I have been reading drafts all day. I almost wrote grading but that would be inaccurate. These are drafts. I offer suggestions, advice, sage wisdom that propels my students through the end of this essay and beyond. I do not grade these papers. I will grade these papers next week. While I, like everyone else, hate grading essays (what? you don't believe me? just check out the comments to this post at Bitch Ph.D.'s blog.), there are some things that evil little me loves about commenting on essays, particularly essays about cool pop culture things that white, hippie chick teacher shouldn't know about. Muhahhahahaha. Rap is my favorite.
They write that rap is legitimate music and cite Eminem and Tupac as examples. I respond on their essays, spend a little time establishing the history and definition of rap. How is it different from hip-hop? What is the legacy of artists like Sugar Hill Gang, Public Enemy, NWA, Ice-T, and KRS-One? That's right little ones, your writing teacher owns Sugar Hill Gang vinyl. Muhahhahahaha. It pleases me to give their essays back and see the look of confusion, KRS-One? There is fear there. Do they dare ask me to explain? Do they recognize that they have pre-judged me? That I might be cooler than they previously imagined? Will they google the name that eludes them?
And the beauty of it all, I'm not that cool. It's Husband's vinyl. I listened to rap in the 90s. I know who these guys are, but my all encompassing knowledge comes from VH1 countdowns and knowing Mr. Walking Encyclopedia of all things Hip-Hop. Wait, you mean watching VH1 could be considered (gasp) research?
But the pleasure is there, knowing that I just tricked a kid too cool for school into doing research on something that she or he loves. Rap is just an example; I do it for all my kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment