WEBVTT

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We all have different roles, right?

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I\'m a husband,

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I\'m a son,

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I\'m a brother.

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You play each of those roles different.

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ic will is one of those roles.

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To be a hip hop artist you got to be able to get out there

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and you have to be able to say like

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I\'m the shit.

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I have full confidence.

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It’s growing dark.

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The sun and sky grow apart.

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And I ain’t showing off.

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But they say the show goes on.

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I’m making sure it’s never going off.

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Because I flow like a old lady’s shaw in the wind when it’s blowing hard.

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And I am not a teacher.

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I’m water in the freezer.

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The way I’m going hard like it’s no one’s job.

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I be proving

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that I be so professional trying to get you on this IC potion.

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Baby.

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Yeah.

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I’m out.

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My teacher, he’s very fun,

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and very cool.

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And he makes us do our best.

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He’s always telling us

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if you have an issue or problem,

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you could come speak to me.

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This is an opportunity,

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when we do writing like this,

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to start making our world.

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My name is Ian Willey.

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I am a writing teacher for 5th graders at KIPP Infinity Charter School,

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in New York.

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One minute and thirteen seconds, which table is going to be first?

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Is it the blue table?

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Is it Aaliyah’s table?

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Ok. Give him one snap.

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You want to say simply this.

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You want to say

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students should wear uniforms

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or students should not wear uniforms

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So, everyone say your thesis now.

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Students should not wear uniforms.

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Clap once.

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Clap once.

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Clap once.

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Clap once.

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Give my man one clap.

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Give her once snap.

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Give her two claps.

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Give Sharney two claps.

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So what’s the thesis statement for this?

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Students should not wear uniforms because

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or students should wear uniforms because

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and you put your three reasons.

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When you know that they\'re all learning

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and there\'s an excellent vibe in the classroom,

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you see smiles on kids faces.

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Like, that\'s what every teacher wants, everyday

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You make up stupid nick names for them.

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You give them hi-fives in the hall.

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And this is my seventh year of teaching

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and I\'m still working on getting to that point where

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every day is just blow it out the box, right.

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Who wants to say bon appetite?

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Um, let’s let ummmm,

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Elijah.

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Bon appetite.

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Bon appetite.

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The amount of stuff your brain has to process,

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in order to manage a class of 30.

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It is one of the hardest jobs out there.

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But at the same time you have these amazing 90 kids

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that you get to see every day.

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And that’s really inspiring.

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Ok you guys go back to the, the white line right behind you.

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Our school is seventy to eighty percent Latino,

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mostly Dominican and Puerto Rican.

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The rest is pretty much African-American.

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They are generally lower income.

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You ask a class of kids,

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in in in the in the suburbs, like

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raise your hand if you know somebody in jail.

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Maybe one kid raises their hand?

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You ask a kid in in Harlem,

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and the whole class it\'s like yeah, of course.

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Oh! She’s safe! She’s safe.

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The score is two to four.

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That’s why our kids work really hard.

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They deserve tremendous credit

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because they are doing homework till late at night.

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Pretty much every night.

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So that they can get to college.

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My job is to encourage them to follow their dreams.

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And so I have to be doing the same thing.

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Check check, yeah.

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In sixth grade Steven got caught.

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In sixth grade Steven got caught.

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Holding weed in his sock,

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and Billy brought Dr. Dre’s Chronic into math class.

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Big Starter jackets and LL Bean back packs.

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Skaters, ballers, preps and rappers in my flash backs.

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But I ain’t fitting into their classifications

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and what they gave us was a bad education.

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With an administration

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who basically based their expectations of us

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how low your pants was hanging.

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Alright cool, let’s double that and see how it looks.

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It\'s pretty deeply ingrained into my identity.

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A lot of times we feel like,

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we don\'t have an impact on the world.

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Like we can’t make a difference, but

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in reality we are the ones who can change the world.

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This elephant in the room is like oh, so you are a rapper

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and you’re a teacher.

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Nobody does that though.

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Hip hop music raised me to be confident.

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To speak up.

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But in the Bronx I’m surrounded by stars.

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Ain’t got to look past my class to see a sky full, eye full.

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Kids read words and non believers eat words

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and these teachers about to feed critics just deserts.

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Cause we loving anybody on the TV set

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got love for anybody building buzz increasing their reps.

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After this if they still not increasing our checks,

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they at least going to be increasing respect.

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They call me IC cooler than you AC ladies

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always say, \"Me got the face of JT.\"

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that\'s Justin Timberlake.

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Nobody gets it.

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Damn. Umm...

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When I first came to KIPP Infinity like

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all the kids thought I looked exactly like Justin Timberlake.

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I guess I’ve gotten old since then.

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I do remember the first day of Professional Development,

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because that\'s when

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my wife and I started dating.

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Because shes at the school too.

