Final Gizmoz Post

It is always funny to say what a song, film or work of art's theme is. Often, one personal interpretation can be very, very different from another. For example, one of my favorite songs in recent memory is "Re: Stacks" by Bon Iver. Upon my first 10 listens, I had no idea that the song was about a gambling debt. I had painted landscapes in my mind as I listened to the serene hum of the voice and guitar. I then watched or read something about the song's "theme" or "meaning" and it caught me quite off guard. Since I fell in love with the song on my own terms - it was fruitless to reinterpret the song - and impossible. Therefore, it is my song differently then it is Bon Iver's song. Which is almost sufficient to say that once you thrust a song out there into the stratosphere - you have lost your own interpretation of that song.

That being said, when you look at System of a Down's song "Boom" it is quite clear - at the very least - that the song is about war. I know System well and I have seen the video (directed by Michael Moore) so I know that it is specifically about the Iraq war. Songs like these are valuable for classroom purposes as they so clearly deal with a certain issue (the video, I think, is fantastic) and they help emphasize the art and voices present throughout the world. System of a Down has added value because the members are Armenian and have found such a powerful fan base in America.

I used the song "Dear Mama" by Tupac Shakur to tie into Sandra Cisneros' House on Mango Street - on the theme of family. However, this song is precious to teachers because A) it is hip hop, so it plays right into what students love B) it is poetry C) it is actually good! D) it shows that a rough thug can actually sing compassionately and lovingly about his mother E) it ties into endless lessons and themes.

I think a final way to utilize songs in your classroom is to look at Irish singers and songwriters and all the fantastic songs written about Ireland and its struggle for independence.



Looking at these songs never has to simply be a "one stop shop." It is wonderful that these songs exist - not only for their beauty - but for all of their venues into different ways of thinking and learning. A song like "Foggy Dew" leads to so many questions: What do songs do for us in the face of such great opposition? What is the purpose of these songs? Why do the Irish people seem to have these songs written in their blood? What other songs relate to these Irish independence songs? And on and on.

There are so many songs, and they can be looked at in so many ways with so many lenses. I think the beautiful thing, as I alluded to earlier, is that you never have to stick with a song's intended theme - you can always go beyond. A song like this...



...sets the civil rights and women's rights movement back about 100 years and does irreparable damage to our youth (I really believe that). So lets look at it. Lets discuss it. Lets not just sit back and let it permeate millions of brains while we do nothing.

Teaching - I truly believe - is doing something.

HOMEWORK due for TR June 25:

For a long time the idea of how music is mediated to the populace has been coursing through my veins and Keith Negus' chapter on the issue brought the old dusty angers out of my "just deal with it" closet.

The first thing you see lately on my (dwindling) favorite rag - Rolling Stone - is usually some American Idol zero whom I never bothered getting to know - or some no talent ass clown that does not sing, dance or play a musical instrument (the cast of The Hills, seriously?).

As an educator, it is beginning to feel like the classroom space is the last untainted realm where we can enter Csíkszentmihályi's idea of flow without being bombarded with the 24/7 barrage of media (and even that is being attacked as students whip out their mobile computers and less and less teachers stop them).

The last thing I want to do is tell the students that they are all mindless drones and that everything they love is simply something they were manipulated into liking - that is simply not true - also that does not give them nearly enough credit. What I want to do, is show them what is going on in the media and how even their perfect teacher is enraptured with the glossy finish that is placed over so much garbage.

Assignment: What Is Quality?

Rationale: Often there seems to be a popular trend to "go with the flow" in terms of popular music and to simply sing along with the music that surrounds us simply because it surrounds us. What I want students to begin to do with this assignment - is analyze what is popular and why that might be so and if popularity sometimes, always or never coincides with quality (and what quantifies quality).

Step one: take a gander at Rolling Stone's Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time, 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (as these are three of my favorite issues ever - and they are lofty tombs to say the least - I know that anything but a surface browse is unrealistic) - pay special attention to the eras, the repeated artists, the topics, the genres, the look of the albums and the market at that time.

Step two: Look at lists of best selling artists past and present. Note similarities with what is considered the "best" music/artists of all time.

