Mix-tape made with love by a millennial veteran teacher, to any teacher just starting their journey Track 1. “Can I Kick It?” – A Tribe Called Quest (1990) Lyric: “Can I kick it? Yes you can.” 🎧 Musical Critique: Smooth, jazzy, and minimalist—built around a Lou Reed sample (“Walk on the Wild Side”) with warm basslines and conversational delivery. It oozes laid-back confidence and accessibility. This is hip-hop as community dialogue. ✏️ Teacher Advice: You’re stepping into something big—and maybe scary. But your voice, your rhythm, your background—they all belong here. You don’t need to imitate. Bring yourself into the room.As cliche as it sounds, teaching it starts with relationship. Your students will love you for you, so bring all that you are into your classroom. Yes, you can. Hey there, New Teacher Friend,
Can I kick it? Yes, you can. Perhaps my favorite playful line from the golden era of hip-hop— the song in its entirety embodies one of the most important lessons I ever learned about teaching: find your rhythm, find your people, and never forget that you can kick it—even on the hard days. Look—teaching is hard. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying to themselves or selling some serious toxic positivity. You’re stepping into a profession that will ask for everything—your heart, your energy, your time…. But you don’t have to give it your soul. You may have heard about the concept of “Marigold Teachers.” If not, pause and read the classic article “Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers.” Think about marigold flowers: they are warm, sturdy, and…. they have a natural way of keeping pests away. Marigold teachers are just like that—bright, resilient, utterly life-giving. These are the educators you need in your corner. They’ll give you space to grow, with out critique—in your own way. These are the teachers you want to plant yourself next to. This song, “Can I Kick It?”—with its fun rhythm, playful tone, and effortless vibe—is the soundtrack of that kind of teacher. It’s not showy. It’s not desperate to impress. It’s confident. It's calm. “It’s a box of positives.” (but not in that ever dreaded toxic positivity way) I’ve been lucky to work in schools that are Marigold-heavy. Not perfect. Not pain-free. But full of teachers who’d bring over a cup of coffee and ask, “Want to walk and vent?” And I borrowed from their brilliance—kind of like jazz artists riffing off each other. We weren’t performing for administrators or pitching perfect lessons. We were building live, humming ecosystems inside classrooms together. Look: did the job get easy? Heck, no. There were and will always be testing mandates, broken copiers, meetings that made me question my life choices…. But every day after school ended, I had my tribe. We shared hacks. We vented frustrations. We laughed way too loud at inside jokes. We recharged. And we survived. We thrived. Listen. Find the Marigolds. Listen for that kind of energy. You’ll feel it before you see it—it sounds like laughter after dismissal and looks like a post-it on your desk that says, “You’ve got this.” That’s exactly what “Can I Kick It?” embodies—the familiar loop of positivity and rhythm: “Like a box of positives, it’s a plus love.” That’s your vibe, too—energy you bring before you walk in the door. Curriculum? You'll learn it. Classroom management? You'll grow with it. But being yourself—whole, curious, patient, real—you bring that from Day One. So here’s my advice:
Yes. You got this. And I’m thankful you’re here. And to the Marigolds I have been so lucky to have in my life these last twenty years- and especially last year- thank you, beyond words, always and forever. In solidarity, —Mrs. K, A Millennial Teacher Who’s (Somehow) Still Standing
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"The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see." - Alexandra K. Trenfor |