J. Beck: An Educator’s story is a short documentary film about an aspiring rapper and current Chicago Public School teacher. I think Beck needs to be applauded for doing whatever he needs to do to reach his students and make learning something they want to do. From what his students say in the film, it appears that he is accomplishing that task and hitting benchmarks. I taught in CPS for 3 years in Englewood, and there is nothing nice about our failing school system. You must find ways to reach the kids where they are, and using music is a great way to do that. Check out the video below, it’s a great watch.
Joe Becker is a middle school teacher & hip hop artist at an inner city school on Chicago’s south side. With an epidemic of murders going on in the streets and a 50% chance of youths not graduating from high school, there seems to be little hope. But Joe is trying to reach these kids and in doing so using his hip hop songs to help steer these kids away from a life of crime. Produced by David Turvey