Step three: self survey: how do you consume music? Write down where you buy it and how you listen to it (iTunes, CDs, Best Buy, MySpace, etc.). Where do you find out about new music? Write down your answers.

Step four: check out BET, MTV, MySpace, Yahoo Music, Pandora and write down what you see. What pops out at you? What is being advertised? Who do you recognize? How are they selling the site? How are they selling the music? Think of how none of these sites were around twenty years ago. How were people consuming music then? How do these sites change anything? What is the effect on the music market? On bands? On artists? On sales?

Step five: check out a City Pages or MN Monthly and check out all the music events going on in Minnesota. Think about how there are as many (if not more) events going on in all 50 states and in all the countries all around the world. Think back to the top 500 artists/songs and try and put into perspective how limited in scope a list of the "best" musicians has to be. Consider all the bands and music being created and put out into the market place. Then check back to iTunes or other site and look at the Top 10. Why do you keep seeing the same names? What are the things that keep reoccuring? Why do you think that is?

This whole lesson is all about looking at what we consume as a culture - who we think is the best - and the path the industry is headed and why.

[As I write this I am receiving text messages and breaking news alerts that The Most Successful Entertainer of All Time - Michael Jackson - is in critical condition or is perhaps dead - this news is quite shocking and I am not quite sure how to handle it.]

Assignment Two: Music and Movies

Rationale: music can add so much to a movie and even break a new band or song. Why is it that the aesthetic of the mix is so appealing? It is worth taking a deeper look at the synergy of song and screen and why the two can twist together so seamlessly - it seems that they were made for one another.

Step one: watch Say Anything. There is no excuse to have not seen Cameron Crowe's 1989 classic - if you can't pick out "the scene" I wanted you to see for this assignment, then you should not be in school (I'm joking!).

Step two: seek out - if you can - some facts about "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic, "Secret Garden" from Jerry Maguire or other famous song/film combos.

HOMEWORK due for Sunday June 21:

I could not help but think of one of my students (Dante) as I read the two articles for today. Dante always came into the classroom (if he was in school) listening to rap. Once he understood that I was a fellow fan, he would come up to my desk and put an ear bud in one of my ears and say: "listen to this . . ." and ask if I had heard it or what I thought.

Generally, the music he was listening to is not my favorite type of rap - and I am confident that as he (and his tastes) mature - he will find that the commercial rap loses its appeal and that the more thought provoking hip hop out there will catch his eye (or ear).

"Dangerous Other" Assignment

This assignment is to be done after a thorough class discussion about what it means to be a youth in our country/world - and why some might call a youth (or a youth of a different nationality) a "dangerous other."

1st) Each student is to find a song (that they like) that they think parents DO NOT want their children to listen to - they are to bring the lyrics into class

2nd) Each student is to find a song that they listened to at some point WITH their parents and bring the lyrics to class

3rd) Each student is to compare and contrast the songs - why one might be more appropriate than the other and why - this will be a paragraph or two of writing

4th) Students who wish to share will be able to play a song with the lyrics up on the overhead and the class will talk about the song - if it is appropriate and why - who the audience is - what the song is trying to say - if the song is pure or simply a marketing ploy - what is left out of the songs - stereotypes in the song - how it defeats or promotes this idea of "dangerous other" - whether the song is timeless or just a fad - what genre - why it is or isn't popular - etc.

Why We Love Gangster Rap - Assignment

This lesson will begin with this:



Then a talk about the fact that many, many, many suburban white folks purchase rap (look at this article, and maybe this article, maybe this article, maybe even this article amongst others) and what are the implications of such a thing.

Then watch this:



Talk about it. Watch this:



Watch this:



Talk about it. Possibly look at a survey like this and its implications.

Watch this:



Talk about it. Perhaps look at something like this or this.

Check this out:



What I hope is coming across here - without seeming redundant - is that there is a ton being said about rap/hip hop on both sides of the issue (is it "good" or "bad" for us). The undeniable facts are the following: people like it - people buy it. The jury seems to still be out over its implications and possible side effects. I think that you could go many places with this material in the classroom and that such a rich topic and something so permeating in students' lives should not be limited to one class day.

I would love for this to be an ongoing discussion in my classroom (hopefully students would bring in things throughout the year that make them think) and also have at least a week to think over these issues and really look at rap/hip hop - in their lives and outside of their lives - and think about how it is seen, purchased, consumed, insulted, promoted, defended, ignored and generated.

