One of my students is an aspiring rapper. He’s so serious about music that he doesn’t want to go to college; rather, he’d like to make mixtapes and hit the rap circuit pronto. Recently, this student told me he’d been working on a rap in my honor (it is titled my first name). I laughed out loud as I read some of these lines. But, as my time as a teacher comes to a close, I walk away knowing that I impacted at least one student in a significant way. Here are the first few bars that he shared with me (apparently, many more to come):

This school year for sure has been really peculiar

I met an English teacher who’s pretty tubular

Through his class I’ve been triumphant against Lucifer

Reading “1984,” Winston worried about what the Party would do to her

When I saw him I thought he had beast chinos

He helped me understand being a rapper is like gambling down Reno

So I better win down at that casino

I remembered he made us write an essay ’bout heroes

He also be that teacher that breathes on students’ neck like he was their P.O.

His class was pretty difficult like Shaq hittin’ free throws

Through his guidance he made sure F’s–I never see those

He actually got me more interested in books, libros

Helped me realize knowledge is lethal

And constant studying will make my brain cerebral

In this class I realized that being the greatest was conceivable

And going to college and rapping was achievable

“In da future I see great things of you”

Dat man [Mr. K] told me “[student's name] I believe in you.”

My man [Mr. K] he’s pretty discerning

Concerned whenever his students ain’t learning

Even wit’ no fire his need for knowledge kept burning

He keeps his students’ nose clean like a purified virgin

He epitomized the art of teaching that’s for certain

And with the books I read he kept a kid yearning

He told us our future bright so never close the curtains

[Mr. K] irreplaceable so [Principal's name] you’ll be forever searching

Imma recall when you stole my phrase

And when your vocab examples had me confused like a maze

And in my book of knowledge you helped me discover a new page

This class helped me broaden my rap aptitude in a slew of ways