How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
We spent a month reading poetry from the Harlem Renaissance in our English class. Then Mr. Ward—that's our teacher—asked us to write an essay about it. Make sense to you? Me neither. I mean, what's the point of studying poetry and then writing essays? So I wrote a bunch of poems instead. They weren't too shabby, considering I'd only done a few rap pieces before. My favorite was about Langston Hughes. How was I to know Teach would ask me to read it out loud? But I did. Knees knocking like a skeleton on Halloween, embarrassment bleaching my black cheeks red, eyes stapled to the page in front of me. But I did it, I read my poem. (1.3)
Wesley starts getting into this whole school thing once he starts reading some poetry that actually relates to his life—he even starts writing his own poems. This is the first step to the kids in Mr. Ward's class realizing that literature and poetry can be pretty amazing.
Quote #2
I'm just about ready to sleep off the whole year when this teacher starts talking about poetry. And he rattles off a poem by some white guy named Dylan Thomas that sounds an awful lot like rap. Now, I know me some rap, and I start to thinking I should show Mr. Ward what rap is really all about. So I tell him I've got a poem I'd like to read. "Bring it on Friday," he says. "As a matter of fact, from now on, I'll leave time for poetry readings at the end of every month. We'll call them Open Mike Fridays." Next thing I know, I'm digging my old rap poems out of my dresser drawer and bringing them to school. I'm thinking it can't hurt to share them, even if there's no chance I'll ever get to be a songwriter. (3.3)
Tyrone is pretty into the whole poetry scene, too. Dylan Thomas is the poet that gets him going because the guy's rhythms remind Tyrone of the raps he writes. Tyrone realizes that his two worlds—school and music—can collide and people can finally start hearing his music. Boom.
Quote #3
A lot of extra kids been showing up in our class on Open Mike Fridays. They heard about the poetry and they been coming to check it out. A bunch of teachers are getting mad at Mr. Ward with all these kids skipping their classes. Everybody's talking about it. (17.1)
Okay, so we know kids cut class… but we've never heard of kids cutting their assigned class to go sit in on a different class. Looks like Open Mike Fridays have picked up quite the following. Go Mr. Ward—out hats are off to you.