Such a current and present thing - such as rap/hip hop - is denied much of its power since it is seen by old fogies as being just a new thing for youngsters. As the decades pass and hip hop remains - it is time to culturally accept its implications and its status as a worldwide art form and look at it more critically and deeply - as we have classic art for centuries.

I could think of any number of things that I would want students to do: write about what we talked about, write their own songs, bring in their own songs and videos, create videos, etc. - but my hope is that this would open up discussion and critical thinking throughout the rest of the year so that we can elevate the level of speech and not simply clash on the issue and throw it out altogether.

Post Two • Chapter 3 • Thursday, June 18th

Negus takes me right back to Mr. Meeker's class, circa 1997, when he (Meeker, my religion teacher) busted out his raggedy brown nylon string guitar and did his best rendition of "Imagine." Once through, he asked us all to sing along as he placed the transparency on the overhead. In retrospect, this man was being quite balsy and almost subversive. The good moms and dads of the community were paying top dollar for their kids to be in those hallowed halls of the ancient Catholic school, and here we all were, chanting:

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Not only was this fine with me - a whole brand Catholic - but it was exhilarating. I never had heard such a fantastically unifying song in my life - and the fact that my first time was a communal experience with friends was even more satisfying.

This idea that we could all be "one," or a part of a whole is something that is not lost on many. I wonder if the song would be such a "hit" had John Lennon not been a Beatle - or had he not already been such an advocate for peace and change in our world.

It is remarkable to picture (as Negus describes) Margaret Thatcher being greeted by a chorus of Conservatives in Britain - surely this is a song being political in the best sense of the word.

To sound quite pessimistic for a minute - I feel that it is the government's and organized religion's (large and small) last hope for all of us to live in this "imaginary" world where we are able to put aside heaven and hell and live together as one. Religion and government rely on the populace to be afraid and to cling to ideas of heaven and hell in order to make more and more profit. If we truly believed all was well and all was peaceful, than we would not rely on the government and all of its goods and services (nor capitalism's goods and services) to protect us in our lovely little gated communities. Nor would religions be able to get us into their marble temples where we can empty our pockets into their collection bins. While I believe in many things - and I believe it is necessary to believe in something as a fully functioning and rational human being - I do not think you have to spend your hard earned money to build your picket fence higher or your church or synagogue for that matter (full hypocritical disclosure - I love huge religious temples!).

I want to go on and on here about the odd connection I am finding between what Negus writes about Hitler wanting "music that would be emotionally rousing and which could also provide diversion and entertainment" (206) and the Obama election celebration this year. I remember the oodles of musicians playing their most "political" songs (John Mellencamp shouting "Pink Houses" just feet away from his new leader) and the millions gathered on the lawn. Clearly (and I do believe this) this was a positive way to rouse the people in the name of change and Obama knows exactly what he is doing when he enlists these huge entertainment gods to play for his benefit - afterall - a government that will succeed needs people on board and what better way than to tap into their tear ducts. It is no secret that the stars came out in droves to support Obama and prior to his inauguration they came out in numbers to denounce Bush (perhaps that helped drop his approval rating?).

I want to end (since I am exhausted) on a small tangent about "the nurturing of local talent" (211) and how much of a blessing it is (I think) that 89.3 The Current came along after the sad death of Drive 105. Negus points out that "giving local artists exposure on radio would encourage musical development and facilitate the career prospects of musicians" and I would add that it adds so much to the community and from a capitalistic perspective - it adds money directly to your state. People came out in droves to support the music they heard on the Current when they sold out Rock the Garden last year (and this year). I would also say that it betters the chances that a band will grow into their potential as they will be encouraged to "keep trying" if they hear themselves on the radio. My cousin Dosh has been a direct benefactor from the Current and I have seen him rise and be able to confidently rear (and feed) his children as a result of his fan base.



