Submitted by Karen Stafford
Idea posted March 28, 2002
Have you tried a unit on rap, having them write their own raps, giving them limits, of course? Sometimes, with the inner-city kids, you gotta come at them with their own language. Challenge them. Come up with a contract with their parents (providing the parents are there to cooperate!), giving up two days without music. If they say music isn't important, challenge them to give up their boom boxes and TV's for two days, and see how they do without their music in their lives. This contract has to be signed by the parents and the students. A letter of explanation accompanying this contract would do great. Then, have them notate in a journal what life was like without music.
Analyze "decent" TV shows or segments of shows or movies without the music. Show how the music helps carry out the plot and the feeling. Would you do an action movie with "Swan Lake"? Would a romantic movie do OK with "Ride of the Valkyres"?
Select those few that care and give them some really neat projects to do, such as sound compositions, percussion compositions, and other things. When the blankety-blanks grumble, tell them point blank why. Having a lackluster administration does not help in the least, but possibly you can rise above this in spite of them.
I'd also keep my ears posted for another position. We can't win them all, but there's no reason for you to hold your head down if you have done your very best. If you win your elementary crew over, you haven't been a failure. I've found out that I'm not as suited for secondary as I am for elementary. We all have our gifts. Don't let some blankety-blanks squelch the desire for you to find yours. I was asked to resign at my second position because of situations similar to yours. It wasn't inner city, but a rural town that was suspicious of anyone who wasn't a "townie." Football was huge, and so was drinking. The kids would come in late, and for the "in" crowd, it was tolerated, even by the administration. The principal pretended to support me, but the parents were crummy. One week, he said I should move closer to the school, and I told him my husband and I were planning to. The next week, he suggested I resign. It was a lousy experience, but I learned tons from it. Had I stayed there (even if I wasn't asked to resign), I would be miserable and would have never found out the joy of elementary.
So, hang in there! Use us as a sounding board, and sock it to 'em.