Miss, You Needs a Shape-Up

So I was really engaged by the story Dr. Abe told us today in class about the teacher in Newark who used the music of the people in her class to teach (a la rap). She really embraced the students' lifeworlds and made that the lifeworld and environment of the classroom. I probably wouldn't be able to do this--even in a NYC public school--because I'd probably get fired (talk about institutionalization) but I feel that at the same time it is important to connect to the students' life world, through music and your everyday interactions with them...

Many of my students use ebonics in their everyday speech. Instead of telling me to get a haircut, they say, "Miss, I's gots to tell you sumthin... you needs a shape-up." It took me a week to figure out what a shape-up was. They ask me (or, rather, they "ax" me) if they can use the "affroom" (that is, the bathroom). This speech is them, it is a part of them. And I need to embrace it. I could disregard it when they talk like this, but I feel that I can't. When I have no idea what they're talking about, I ask them; shouldn't I know how they communicate and express themselves? I even try to use some of their speech in my speaking (I find many things to be "whack" these days--that is, crazy). Though this is not truly embracing a lifeworld in the fullest sense, I have to start somewhere to get somewhere. Maybe my colleagues think I'm nuts for asking the kids about their speech and interests, and think I'm even nuttier (or whack) for trying to practice the terms. But I know my students LOVE to talk about their speech and interests with me and really appreciate that I try to grasp onto their lives in some way. Am I whack for doing this, or am I on the right track?

Also, the guy we were talking about today with art as an institution is named George Dickie, and his book is called "What is Art." In case you'd like some reading after classes are over. :-)