I once read an interview with Bruce Springsteen and he was talking about his feelings about the industry today. He thought that it would almost be impossible for him to make it today starting out. He began on scraps and playing from dive to dive until people started taking a chance on him. Only after hard years of growth did he come into the artist we all know and love (as well as an outspoken member of the "political" musicians out there). I believe that stations like the Current are giving chances to bands that may not be the best but may grow into something special (like Kings of Leon did on their latest album). So come on - other stations (I'm looking at you B96 - start playing Atmosphere, Brother Ali and Doomtree!) and get with the program - and keep Minnesota on the music map!

Favorite Political Song by Brother Ali:



[Full Disclosure - my nephews and neice were just over and ransacked my apartment and I am exhaustedly trying to get this assignment done - I will be much more alert next time. Also - I can't figure out how to turn the italics off! I have tried for 10 minute and am too tired to figure it out.]

Post One • Chapter 3 • Thursday, June 18th

I heard a gentleman on MPR the other day talking about how more people than ever are consuming and listening to more music than in the history of the world. He spoke on the recording industry and how it really is not that old and how it has consistently (since the phonograph) failed to keep up with the populace - how they/we listen to music - out of fear.

It is fascinating in reading through chapter 3 - to think about the recording industry (past and present) and how easily one can picture "it" as a group of curmudgeonly Velociraptors around a dark, large oak table squawking indecipherably about what their next out-of-step money choking move should be.

The notion of how music is being mediated to the populace - specifically my students - through "printed word, sound carriers, radio, moving image, telecommunication technologies and musical instruments" (68) immediately brings to mind (for me) all the ways you might hear a song for the first time.

You might hear a song in a movie - during a pivitol scene (think Say Anything - John Cusack holding the boombox), on a commercial, on someone's phone while you wait for them to pick up, on an elevator, in any public space, in a car driving by, on the radio, at a party, on pandora (or anywhere on the internet), at a concert, walking by a concert, on a TV show, anywhere, everywhere. There are some songs that are seemingly unavoidable. Whether or not you enjoy Peter Bjorn and John's song "Young Folks," chances are you caught it on one of the million commercials it was commissioned for.

However, what music you actually purchase or at least choose to listen to is entirely up to - as this chapter points out - mediating factors. "While social class is an important influence on the mediation of cultural forms in any class-divided society," Negus explains, "there are further ways in which the social relations of race, gender, sexuality and ethnicity mediate the creating and reception of popular music. It is due to such factors" Negus interestingly writes, "that no music will ever simply 'reflect' a society but instead be caught within, arise out of and refer to a web of unequal social relationships and power struggles" (70).

I think of the film Curious George. In 1941, Margret and H.A. Rey write the first of seven beloved Curious George books. Forty years later, Houghton Mifflin get their hands on it, turn it into a franchise and twenty some years after that Universal Pictures (the behemoth) and Imagine Entertainment get their grubby hands on the classic - toss in a little animation and famous voices (Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore) and you have yourself a nice little $70 million dollar gross (not a lot compared to other child-oriented films).

But Joe, you ask, what about the song tie-in? Didn't they want a safe, songwriter of the moment to do the music? Why, right you are my friend, that is where Jack Johnson comes into the picture. Universal went to the go-to soccer mom singer - you know, the one that will be holding their child's hand into the theater - and gave him his first #1 album! First #1 soundtrack since 2003! It sold over 3 million copies! Obviously, I am being a little disingenuous to Johnson who certainly can write a nice, catchy tune (I purchased his first two albums - then after that they all started sounding the same).



In the same way Negus talks about David Bowie's Let's Dance video, I believe Kaplan would agree that the Johnson soundtrack/videos/movie constructed a position for viewers and that Universal and Johnson both have an "awareness that [the movie and music] will be viewed and heard by audiences who have acquired considerable knowledge of the codes and conventions of popular music, television and advertising" (92). When the soccar mom hears that familiar Jack Johnson voice flow out of the theater's Dolby Digital Surround Sound, it is a warm bath of the already accepted. The audience knows they are getting themselves into the same non-confrontational, uncontroversial story that people around the world have been enjoying since 1941. However, this time around, it isn't just the simplistic joy of the original text, it is the mediated big budget endeavor (through all the ways Negus mentions) brought to you by Universal Studios. The mother realizes she has one more Jack Johnson CD to purchase (thank God - the final demographic of CD buyers!) and the bonus - the kids might be hearing this music for the first time. The earlier you can hook them, the happier you make the movie studio.

