Grammy for Spoken-Word Poetry and the Influence of a Good Teacher

Spoken-word poet J. Ivy of Chicago won his first Grammy last night for his fourth album, The Poet Who Sat By the Door. In his speech, he gave a shout-out to his high school English teacher. He said, " I received a standing ovation that day and I decided to keep going... Somebody saw me and gave me a chance."

This is why I do what I do. Not so my students can go forth and win awards (though that would be cool), but so that they can feel confident about something we are doing. Often there is a lot of resistance to new things in the classroom, but if we don't push a little against students' comfort zone, they are not learning. Safe intellectual risk taking can produce great things.

I'll keep pushing.

Have a good day,

C