I am currently student teaching at Pittsburgh CAPA and will most likely use this blog as an opportunity to test drive possible lessons or ideas for things I could bring into the classroom. The first idea I had was an activity I would use to keep students busy while I had one-on-one meetings with each student about their cumulative projects. The cumulative project will be for their current unit dealing with the theme of stereotypes and how they affect how we shape ourselves. The next unit will be on speeches with the theme of shared human experience. I wanted to show a speech that the students could analyze for the stereotype theme they had just finished, while also giving them opportunity to look forward to the next theme. What I came up with was playing a speech by Aesha Jaco. Aesha Says (Intro) is used as the introduction to Lupe Fiasco's: Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Part 1. For those that do not have audio capabilities here are the lyrics. I would provide the students with prompts such as "Using specific examples, describe how this speech addresses stereotypes through figurative language," "How does the speech's structure or syntax affect the theme," and "What examples found in this speech can be used to describe differences in cultures, but shared human experiences." Any and all criticism is welcome.