Negus moves into this idea of music videos as "audio-visual furniture" and I am immediately drawn to that type of mediation. I think of the Brett Easton Ellis classic Less Than Zero that was subsequently turned into a film starring Robert Downey Jr. In one scene, the protagonist heads ot a huge, debaucherous, soulless party where there are stacks and stacks of TVs, many of them showing music videos. The videos may not even be matching the music pumping into the club, either way, it is this "series of repeated semiotic particles" that Negus mentions "that have been put together in a deliberately decorative and multi-layered way" ( 94). This is why you go bowling now and there are huge screens pumping videos into the lanes while you bowl - everyone agrees that the music videos are not a distraction and certainly will not effect your game. In the same way you can go to the youth section at Macy's or JCPenney and there will be screens playing music videos, either on mute or full volume - either way the "commercial" aspect of the video -that we are used to - is there more than ever if not encouraging us to buy those clothes, CDs, etc.

We have become so adapted to the music video as advertisement - it does not phase anyone in the slightest when a music video is - in itself - directly an advertisement.

HOMEWORK due for Sunday June 14:

Full Disclosure: I am pretty sure Robin Williams standing on a desk and reading Keats in Dead Poets Society (1989) is why I am a teacher today.

I always marvel at my friend Shannon - whenever I mention School of Rock, she says: "I don't like that movie, it is way too Bad News Bears!" I guess on a micro-level I agree with her, kids and teacher (coach) help each other get to the "next" level of their life. However, how can you not love Jack Black?

The readings for the course certainly added a twist to my viewing of the film (for at least the 4th time). As a teacher, it is always somewhat of a cringeworthy event to view any film about teachers. I posted in an earlier blog - an advertisement from Jimmy John's depicting a teacher with an "ordinary" out of control classroom - her only relief comes in the form of unwarranted rewards for the children.

School of Rock poses a very (I think) interesting twist on the "kids so bad only this teacher can save them" stereotypical "school" movie. Here we have orderly, brilliant, well-mannered college preparatory school kids and a sloppy, disheveled, rock n' roll fanatic "substitute" teacher - one clearly not licensed to be with the children. The stereotype of the "nerdy" teacher lives on through the "real" teacher, Mike White's character, Ned Schneebly. Even his name is ridiculously nerdy, thus perpetuating that teachers are normally averse to anything cool. (Mike White - Schneebly - coincidentally wrote the film, so read in to that what you will).

One other twist I found interesting was Schneebly's domineering girlfriend Patty Di Marco (a very tame Sarah Silverman). Schneebly does not have any control in his relationship, so why would he in the classroom? Anyway, that is another issue.

Stereotypes persist through Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack) who is the usual uptight and strict principal - she only needs a "free spirit" like Dewey Finn (Jack Black) to allow her freak flag to fly free.

I think the premise is an interesting one and it is done well (if a little "cozy") in the hands of Richard Linklater ("Dazed and Confused," and ironically, the 2005 remake of "Bad News Bears"). Instead of the usual dorky teacher (Schneebly) coming in and having the kids guffaw at how out of touch he/she is and how he/she (their teacher) doesn't know this band, or that movie - Jack Black comes in and is just blown away that the students do not know the rock "greats" like AC/DC or Black Sabbath. It is sheer joy to watch Black diagram the many layers of rock and roll for the kids and I am sure that many a teacher watched the film and fantasized about doing this in their own classroom (I for one have LOVED moments this year where I divulge music information to my students).

In a small way, School of Rock is the perfect fantasy. In Graduate School we focus so much on classroom management, unruly students, overly populated classrooms that threaten the very value of a classroom with their unmanageable ways, cellphone/iPod use and inability to listen. School of Rock asks the question: what if your students were perfect, obedient drones? What if your students had never experienced the blissful explosion of Rock and Roll? What if your students never utilized their talents to their full potential (okay, so that one is pretty permeating country-wide)?

