MANCHESTER — In his first yr as an English instructor at Manchester Excessive Faculty, Joe Battaglia has already had a deep impact on the neighborhood.
“Mr. Battaglia has been an exquisite addition to our employees,” Battaglia’s colleague, Amanda Navarra, stated. “He’s a robust inventive downside solver and group participant, and he’s open to new concepts and techniques.”
Battaglia, who joined MHS within the fall after instructing in Hartford, can also be a rapper and promoter and has given again to Manchester by way of his charity. His means to attach with college students as each a instructor and a mentor has helped a few of them thrive.
For the previous eight years, Battaglia, 39, who makes use of the stage title Joey Batts, has organized Hip Hop for the Homeless, a vacation live performance collection that includes native hip-hop artists that advantages organizations that handle homelessness. Certainly one of this yr’s reveals happened at The Fundamental Pub and raised almost $1,500 for MACC Charities, which Battaglia stated is probably the most he’s ever raised in a single city. The collection raised a complete of $5,755 in seven cities.
Battaglia stated MHS confirmed its help for his charity by donating cash from a group effort known as “Put money into the Nest,” which collected donations from academics who selected to decorate down on Fridays.
Navarra, who stated she not too long ago attended one of many reveals, known as Battaglia a “fantastic emcee and performer.”
“I appreciated that, by partnering with a neighborhood group and that includes native artists, the occasion felt very tied to the neighborhood,” Navarra, who’s the district’s innovation and analysis strategist, stated.
Battaglia stated the inspiration behind the live performance collection got here from an after-school dialog with a former scholar, who revealed that they have been homeless.
“That was the primary time the place I used to be like, possibly the homeless inhabitants isn’t simply older individuals or veterans or individuals who have handled an amazing tragedy,” Battaglia stated. “I believed concerning the homeless inhabitants really being youngsters and folks that I work with every day.”
At MHS, Battaglia continues to point out that curiosity in his college students, his colleagues and college students agree. MHS senior Zach Fareira, who carried out in New Britain for Hip Hop for the Homeless, stated Battaglia takes day trip of his day to inspect college students and ensure they’re doing effectively.
“He’s all the time asking about my rapping and what’s occurring in my private life,” Fareira stated. “He cares about his college students.”
Connecting music, literature
Battaglia, an alumnus of the College of Hartford, labored as a instructor for Hartford Public Colleges earlier than becoming a member of MHS. He stated he by no means needed to depart Hartford, his hometown, however felt like the varsity system pressured his hand after it dealt with the pandemic so poorly.
At MHS, Battaglia stated he knew he would have the chance to show college students of coloration, a gaggle that he has been working along with his whole profession. Manchester, he stated, “actually marries that sense of scholars from many numerous backgrounds.”
Instructing English was a pure match as a result of the topic goes hand in hand with rapping and music, Battaglia stated. He enjoys instructing the “traditional stuff off the canon,” similar to John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Males,” William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” and Homer’s “Odyssey” and “Iliad.”
English additionally opens avenues for significant conversations with college students about necessary matters similar to race relations, tradition, and ethnicity.
“The attractive factor about English is we are able to have these open debates — it’s not like algebra or math,” Battaglia stated. “It lends itself to so many teachable moments and so many sensible conversations that they’re in a position to make the most of in the true world.”
Often, Battaglia will mix his passions of instructing and music to assist college students join with the studying materials and with each other. For some books, college students may have the choice to attract a particular scene, permitting them to interpret and join with the fabric on one other degree.
The exercise additionally exposes college students to components of various cultures, since most college students’ drawings are based mostly on artwork they’ve seen rising up, or artwork that’s conventional to their nation and other people, Battaglia stated.
“His model of instructing connects extra with me and helps me study higher,” MHS senior Michael Carta stated. “Generally he has us write a mini story or some poetry, and that basically helps my thoughts higher.”
“So long as college students are OK with taking a threat they usually really feel secure they usually know that nobody goes to criticize their artwork or have a look at it negatively … it’s all the time a enjoyable exercise,” Battaglia stated.
Appearing out performs is one other exercise Battaglia stated he enjoys doing with college students, as a result of it will get them “talking traces and believing within the characters.” His interactive classes and method of instructing have created a collaborative environment within the classroom that’s “all the time stuffed with engaged college students,” Navarra stated.
Battaglia “brings his inventive synergy into his classroom, which inspires college students to interact deeper and problem their educational considering in untraditional methods,” MHS Assistant Principal Amaka Okwuazi stated.
Rising up in a tricky atmosphere, Battaglia stated he all the time appreciated academics who confirmed help and cared for his common effectively being; small gestures like having a instructor strike up an after-school dialog held further that means.
Due to these interactions with academics, Battaglia determined when he was round 17 or 18 years outdated that it might be “actually cool” to be an individual who children might speak to in the event that they lacked different helps. Forming relationships is one among his strengths, he stated, and he continues to be a constructive function mannequin for Manchester college students and neighborhood members.
“I’m fortunate (college students) are snug sufficient having these conversations with me as a result of we’re in a position to meet on a standard degree floor and they’ll speak in confidence to me greater than they’d one other educator,” Battaglia stated. “I’m very lucky for that.”
Austin Mirmina covers Manchester and Bolton.
