. I showed it to my junior high classes today. Yesterday I sang to them Dumb Ways to Die with an ukulele accompaniment. 

My goal is to create shared community experiences for us. The diversity of our community is huge and getting more so all the time. We don't have the luxury of any real shared history through the usual tv shows, music, or even being together in the same school.  As the social studies teacher I am taking on the responsibility of creating shared experiences for us. Do you think it is possible to create a community without some shared experiences?

Begin the Beguine

Begin the Beguine - Eleanor Powell and Fred... by SandyHookFan

"A Beguine was originally a Christian lay woman of the 13th or 14th century living in a religious community without formal vows, but in the creole of the Caribbean, especially in Martinique and Guadeloupe, the term came to mean "white woman", and then to be applied to a style of music and dance, and in particular a slow, close couples' dance." Wikipedia 

How appropriate to begin a year than to look at what kind of relationship we want to have with our classes. In the above video Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire dance to Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine. It is easy to notice that Fred Astaire leads the dance, but without Eleanor's accompanying the dance would fall flat. 

I like to think that I am the Fred Astaire to the class's Eleanor Powell. I will lead the learning dance, but if my students can't match my lead the whole experience falls apart. We will have to work closely together, creating a community of learning that will hopefully make the group stronger collectively than the parts. As we dance together we Begin the Beguine.