As an avid and lifelong lover of pop music (all music, really - except pop country - that just isn't music) I have to say that Jack Black's use of pop music denies many of the "types" listed in the consideration (in our assignment). Jack Black never settles to be "guide-on-the-side" as he passes out instruments and gets a decent version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" up and running. He can't be "caretaker" when these kids manage their lives better then he ever could. He is the anti-"jailer" as he breaks them free, steals the bus and gets them into their first big-time gig. I wouldn't call him "keeper of wisdom" as he is super antsy to fill their minds will all the rock knowledge he can muster. In a way, he might be called "savior" for freeing the students from the "shackles" of their preparatory school - a place where they *gasp* never heard Led Zeppelin!

I think ultimately - Dewey (Black) succeeds in educating and socializing the children and he proves that listening to, learning about and even rocking out to rock music IN school does not mean your class will be out of control - it means that the students (All of them) will be more engaged and moreover thrilled to be in your class.

Sadly, however, that is Hollywood and this is Minnesota.

HOMEWORK due for Sunday June 7:

Growing up with a strong mother and three strong, older sisters will certainly do one thing to you: turn you into a feminist. In the strictest sense, I mean this definition: "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men" (dictionary.com). I remember one particular fight with my sister where I had no where else to turn but this line: "you are fat!" Man, did I get it for that one. Bottom line: all human beings deserve equal respect (except Rush Limbaugh and Andy Dick . . . joking!).

I can't recall the first time I heard the Leslie Gore song but I know exactly where I first saw the Fiona Apple video: my good friend Alec's basement on his jumbo TV, freshman year of high school. As I was a hormonal teen, I recall being perplexed about the video. The Zeltner article alludes to this same sort of complexity when it asks: "If Madonna is declared a positive role model for adolescent girls because of her defiant, take-charge stance in her videos, then what can be said about Apple's influence on her fans and her peers?" Surely, at the time, I was confused as to whether I should give into my natural prepubescent instinct to think that the video was "super hot" or to go deeper in my thinking and wonder why this video accompanied such a terrific song.

Flash forward to 2005 when Fiona Apple released her marvelous album Extraordinary Machine and I think Zeltner's arguments fall rather flat - especially since Apple has since utilized her musical prowess and integrity to further her artistry - rather than be the sex symbol he makes her out to be in this article.

Suffice it to say however, MTV will turn the sweetest 19 year old ingénue and make them due their evil bidding - it is - after all - all about the almight dollar.

This all ultimately leads to the Lil' Kim video (which is stuck in my head now—Thanks Thom!) . . . it is difficult to list all the reasons I hate the video:
1) It commits what is in my mind a cardinal sin - taking an innocent childhood memory and sexualizing it (Tootsie Pop Commercial)
2) Sisqo is in it! (Really? The "Thong Song" didn't eviscerate his career?)
3) Very, very poor special effects
4) Objectification of women as a means of "taking control" . . . yeesh, since when did this become the motto of the womens power moment?

If you really want a provocative read: check out this article - and then tell me that you are willing to have a daughter in this world.

It truly breaks my heart when I see one of my 9th grade girls wearing a Playboy shirt. Something that used to be blacked out behind a scummy gas station counter (when I was growing up) is now trotted around before thousands in a public school. How have we come to the point in our society where it is okay for a 14 year old girl to advertise pornography in school?

It is difficult for me to continue writing this without sounding like some radical, hypocritical, parenting, Christian, naysayer, but I truly believe in the sacredness of the human person. I think that we should all be free to be who we are as adults and to be open and accepting to all kinds of thinking and sexual freedoms. I am 100% trying to move towards a culture of tolerance. HOWEVER, I think that there is a THICK line between tolerance and the acceptance of deplorable things. I think that pornography and its mainstream-ization (you owe me one Oxford English) is deplorable.

I see a fat line between the Gore/Apple/Kim videos and I do not like the progression. One thing (man I feel like a puritan in The Crucible right now, ugly hair and all) I always like to do when I see something that shocks me - is go back in my mind and think of similar occurrences in history. That way, at least I can ignorantly think: "well, it happened before and we are all still here and hopeful!" But I hear/see things like the following:



And I cannot place a similar occurrence in history. Caligula? Las Vegas? Ancient Rome? Maybe... but the inescapable lull of the beat, the orgiastic imagery, the UGLY men . . . I mean, do women seriously writhe in ecstasy when they see the Ying Yang Twins? Doubtful.