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Eighth grade!

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Ten!

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Nine!

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It was the Principal\'s doing.

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Eight!

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Seven!

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He was like \"Layla, Ian\'s single!\"

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And then it was just a match made in heaven from there.

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We didn\'t tell anyone at first

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that we were dating.

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I think everyone knew.

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Now she is the Dean of the school.

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She is the one who deals with any naughty behaviour.

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There was certainly a sexiness about actually getting to see

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your loved one doing a professional thing.

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And also see her like at home, with her silly side.

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So I shouldn’t wear stockings?

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You always ask me the stockings question and I have no I,

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no reference of what a stocking is or does.

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Yes hello, hi.

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Um, can I make a reservation for tonight?

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Eight o’clock for two.

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Baby!

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What?

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Can you help me put on my shoes?

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I didn\'t plan on getting married this early but

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Layla made it obvious to me.

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Ian!

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It fits baby.

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You’re the one.

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In the morning I’ll get up at like 4:45.

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Get a cup of coffee, that’s critical.

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In the morning my brain is active so it’s very focused.

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From the second I leave the door I’m thinking about

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what’s going to happen that day.

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Teaching is a profession that

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needs tons more respect.

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Tons more respect.

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It’s not a game where we can just leave at three o’clock.

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It’s like twenty four seven, this is what we’re committed to.

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I remember one time, my kids were writing personal narratives.

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I looked over and I saw Jonathan.

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He was always cheerful.

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And he was in tears with his head like down on his table.

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I asked him, “Do you want to write about what\'s going on?

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He came back and put a little piece of paper in my hand.

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I opened it up and it was, it said um,

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\"My personal narrative is about

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when my father took me to the arcade.

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My father is in jail now.

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It makes me sad to think about him.”

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And your heart like breaks.

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That’s when your heart breaks because,

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for me, how does that even feel you know?

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How do I even begin to

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be successful at engaging a kid

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on this topic that I know so little about.

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And I guess that\'s where the freedom of voice comes in.

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You need to be able to speak

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and you need to be able to say it loud,

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and share your perspectives with the world.

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You guys gave each other a lot

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of love and we love that

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so give yourselves a spectacular.

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Spec-tac-u-lar.

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Part of the writing teacher job I feel is to

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help our kids feel comfortable getting up in front of

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a group of people and speaking.

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I’ll go in, we’ll play some music and we\'ll get hype.

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Jump up in the air.

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Shake them out!

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Like this. Like this. Like this.

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Have a seat.

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DJ Ruiz.

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We\'re really trying to get them loud.

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In fifth grade like who really performs,

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I certainly was shy as hell you know in fifth grade.

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Thank you.

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Awilda’s giving me love.

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I feel nervous, thank you guys.

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Go Mr. Willey!

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Alright. Here we go.

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Where I’m from,

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I’m not a diamond in the rough,

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I’m a diamond in a gold mine.

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But they paid no mind so right now go time.

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We hoping like Chileans trapped in a coal mine

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but once they see they light we shine they will go blind.

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Everything we ever made come from some mind.

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So why do I hide my dreams from the sunshine.

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Why did I give in, why did I listen to them,

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it’s our job to make the kind of world we want to live in.

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So you take, so you take

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your guns pessimism and your hatin’,

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take your degradation, take your segregation.

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We’re so busy trying to make it in the world,

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that we don’t pay attention to the type of world we’re making.

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So my imagination isn’t fastened to their leash.

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I put everything in every dream,

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I’m splashing on a beat.

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Cause that’s the only way I know to practice what I teach.

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And in this class we dream then reach.

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Alright!

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Up first. Who was the first name up there?

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Awilda!

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Play your own music for yourself please.

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And give it up for DJ Reyes!

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What’s up Dukesters?

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What’s up Awilda?

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I’m from my grandmother’s yellow kitchen walls.

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With the hot smell of hot cocoa, of hot coffee.

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I’m from Irish, Puerto Rican, and African flags.

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Where I’m from, I’m from the rising stars

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being as bright as the sun and the birds flying around them.

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I am from shoot outs, to broken elevators to prayers for my family members.

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I am from the brown bruises,

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that were as brown as chocolate covered cup cakes.

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I am from the nights I wish my father were there.

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I am from a mix of cakes put together from my two cultures.

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I’m the drama queen who stars in my favorite movie.

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Where I’m from there’s adoption papers

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and answerless questions about my mother.

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I’m from nights that I spend crying wondering why

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I can’t be more normal.

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I’m the person that my family respects for who I am.

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This is where my heart and soul comes from.

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That’s where I’m from.

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I was really really proud of them and every single person in there pushed it.

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It\'s like a powerful lesson, for our kids,

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in particular is that no you do have a voice.

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and every single idea, every word that you put out,

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every thing that you write on the page can have some influence.