Something you may not know about me #1: I like to rap for my high school students...

A lot of the people that follow me on twitter aren't people that I've ever met in the real world. For this reason, I've decided to do a little series called "Something you may not know about me". Each day for the next week ,I will post something that has nothing to do with me as a writer (which I think is where most of my "follows" originate).

So, without further ado:

Something you may not know about me is that I am a high school English/Language Arts teacher, and I like to rap for my students. I teach 9th grade, which is a difficult year for many students. They just came out of a school where they were the biggest and strongest, and where they were at the top of the social ladder. When they are thrown into an environment where they are the smallest and weakest, where they are at the bottom of a very tall social ladder, it can be very disorienting for them. Those first couple of days can be especially harrowing. I am a teacher who likes to make a lot of jokes and is generally pretty relaxed, and when my students can't relax because they're too worried about harming their own social status to laugh at my stupid jokes, it can seriously disturb the flow of my lessons. I had to do something to get them to relax, so I really stuck my neck out there and created this rap for them, hoping that they would find my attempts to "meet them half-way" would be culturally awkward and allow them to laugh at me, together. It sort of worked. I turned out to be an alright rapper, though some of the more astute students pointed out that I am a little old school. Here is my first rap. Enjoy. (There are two more raps at the bottom of this entry.)

Sample: "The Funk" by Dr. No

Lyrics by Adam Hunt

(1)

English is possibly the most important class you’ll ever take,

exploring ways to divulge the things in your think tank.

Learning to write, and writing to learn,

and flying through reading so fast that it burns,

you become new people, and through their eyes understand

that this life is yours, residing in your hands.

All you have to do is grab the wheel,

then you’ll feel all the steel in you come real,

and then you’ll heal.

(2)

After much confusion, you graduate in groups n’

are cast out on your own with no one that you’ve known.

All your high school peeps disperse across universities,

or get in different lines of work from me, with new kinds of security.

Thank God that you learned how to think, write, and speak,

so you can be a Lion instead of a sheep.

Or you can stand up like a human and find yourself pursuing

any beautiful thing you ever dreamed you’d be doing.

Academic success, $$$, or fame,

parenting your kids, or building A-frames:

there’s not a single thing you cannot bring

that language cannot make cha-ching,

or sing, or take wing, or make more fulfilling.

It’ll even make you giant-sized, trade to generalist from specialized, bring a twinkle to your eyes,

and people will think you’re the guy to be hired,

because the person who wins

 is the person who speaks, reads, and writes.

 (3)

Y’all don’t seem to get that we’re in a sort of war.

Not the kind with bombs, but it means as much, or more.

It’s fought with sunsets, and upsets,

and friends we won’t forget,

and students³ who are kids that come first.

Penciling your lessons,

writing sessions,

soul progressions,

crossing diurnal progressions

under the roof of HHS;

you’re competing with the children of the Land of Qin,

of India, and of our own men,

sitting in a building full of fair-to-middling students

who want what you want,

just like kids all over the world want it.

So you better bring it,

and remember that the person who wins

is the person who reads, and speaks, and writes.

Here are a couple more. (I think the "Service Project Rap" is probably my best.)

"Service Project Rap"

Sample: The Pharcyde's "4 Better or 4 Worse"

Lyrics: Adam Hunt

"I Love Teaching"

Sample: Dr. No's "Strong"

Lyrics: Adam Hunt