On its own, that video and the thousands like it would never bother me. I could easily laugh about them for hours with peers and think nothing of them. But then, I look into the soulful eyes of my students and I want to irradicate all traces of such recordings because kids are impressionable! Kids do make stupid decisions (even with awesome parents)!

I think that the best thing we can do is to have these conversations with our students. We cannot stand there and play "see no evil, hear no evil" with our students or our children. It is crucial to have an open dialogue and to introduce and promote the many, many positive examples out there.

HOMEWORK due for TR June 4:

What moments stand out in my memory as some of the most poignant and educative moments in my life? I can barely recall what classes I took in high school or the endless lessons on God knows what that I sat through. There are—however—several moments from school that I will never, ever forget. I will never forget the time Ms. Sullivan played “Fast Car” by Tracey Chapmen in eighth grade, to exhibit what it was like to grow up without wealth. I will never forget Mr. Meeker playing “Imagine” by John Lennon—on his own guitar—in 10th grade, asking all of us hotheaded high school kids to think about a more peaceful world for a minute. The only conversation I remember having with Mr. Reiff (my science teacher for two years) was the one we had about Neil Young and I will never forget playing “Frail” by Jars of Clay to my entire 11th grade class in the chapel.

Fast-forward a decade and you miraculously find me in front of 100+ students every single day: teaching. If there is one thing I have learned in my past three years in working with pre-K through 12th grade students, it is this: the basics aren’t going to cut it anymore. Students walk into the classroom listening to music and walk out of the classroom listening to music. Since I am not in the position to demand a school wide change on what is allowed in students’ pockets, I can utilize my position to at least engage students within my classroom and not always try to compete with their interests but activate them.

Cameron White (2005) states that it is impossible to deny how important popular media is in all of our lives that it is “one of the few arenas that provides a forum for common understandings, dialog, and communication.” I would invite you into my classroom tomorrow to witness how true that sentiment is and to see what White is talking about.

Students struggling with Romeo and Juliet were engaged with the Manga version I put on the wall, the film version we watched, the No Fear version we looked at together as reading the “old” version out loud in class. Students breaking into the first few vignettes of House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros were intrigued by the stories, but were more able to fully relate to the themes when we looked at Wyclef Jean videos, and listened to some of their other favorite tunes that deal directly with the themes of the novel: identity, family, money, place, authorship and faith.

Pop music isn’t just a passing phase or a little part of students’ lives: pop music plays a huge role in students’ lives. Some of the few times I see certain students speak with one another are when they agree that they both like a certain song. It is when I bring up ideas and examples from popular culture where the entire class becomes engaged and wants to become part of the conversation. In many ways this goes back to constructivist education models, building upon what students already know. When I played “Sweetest Girl” by Wyclef Jean, very few students hadn’t heard the song. However, when I showed the video and tied in the themes of the lyrics directly to Cisneros’ text, students were able to make connections much easier and even make the themes relevant to their own lives. I kid you not that a free form debate over money developed in my classroom – it was one of my best days as a young teacher.

Depending on what you choose to play, you will likely ignite questions like those Graff (2003) mentions: “Do you like it or hate it? Is it a confrontational or cooperative activity?” and as Graff states these are “ripe starting point[s] for a class discussion and a first step toward demystifying the academic argument culture.” When I played a country song once, one of my student’s (Dante) spoke out and said: “Ohhh, man! Don’t play this country stuff, it has to be hip hop!” Beyond the fact that this lead to an entertaining discussion, the whole idea that Dante’s musical tastes were being challenged—and that he would later correlate that music to something beyond what he initially had—excites me and reassures me that time spent in the classroom in this manner is never time wasted.

Tomorrow, in an effort to more fully flesh out the thematic elements within Mango, my class will listen to “Hey Mama” by Kanye West, “Dear Mama” by Tupac Shakur, read “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath, read an excerpt from Dreams of my Father by President Barack Obama, watch a funny You Tube clip about a boy and his father and then write personal poems or songs about our own family. I firmly believe that it is lessons like those (and I am not simply tooting my own horn here) that make class memorable, educational, and moreover worthwhile for both student and teacher. When you blur those lines, and take “advantage of the synergies” you make a learning space that engages students on many levels—an environment that will never settle on being basic.

Looking forward to 5150

I am looking forward to this class! I hope we have some fun here.