Hip-hop and history

Award-winning teacher at Garinger uses both to educate students

Having taken a nontraditional route to the classroom, James Ford – the 2012-2013 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Teacher of the Year – makes use of all his experiences to better reach his students.

Ford, 32, teaches world history at Garinger High School. He buzzes with energy as he talks about his passion for teaching young people. Seriously. You can nearly hear the electricity crackle as he describes his philosophy on teaching.

“History is much more than just remembering dates and names. It’s not linear; history is a circle, a dialogue. What’s past is future if we don’t understand it and learn from it.”

Those lessons might in fact take years to take root. “We use history every day whether we know it or not. What you have done in the past will directly influence what you can do tomorrow; for example, your ability to get a credit card is impacted by how well you have met your obligations in the past.”

Kondra Rattley, who was principal at Garinger, praises his ability to connect with students. “Mr. Ford is an outstanding teacher whose strongest quality is his reflective practice. He constantly gauges his impact on his students and the broader community.”

Ford has taught in CMS since 2010 and will proceed to the district teacher-of-the-year competition in September.

Judah the Lyrical Rev and journalism

Ford knows firsthand the difficulties some of his students face in school. Beginning at 13, Ford found purpose and confidence in an unlikely role, as a rap artist. Using the moniker Judah the Lyrical Rev he readily embraced the hip-hop lifestyle, if not the stereotypical message, with raps centered on his faith and socially conscious issues.

In college, Ford continued to rap and focused on journalism. “I had my heart set on journalism with print journalism as a focus,” he says. As an undergraduate at Illinois State, he worked for the student newspaper and started a newsletter focusing on the college’s African American community. After graduation, Ford found that many jobs in print journalism had simply dried up.

Returning to his hometown of Rockford, Ill., Ford started work as director of a teen center and as a substitute teacher. At the center, Ford had a caseload of at-risk kids and soon discovered that those same kids he saw at the center were the same ones struggling in school. He then realized his own calling and returned to school to pursue a graduate degree in teaching at Rockford College.

Today, Ford draws from all his experience, teaching his students to evaluate historic events as an editor and to present their ideas in an approachable format. He’s even been known to write raps to help cement class lessons.

“In class, I talk about the reliability of sources and teach them to lead with the most important information, just like a journalist would do,” he says. “I’m experimental. I’ve done rap reviews leading up to the test. I’ll send out an mp3 covering the material in that unit.”

Although most of his raps today are confined to the classroom, he credits much of his current success to his early interest in the music.

“Hip-hop influences my approach in the classroom. A lot of my swagger and presentation, I wouldn’t have otherwise,” he says. “It’s a metaphor-based art form and is improvisational, both which lend well to the classroom. It affects how I present and articulate material and is all about composition and delivery. All of these are the messages I want to convey to my students.”