To those who still subscribe to the stereotype of school teachers as being rigid and out-of-touch with reality, meet Joey Batts.
The 2013 (Hartford) Teacher of the Year finalist rescheduled our meeting because he needed to get Pacman inked on his calf. He jokingly (or maybe not) told his superiors that if he won, he would have gotten a face tattoo. Body modification aside, the bowtie-wearing rapper, open mic host, and English teacher stands out for other reasons. For one, he has chosen to teach at Opportunity High School, a place where students who “were given up on a long time ago” have a chance at getting a diploma instead of GED. It’s not unheard of for his students to have a pregnancy, a record, or an ankle bracelet.
It’d be overly simplistic to say there are people who run away from challenges and others who embrace them, but Batts would fit more into that second category.
The snow sticks around longer in Connecticut than New York City, Batts said, which is one of the reasons he has done the same. After coming to the area to attend college, he has stayed. That is in spite of “some dude shooting an automatic weapon off a roof on South Marshall” when he lived over on Laurel Street. Some would use that as reason to move to the suburbs; he just relocated to another section of the city.
As a performer, he said that he “pushes Connecticut” when he’s up on stage. He sees how artists, clothing makers, and others in the community can be helping each other out. In turn, he gets help in the form of “love from the radio stations.”
Whether encouraging performers to get up on stage at the open mic at Sully’s or inviting students to embrace poetry, Batts is strengthening that community by letting people know their voices matter.
The two identities — teacher and hip hop artist — he tried to keep separate for some time. While working at Hartford High School (before working at Opportunity High School) he said “not one kid knew” that he was a performer. It was while teaching summer school after his second year in the field that a student found one of the ubiquitous stickers bearing Batts’ face; the “kid ripped off a sticker and said ‘that’s got to be you.'” Batts said, “it all went downhill from there.”
If downhill means eventually becoming a finalist for the Teacher of the Year award.
The two worlds might seem confounding, but with the kind of confidence one would expect from a performer, Batts said, “I look phenomenal on paper.”
No teacher is going to last beyond two years in a classroom if he only looks good on paper. Batts, who has tenure, practices along with his students. “In the poetry unit,” he said, “I write a poem as well.” After refining their work, they take poetry to the next level. He said, “when I make them read the poems […] they see where cadence comes in.”
This is not drill-and-test teaching. Despite, or perhaps because of this, Batts says that his students “are performing [….] I’ve got great data.”
That’s not surprising to educators with even a hint of self-awareness: if you want to engage, be engaging.
To see where Joey Batts will be popping up outside of the classroom, check out his calendar.