Teach And Learn

Songs For A Frustrated Special Education Teacher

I love Tiny Mix Tapes. A few weeks ago, they wrote up this mix in their automatic mix tape generator.

Songs for a burned out special education teacher who became a college grad in May 2003 at a school that cost $35,000 a year and now has her hair pulled out for her by her students, cleans up shit, piss, and cum and spends the day dodging sexual advances from horny teenage boys while also attempting to avoid being punched in the face or strangled or bit by her darling cherubs after having moved to the 'burbs in a state where after 3 months she still doesn't know a soul and spend the weekends and vacations staring at the ceiling and talking to the smoke of a burning candle because she's a depressed, neurotic loser.

Ouch. "Elephant Ears" is still on my mix for the year, for sure...

Hip Hop Physics?

This Washington Post story describes a team of Howard University students who perform hip hop physics shows at local schools. Probably not what's needed to make science cool for the kids.

I'll stick to that new Jay-Z track anyhow.

Boys And Girls In America

I've been digging the new Hold Steady record, Boys And Girls In America. In Sunday's New York Times, there's a full-page article about their vision of kids and our country, and includes a piece about a Littleton, CO teacher who's used their music in his English class. (That's exactly the think I'd fund via DonorsChoose, if there was such an opportunity--take that, Russo!)

The music is about kids these days, with all their drama and cluelessness, but presented in a way that's both humorous and honoring--lead singer Craig Finn is always respectful, even if his advice is along the lines of "let your boyfriend deal with the dealers." The sex and drugs--and they're all over this record--are presented not to be glorified but as a key part of kids's reality. That student in the back row there? He doesn't care about Newton's Laws or the Catcher In The Rye, but the girls who will be at Friday's party.

And as an educator, I'm struck by this perspective and the respectfulness with which it's brought. It took me several years in the classroom to realize that a key differential between good teachers and great ones is a deep respect for their students on a level that sees their immaturity and desperation for exactly what it is. Great teachers provide help and support without making students fit a particular model or mindset or peculiarly adult vision of who they should be. The Hold Steady are clearly older than the kids they sing about, but their stories have exactly the sort of observant details and underlying respect that great teachers do.

Boat "Elephant Ears"

The uber-hipsters at Pitchfork have a review of the new album by Boat online. Check out this quote.

"...this self-deprecating reminiscence of a failed Teach for America teacher more believably depicts the Chicago Public School District than anything in the Tribune, which recently ran a story lauding the city's improved test scores on a brand new test without ever seriously bothering to assess whether students actually, you know, learned more. (They "liked the new color format," we're told.) Everybody wins with such pleasing tales-- except the kids."

Love it when Pitchfork starts talking education policy--I'm sure their staff is filled with ex-TFAers. I'm off to download the track.

Pazz and Jop 2005

The 2005 Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll is now available.

You can see my ballot here. I know, I know, if I was a real science guy MC Hawking would have made the cut.