this week i showed my class how i'd gone through my notebook and marked (with sticky notes) all the quotes, random musings, and thoughts i'd collected that i hadn't used yet but was still planning on using. then i showed them how i'd integrated these ideas into a new piece (read: rap) i'd been working on called "the second coming" (i even read them the yeats poem--also in my notebook-- from which the title was "borrowed"). i showed them how i used the title and my favorite line from the poem in my new piece. i also showed them a line i'd written down from a tom waits' song i'd heard on the radio. then i read them the piece.
here's the beginning: (student-friendly version)
second coming
what stinks worse: your verse or a fart in church?
(your breath bring death like a hearse)
search me--got nothing in the trunk--
"no such thing as the devil, only god when he's drunk."
who would've thunk? jesus was a punk--
keep the temple holy like kobe jam a slam dunk!
:::sniff::: i smell a skunk--see the forest for the trees,
feel the breeze, buddha monk.
more fun than a touring funk band,
PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION!
we're on a mission--finger flipped at fashion--
"all the best lack conviction, while the worst are full of passion"
the second coming-- it's about to happen...
what stinks worse: your verse or a fart in church?
(your breath bring death like a hearse)
search me--got nothing in the trunk--
"no such thing as the devil, only god when he's drunk."
who would've thunk? jesus was a punk--
keep the temple holy like kobe jam a slam dunk!
:::sniff::: i smell a skunk--see the forest for the trees,
feel the breeze, buddha monk.
more fun than a touring funk band,
PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION!
we're on a mission--finger flipped at fashion--
"all the best lack conviction, while the worst are full of passion"
the second coming-- it's about to happen...
a bit provacative, but that's good... hopefully my students will remember to go BACK to their notebooks after they're full (instead of just saying, "i need a new notebook--mine's full!") to find seed ideas for use in future pieces.
6 comments:
Your writing inspires me!
april fools, right?
either way--thanks. i suppose my writing should inspire--when anyone reads my hack-tacular pieces, they feel like steinbeck!
I used to keep a notebook similar to that...
I wrote down whatever bits of lyrics I could understand from English songs, hoping that one day I would be able to master the language and finally understand the meaning behind those words.
In the end, some were nonsense, and some were really inspirational, almost making me wish that certain songs could be played at certain key moments of my life, like a soundtrack.
I'm glad my child is not in your class. This is some kind of strange indoctrination.
I'm sorry I didn't leave a kinder note. It sounds like you are a very good teacher, although I don't think you should use your position to influence children in ways their parents may not appreciate. Would you send this poem home with your students to read to their parents for homework?
anon,
i respect your opinion. i'm probably just as glad that your child is not in my class as you are. i want my students to think for themselves, and i encourage their (and their parents') feedback and/or critisism of my techniques to acheive this end. (btw, this piece did go home, and i did get feedback, positive and negative.)
my students are not graded on how well they regurgitate my silly poetry--there is no "indoctrination"--they are graded on how well they think. if you've ever taught in a 5th grade classroom, you know as well as i that just motivating students to activate their thought processes is half the battle. if my piece is successful, it stimulates this process, (through anger, humor, etc.) hopefully inspiring independent thought.
remember what donald graves has said, "emotion is the engine of the intellect."
btw, you think i'm subversive and influencial... when was the last time you read any shel silverstein?
thanks for the comments.
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