Alex Corbitt taught middle school English for five years at The Bronx School of Young Leaders in New York City. This fall he will enrol at Boston College to pursue a doctoral study in literacy instruction. His interests include gamification, socio-emotional learning, education technology, and literacy. Alex loves learning with fellow educators, and he regularly presents at conferences around the United States.
Through his doctoral work, Alex is interested in how we can teach literacy in ways that connect with students’ lives. “I’m interested in researching the ways we can link reading and writing with different aspects of student identity.” Named one of the Top 30 Under 30 by The Literacy Association, Alex advocates for listening to kids and finding ways to use their interests and prior knowledge to “tap into their passions and help them connect and engage with the community.” While noting that he will miss the kids, Alex’s goal is to continue sharing his learning with educators and colleagues as he pursues his next steps.
Alex’s P3 is an exploration of metal genres (metalcore, hardcore, and grindcore) that he used to love as a teenager. While he loves all sorts of music, he thought that this would be a “...fun and possibly quirky opportunity to share music I was very passionate about when I was in middle school and high school.”
Alex’s nostalgic song is one that was really transformative for him in Middle School. “In 6th, 7th and 8th grade, music was almost my entire world.” In Grade 8, he recalled being at his grandmother's when he took out a CD that a friend had burned for him. “I took the burned CD and lay it in my green Sony Discman...initially it completely horrified me, I was so scared.” While he wasn’t drawn in from the beginning, Alex stuck with it. “The genre of metal core balances very abrasive kind of screaming versus with very melodic singing choruses.” Several months later, Alex learned the lyrics to the song and screamed out a cover of the track with his garage band at his middle school’s talent show. This connects him with the talent shows he has helped with at his former school.
Alex finds this song endemic of a middle school. He plays out the metaphor noting that, “The differences in volume and aggression mimic all the dynamics of a middle school existence: incredible highs and incredible lows, and moments of clarity and moments of confusion and angst…I think it’s more like a guttural resonance.” The name of the band is an allusion to the movie The Neverending Story. Here’s Lip Gloss and Black by Atreyu:
There is so much raw power in Alex’s musical choices, and he moves from a metalcore choice to one that is hardcore punk for his identity song. “Hard core is more drawn out power chords, breakdowns and gang vocals where the whole audience sings together in community, which is exciting.” Even though Alex doesn't always connect with the lyrics, the words in this song relate to a lot of the social emotional aspects of his work with lines like Never say never, cause you do not know what is ahead and Better to follow your heart. “This song, for me, epitomizes, being vulnerable and taking a creative leap.”
This song came out in the early 2000’s and related to the culture of that time focused around DIY. Before today’s technologies like YouTube, recounts our guest, this band made a low budget video that blew Alex’s mind. “Wow...we can really come together and create …” He recalls this as a time of risk taking and exploration. “You need to have safe and inspiring spaces to do that.” He related this music to some hometown favourites from New Jersey and New York like Bacon, egg and cheese. “It’s as simple and as straightforward and honest as it sounds...In the same way, it’s a very simple kind of loud, lack of apology kind of food, so is metal and hardcore...” A band from Winnipeg, Manitoba named after a newspaper headline about the comeback of a famous Canadian hockey player, here is Lorelei by Comeback Kid:
Alex relates all of his song choices to the age group that he has been teaching and extends the metaphor to his choices of songs. “From an outsider perspective, it might be hard to understand at first. But, if you practice listening and if you take a moment to try to understand, there is value within.” He feels that his pick me up song is most indicative of this among the three. “I think it’s going to really challenge us the most...if you listen to grindcore, you don’t need to drink a cup of coffee in the morning; it’s going to wake you up.” While this music can sound “messy and discordant”, Alex calls the instrumentation “complex and sophisticated”. The song, like his role as a teacher, motivates Alex in his pursuit to understand his learners. “...I might be struggling to connect with a student, but I realize that sometimes we are not perceptive enough to realize the brilliance in our kids...this song reminds me that it’s important to not think of kids from a deficit perspective but to recheck our own mindset and say - Okay, this child is valuable and complete and talented, I’m just not understanding them and I’m focusing on the wrong angles or the wrong details.” Alex connects this back to grindcore and the redemption that can be found by breaking the music down. Here is a band out of California that dresses to the sound of their music. According to Wikipedia, “...they are known for their unique mix of grind speed and aggression, complexity, and new wave weirdness.” Here is The Locust with Live from the Russian Compound:
Alex’s visit to the Personal Playlist Podcast gave me new insights into this genre of music and how it can be an analogy of our learners and our role as educators. His selections were a flashback to his musical tastes when he was in middle school and are reflective of the cohort that he has been teaching for his entire career thus far. To learn more about Alex, you can visit his website, or follow him on Twitter at @Alex_Corbitt. We will look forward to hearing more about Alex and all he is learning at Boston College this fall and beyond.
