#spoofschool

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And finally, in my last year at good old Chavez Prep, I bid (or is it bade?) farewell to 770 Kenyon Street with these last 2 academic anthems. (You can see this full medley and the full individual videos on YouTube on the Spoof School and Chavez Prep channels, respectively.) The first was "Top Scores", a spoof of "Tom Ford" by Jay-Z. The second was "Eagles", a spoof of "Royals" by Lorde, which was written by me and sung by my darling student Rahel Mideska (not shown in the video), who was a 9th grader at the time and just recently finished high school! Without either of us knowing it, Rahel was crucial to the development of #spoofschool . When I was her 8th grade science teacher, we would play a game called Skituations to get ready for my tests. Students could review the test material in any creative way they wanted to, including making up games, skits, arts & crafts, songs, etc. Rahel, who idolized Adele, would write these brilliant science spoofs and sing them at the end of class, blowing us all away. I'll never forget the "Rolling In The Deep" parody she wrote about ionic and covalent bonds. "We could have had a bond, but you repelled meeeeeee!" #tomford #jayz @jayz #lorde @lordemusic #royals #spoof #parody #educationalspoof #educationalparody #educationalrap (DM me NOW to find out how to book a @spoofschool assembly or residency at your school! (at Cesar Chavez Public Charter School)

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The haven of arts education integration. The heartland of smarts, man. They put the "fun" in "funding" and the "School" in #SpoofSchool . This is . . home. @arts4learning @blackroot1 @moniqueycox #YoungAudiences #TeachingArtistry #TeachingArtist @spoofschool (at Young Audiences Of Maryland)

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This is my @spoofschool logo. In this first physical form, it adorns a journal handmade with love by one @sweetturtleberry for my 40th birthday. She remembered me describing it in a single conversation which I barely even recall and captured it here. She understood that #SpoofSchool is my passion, my movement, the combination of my strengths and the next phase of my professional life. Now, as Spoof School grows, whenever I see this logo in any form, I will think of her supportive, loving energy. Thank you, Freckles.

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(Follow @spoofschool for more of my teaching artist adventures!) . . . I would be lying if I said that every step of my journey as a teaching artist has been easy. I started out as the golden child, the first round draft pick, winner of a Teaching Artist Institute Fellowship, rah, rah, rah. . . . Then I got my first bad evaluation. "His whole assembly focused on our differences. He joked about McDonald's when a lot of our students can only afford to eat there. He joked about the President and we try to keep politics out of our school. Why was he singing about stealing cars? And what is CRUNK? Isn't that an offensive term?" . . . I took my lumps. I learned from them. I made adjustments. And I moved on. . . . Then I got my first microaggression: an evaluation that said my assembly was great but I was a problem. I won't even get into that one. Quite frankly, I think it was the skin I'm in. . . . When you're trying something new and different, not everyone will get it or get with it. But I believe in #SpoofSchool and #CrunkAcademy . I've seen the great things they can do in schools. The spirit of creative joy that makes learning adventurous, indelible and less like work. And assemblies like the one I just had help bolster that belief. . . . We sang. We danced. We joked. We laughed. And oh yeah, we learned. . . . Thank you for rocking with me, Sandymount. I'll be back.

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Getting ready to get it on! #CrunkAcademy #SpoofSchool @tccva (at TCC Portsmouth Campus Student Activities)

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Your alarm clock goes off. You maul it back into silence, roll over, kiss your lover's cheek. You groggily (excuse my adverb, writing teachers) shuffle your way to the kitchen to start a cup of coffee, maybe another for your aforementioned lover. You step outside to get the paper, happy to live in peaceful suburbia where the paper is still delivered. And you see this masked mischief-maker trooping up your block. As Dennis Hopper asked in that classic piece of cinema called Speed: "WHAT do you do?" Or, better still, as Sean Connery put it in that classic foray of film called The Untouchables: "WHAT are you prepared to do? Huh?!" #SpoofSchool #CrunkAcademy What (at Baltimore County, Maryland)

