Introduction
Eddie 1 never walked into class; he glided, pointed toes first across the threshold. The doorway, an unsaid divide between the freedom of the hallways and the structure of the classroom had no bearing on his body. Sharpening his pencil involved elaborate turns and a Michael Jackson-inspired moonwalk. His desk could not confine him; when he was made to sit down, his arms would contort in ways I thought impossible of the human body.
Eddie was a TURF (Take Up Room on the Floor) dancer, a style of hip-hop dance from Oakland, California, and over the next two years my classroom became his studio. Over lunch Eddie perfected such moves as "bone-breaking" and an elaborate dive into a backbend and twist at the same time. Sometimes his sessions would gather a crowd of students excited by the seemingly impossible contortions of his body but usually it was just the two of us and a boom box, scratchy speakers turned up too high and desks pushed back to provide adequate room on the dance floor.
Eddie was able to respond to the violence, oppression, angst, and excitement in his life through performance art rather than a gun. In essence, Eddie exhibited resiliency in the face of adversity. This is not true just of Eddie; many of my students show immense resiliency, and they have inspired the development of this curriculum unit.
I teach in Emeryville, California, a small urban community surrounded by Oakland, Berkeley, and the San Francisco Bay. Our small, 1.2 square mile town sits at the base of the Bay Bridge, and in recent years, it has become a haven for the young tech community attracted to luxury condos and its proximity to San Francisco. This new group of citizens contrasts drastically with our student population whose families have mostly been in the neighborhood for generations or recently arrived from Latin America, India, and the Middle East. Even as the families of our students are pushed out of Emeryville due to gentrification, they continue to send their students to our schools. In addition, there is a significant group of transitional students that may attend our school for a few months, semester, or just one year. We are also a very small district, with just two schools and about 350 students in 7 th – 12 th grades. This small environment allows for strong relationship amongst students and staff from which I've greatly benefited.
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