By Kimberly Ellis

On August 17, 2021, DC educators joined the virtual workshop “Think Local, Crank Global” hosted by Teaching for Change’s Teach the Beat program and the DC Public School Office of Teaching and Learning, Music, and Arts. Inspired by her participation in this workshop, Leilani Cabrera-Spahle, a pre-K teacher at Wheatley Education Campus (DCPS), decided to weave the sounds of go-go throughout her classroom to help students connect to an important aspect of DC history.

Cabrera-Spahle ultimately wanted her students to take ownership of the musical style, but first she had to introduce them to go-go. Despite go-go’s status as the official music of DC, as young learners, most of Cabrera-Spahle’s students had no knowledge of this style of music. Cabrera-Spahle introduced go-go by playing instrumental beats and providing students with percussion instruments such as sticks, wooden blocks, and maracas. In an activity similar to “Shake, Scrape & Strike” by Uncle Devin, students created unique beats and as they played, Cabrera-Spahle told students that they were making go-go music. She enthusiastically told students that “go-go is something inside [of them]” and as DC residents “go-go is [their] music.” Students were excited about making go-go music themselves. As a result of this initial lesson, students could recognize go-go when they hear it and were invested in learning more about it. Cabrera-Spahle then began to steadily increase the presence of go-go into the classroom. 

In her next lesson, Cabrera-Spahle focused on percussion and beats. Students first explored how to make go-go beats without instruments. Students clapped their hands, slapped the floor, and stomped their feet to make distinctive go-go beats.  Her students increasingly recognized go-go as a musical style accessible to them. Cabrera-Spahle reiterated to her students that they, too, could make go-go — go-go exists inside of them.

Go-go is now a staple in Cabrera-Spahle’s classroom. At the beginning of the year, she used go-go  to help students learn each other’s names.

She plays instrumental go-go during brain breaks, uses go-go beats during phonemic awareness lessons to teach syllables, and has even integrated go-go into a dramatic play station where students can make beats with various instruments. Go-go has especially helped Cabrera-Spahle navigate teaching during the pandemic. As her students physically returned to the classroom — and, for some, entered for the first time — Cabrera-Spahle noticed many had difficulty with bodily awareness and spacing, so she has utilized go-go to teach lessons around safe hands, safe touch, and general body awareness. Cabrera-Spahle has incorporated go-go so comprehensively into the classroom, students even request go-go at home.

Cabrera-Spahle credits go-go as a way to “make connections as a community.” She intentionally integrates go-go into the classroom because she wants her students to “know it is theirs and it is important that we keep our history.” Just as she was first captured by go-go’s unique sound as a child, Cabrera-Spahle has brought similar wonder and excitement to her pre-K students at Wheatley. For resources to teach go-go, including lessons and classroom visits, check out the website Teach the Beat.

Kimberly Ellis is an Education Anew Fellow with Teaching for Change and Communities for Just Schools Fund. Read more of her stories.