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So this morning's @spoofschool teaching arts adventures involved catching the 5:50am MARC train from DC to Baltimore, then about a half hour on the light rail to Glen Burnie and a mile walk to Hilltop Elementary to conduct two assemblies. After that, I walked about a mile and a half to BWI Airport from which I caught a couple of shuttles to get to the MARC station so I could get back to DC to hold a couple of afternoon writing/performance workshops. Amidst all this, I saw a gentleman whose sizable and uniquely-shaped luggage could only have been either an upright bass carrier or Megatron himself. Since I'm a fan of both, I took a picture, with the permission of my good-natured musician friend, of course. #TeachingArtistTravels #SpoofSchool #CrunkAcademy (at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI))

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Just rocked the #spoofschool assembly ("The Proof Is In the Spoof!") at Thomas Stone Elementary. We came. We saw. We Juju-ed on that beat. Sorry, not sorry, Redskins fans! @pgthomasstonees (Book a Spoof School or C.R.U.N.K. Academy assembly or residency at your school NOW! Look up Drew Anderson at www.yamd.org.) @arts4learning (at Thomas S. Stone PTO)

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@spoofschool #SpoofSchool strikes again! This time, it's a food justice lesson at @theboysinstitute . Fearless leader @__mr.p had the #peaceking crew capture images of the food desert around them. Then in our cultivation session, I showed them how to flip the brands using hyperbole, metaphor, simile, and (naturally) parody. Shout out to founder @karegabailey ! #peacekings (at DC Scholars Stanton Elementary)

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Of course y'all knew I had to spoof #bodakyellow , right? "Lil' bully, you can't bully me if you WANTED toooo!" lol My recent adventures as a teaching artist have taken me to the Bowie Center for Performing Arts, The Boys' Institute, Capital Heights Elementary, Fullerton Elementary (pictured here) and more. But ever since I wrote #BodakBully , schools have been reaching out to me specifically for anti-bullying programs. My calendar is filling quickly, but there is still room for more engagements (particularly in what's left of 2017). So book Drew Anderson NOW at www.yamd.org ( @arts4learning ) for an assembly or residency at your school, afterschool program, or organization! #spoofschool can also be adapted as a great team builder and icebreaker for your company. And it will soon be available as an AirBnb Experience! Don't forget to follow my growth as a teaching artist and motivational speaker at @spoofschool on Instagram and Twitter!

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#SpoofSchool presents the #16BarBookReport of #MilesMoralesSpiderMan by @jasonreynolds83 ! Instrumental: "Nas Is Like" by @Nas , produced by @DJPremier Lyrics: Miles is like . . . Son of Rio and Jefferson, Aaron's nephew and / I was born the same time Aaron was killed— a beginning and end / When I'm in stealth mode, arachnophobia is engrained / In every criminal from Red Hook to Rockaway / First it was Peter, but after he vanished / Now Spider-Man is Miles Morales; the black and Hispanic child arachnid / Spent time feeling shame for the crime of my name / Now I fight crime as I swing from a line of webbing / While my best friend Ganke's writing Korean poetry / I'm in the back of class wishing Alicia would notice me / But Chamberlain, the history instructor / Is a shady cat, a racist-assed Confederate celebrant mother . . . / Now I'm suspended from school and my parents are broke / Should I quit being Spider-Man to help with my folks? / Conspiratorial designs from Ku Klux minds / Could make Brownsville and Charlottesville two of a kind / This brother Jason's given us an amazing / Tale linking webslinging with the Black Lives Matter generation / And through the villain, the President's presence is felt / But M-I-L-E-S are the letters that spell (Miles, Miles, Miles) P.S. Before I'm inundated by fact-checking fans, I know that Miles wasn't literally born when his uncle Aaron (aka "Prowler") died. What I meant was that Miles' resolve to fight crime as Spider-Man was "born" in a sense when he stood up to his uncle, who died trying to kill him. #marvel #milesmorales #spiderman #makeminemarvel Spider-Man jacket (mine, not the novel's) designed by @djoneluv . Spider-Man pillow and blanket crocheted with love by @lunathepoet . (at Brooklyn, New York)

