“This program helps me get use to speaking to people about myself and topics that are prevalent in society. I am very interested in gaining community service credits with this organization.”

“Kids are exposed to so many messages in music and media that we have to adapt how we’re presenting our material based on what the world is presenting to them. This approach to teaching does that.”

“I have let the children bring in their own music when I’m trying to get them to learn figurative language and it has been very effective. ”

“To me, our school district needs to have this. The way this is being presented, religion is not a part of it. It’s simply values, it’s simply good, solid values that, if people live by this they have substance in their life and they have some purpose in their life as opposed to what is being portrayed.”

“If you’re going to use their music you have to have someone who respects their music. I would only be comfortable having someone trained in deconstructing music with my child because I need to know exactly what the conversation is going to be about.”

“I think it’s a good instructional strategy to introduce kids to some of our music as well as being open to listening to some of their music and sitting down with them, especially in an English class or a Social Studies class to identify what is being said.”

“I think this approach to teaching and learning would be a very good way to address health education standards because, it’s taking the real-world context and having them pull from the vocabulary used in music to analyze and learn new words and discuss the messages portrayed in the music.”

“This gives the students who don’t care about school or starting to show signs of being disengaged, or already disengaged, something to care about.”

“The way this is being presented is based on good, solid values. If children are taught to live by these values at home and in school, then they would have some purpose in their lives vs being so influenced by what is being portrayed in the media.”

“All of the things that your program addresses are things that we want and need to address.”

“One important thing is you have to have an instructor who sees this as more of a Socratic process where you’re facilitating a discussion by asking questions and allowing the kids to come to their own conclusions with guidance, as needed.”

“Kids are willing to open their minds to learning about things if it’s something that is relevant to their daily lives.”

“It depends on whether I think the teacher likes it or not. For me to bring my music into the classroom, teachers have to like it. If they didn’t like it, I don’t want them judging me for the music I listen to and I know they will if they don’t like that type of music.”

“I recommend this program begin in middle school. The information needs to be presented in a way that younger students understand and build up as the grades move upward. Having these discussions in an educational setting is very important. I approve of this happening.”

“Music and media are things that kids love, that they like and they’re drawn to for some reason, you know. The key question is why is it that kids are drawn to certain themes and messages and why aren’t we addressing those things in school? We must address their emotional and mental health.”

“Turning this over to someone who really doesn’t know the purpose and what we’re doing would be way too risky.”

“Training for something like this needs to focus on what values are we trying to carry over to the students.”

“Sometimes for the student, it depends on the race of the teacher. Yeah, that often changes things. It depends on how a teacher or adult talks about these topics…like how you approach it. ”