“wRAPping Character around the HeARTS”
In the “Arts”, Hip Hop rap music is a popular brand of music for many young kids of America today, and most of it is used in a negative way to influence the youth, but Alcoa Elementary School has turned the tables to its advantage. Music is something that stirs the heart, so the school encourages the kids to express themselves freely through these “M.A.D." (Music/Art/Drama) skills they have developed by creating character building skits, raps, and art in our guidance program. The school has not exchanged the pursuit of knowledge for a substitute for sheer sensory delights, but instead given the students a renewed vigor and understanding to take charge of what and how they are learning things. Many of the students are lyrical poets, and they create their own version of a character rap. In some cases, popular top billboard songs are substituted with the version of good character trait rap words and sung to an instrumental version of the song. The guidance teacher also creates the raps and use them to plant seeds of good character traits into the hearts and minds of the young students.