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(See/hear my brand new Spidey song and all of my other #16BarBookReports NOW at my @spoofschool account!) Soooo . . . what book will be the subject of my next #16BarBookReport ?? Welp, here's a hint: Brooklyn meets Queens and Miles meets #Nas as I review my man @jasonreynolds83 's dope new YA novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man! But which @nas instrumental did I freak to rhyme about the Negro-Rican webslinger? Check the next post to find out! #Illmatic Miles art by Axel Alonso. Novel cover art by Kadir Nelson. #marvel #makeminemarvel #SpoofSchool #16BarBookReports #spiderman #milesmorales (at Brooklyn, New York)

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#SpoofSchool presents the #16BarBookReport of #MilesMoralesSpiderMan by @jasonreynolds83 ! Instrumental: "Nas Is Like" by @Nas , produced by DJ Premier Lyrics: Miles is like . . . Son of Rio and Jefferson, Aaron's nephew and / I was born the same time Aaron was killed— a beginning and end / When I'm in stealth mode, arachnophobia is engrained / In every criminal from Red Hook to Rockaway / First it was Peter, but after he vanished / Now Spider-Man is Miles Morales; the black and Hispanic child arachnid / Spent time feeling shame for the crime of my name / Now I fight crime as I swing from a line of webbing / While my best friend Ganke's writing Korean poetry / I'm in the back of class wishing Alicia would notice me / But Chamberlain, the history instructor / Is a shady cat, a racist-assed Confederate celebrant mother . . . / Now I'm suspended from school and my parents are broke / Should I quit being Spider-Man to help with my folks? / Conspiratorial designs from Ku Klux minds / Could make Brownsville and Charlottesville two of a kind / This brother Jason's given us an amazing / Tale linking webslinging with the Black Lives Matter generation / And through the villain, the President's presence is felt / But M-I-L-E-S are the letters that spell (Miles, Miles, Miles) P.S. Before I'm inundated by fact-checking fans, I know that Miles wasn't literally born when his uncle Aaron (aka "Prowler") died. What I meant was that Miles' resolve to fight crime as Spider-Man was "born" in a sense when he stood up to his uncle, who died trying to kill him. #marvel #milesmorales #spiderman #makeminemarvel (at Brooklyn, New York)

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#SpoofSchool presents the #16BarBookReport of #Dollbaby by #LauraLaneMcNeal @llmcneal Music: "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues What if the story The Help was written New Orleans? / Well, I never read The Help, but I've lived in New Orleans / And through Queenie and Fannie, Vidrine and Ibby and Doll and them / Ms. McNeal has dipped us in 60's New Orleans / The racial tensions, integration sit-ins / And Ibby, the fish out of water, learning to swim in / Ms. Fannie's sea of secrets; generations deep with / A twist at the end which Ibby couldn't foresee, kid; / Must admit I liked the story better than the storytelling / It was never boring, rather quite compelling / But I kinda sorta found Laura short on metaphorical connections / Showing versus telling, but you know / Not every pen produces Proustian prose / As far as debuts go / Laissez les bontemps roll; I bid you adieu: opposite of bonjour . . (at New Orleans, Louisiana)

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My 3rd #SpoofSchool #16BarBookReport reviewed #Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal @llmcneal . Check it out in the next post! #16barbookreports (at New Orleans, Louisiana)

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#SpoofSchool #16BarBookReports presents #MindOfMyMind by #octaviabutler Music: "Lovely Head" by Goldfrapp @goldfrappmusic @alison_goldfrapp Lyrics: Doro, you done created a monster / But be she the disease or the doctor? / The truth or the consequence? Because she gets into your mind and then / That's how this Patternist design begins / Ever wish they all could be California girls? / Well, be careful what you wish for / 'Cause you never know what Mary has in store / Not a little lamb, a little lamentation; revolution revelation / The first family of telepaths / Versus the grand bodysnatcher / All at the hands of the master black science fiction crafter / Octavia Butler, rest in peace, Madame / Mind Of My Mind, 'cause your mind is my mind / And my mind is your mind once you come to Forsyth / Will Mary make madness or music? / Well, she can do anything once she puts your mind to it . . . "Frankenstein would want your mind . . your lovely head . . " ~ Alison Goldfrapp @octaviabutlerbookclub #16BarBookReport #patternist #patternistseries #lovelyhead #goldfrapp #sciencefiction #blacksciencefiction #blackwriters #TeachingArtist #TeachingArtistry #bookreview #bookreviews #ELA #RELA #ripoctaviabutler