Terrence Sims’ sixth grade students at the Milwaukee Excellence Charter School rapping in the official video for ‘Excellence First!’; Photo: Terrence Sims/YouTube
A group of sixth graders at the Milwaukee Excellence Charter School in Milwaukee, WI have been building self-confidence with a collaborative rap, making waves from YouTube all the way to former FLOTUS nods.
Teachers from all across the nation have been using hip-hop as a tool for learning. So much so that we have a SONGLYRICS category of stories reporting on the trend, dubbed ‘lyrics in the classroom‘.
It promotes literacy, acceptance and bridges the gap between multiple generations. The idea is to connect with the youth using an art form that is both relevant and accessible.
Though the rap curriculum trend can teeter on both sides of the learning process, both negative — i.e. the Atlanta middle school teacher that was suspended for constructing a vocab assignment around a Kodak Black song — and positive — i.e. the Louisiana high school teacher that fit a year’s worth of biology into a three-month rap lesson plan — the root ambition to educate remains the same.
For the kids at the Milwaukee Excellence Charter School, their teacher (Terrence Sims) had a trick up his sleeve: let his students pen the rap.
With Sims’ guidance, they created “Excellence First!,” a song that encourages school pride and active participation. Sims wrote the first verse, and he then handed it off to his students who bought into the idea from the jump. It snowballed into a project that has garnered thousands of streams and nods from journalist Jemele Hill and former first lady Michelle Obama.
Savannah Patterson and Aryn Fears star in the video, rapping about how to stay motivated and strive for greatness. Patterson enthusiastically recites the hook, rapping, “I am smart, I am strong, my life matters, I’m a blessing, I’m a queen, I’m a king, I can achieve anything.”
Sims believes that rap can be an outlet for students to find empowerment. “It’s a lot of kids in this school that could really benefit from being able to speak their truth to popular beats,” Sims told WTMJ-TV Milwaukee. “With 240 kids [in the school], that’s 240 stories that can be told.”
Sims will continue to utilize rap music in hopes that it can teach kids that their education is a chance for a better life. For Patterson and Fears this isn’t a one time venture. They told reporters that this Wednesday they plan on releasing a new song called “Success Life.”
With teachers like Sims, and schools like the Milwaukee Excellence Charter School supporting progressive learning the future is looking brighter everyday.
