1/29/2001

I taught my lesson on Bob Marley, and once again, like the Martin Luther King Jr. lesson, the kids were pretty unresponsive. But one class did actually seem to enjoy the lesson. I had about twenty minutes to inform the students about Bob Marley and some of the things he did. It's very difficult to relate foreign things to my students, so I figured that a world map, some pictures, and music would do the trick. The theme song for the lesson was "One Love/ People Get Ready". I chose this song because it's probably the easiest Bob Marley song to understand for them and I wanted them to sing-a-long with me.

"Does anybody know where Jamaica is?" I asked the class. In four of the five classes that I taught this lesson to I got blank faces. But the one class that enjoyed the lesson, they knew where Jamaica was. "Near Dominica" one of the students said. I was shocked and thrilled all at the same time. I knew this was going to be good. I said, "Yes, it is. Please come to the board and point to Jamaica". After he pointed to Jamaica, I told the students that my mother was born in Jamaica and that I liked Jamaican culture and music. Next came the picture of Bob Marley. "Do you know him?" I ask the students. This is when the comedians of the class took over: "Jamal's father!" one said. "No." I replied. "Jamal's brother!" another one said. "No." "Jamal's mother!" "No!!" I said laughingly.

I then explained to them that Bob Marley was a famous reggae singer and that he helped to make reggae music very popular throughout the world. I also told them that he sang for peace in many of his songs because there were so many wars and wrongdoings going on in the world. "He sang in many different places," I said "even in Japan".

After that came the explanation of "One Love/ People Get Ready":

One Love => we all feel the same love

One Heart => we all have the same heart

Let's get together and feel all right => let's be happy together

Then finally…the sing-a-long. The kids actually sang the words with me!! I was ecstatic! We only sang that one line of the chorus, but I felt like I had finally reached these kids and I was teaching them something they could not get from their regular classes.

After that class I felt good. I was happy about what I did, but the "icing on the cake" didn't come until basketball practice after school. One of the girls from the class started singing the melody of the song while she was stretching before practice and asked me to sing together with her. I didn't care whether she or the other students truly understand what the song is about, they 're only thirteen years old, but I was just happy to finally feel like I gave the kids something they wouldn't soon forget.