Brooklyn classroom uses pro wrestling as a teaching vehicle
By Andreas Hale
NEW YORK — English language arts teacher Victor Taylor Perry fired up the projector and dimmed the lights. The classroom transformed into an arena.
On a frigid December afternoon at KIPP AMP Middle School, 41 boys and 33 girls gathered their lunches and sat on the classroom floor in front of a large projection screen.
“This is awesome!” students shouted at the top of their lungs, voices echoing down the school halls.
“Melo don’t miss!” half of the students called out. In response, the other half retorted “Ri-co-chet!” to drown out the opposing chants.
The Wrestling Club was engrossed by a 2022 WWE NXT pro wrestling match between Carmelo Hayes and Ricochet.
These daily lunchtime gatherings aren’t just about body slams and three-counts. The club has become a burgeoning community at the predominantly Black school in Brooklyn for ELA students interested in professional wrestling to gather, grow and broaden their horizons as they transition from childhood to adolescence. Perry calls pro wrestling his version of a soap opera. He has found ways to connect with his students through this form of athletic theater, an ongoing series of storylines and characters that appeal to the various emotions of the viewer.
When the match concluded with Hayes emerging victorious, the students offered a rousing ovation before Perry raised the lights and grabbed his students’ attention with two loud claps.
The arena turned back into a classroom.
“What was the story of the match?” Perry asked as several overeager hands thrust into the air. That prompt launched the students into a lively discussion about the match’s protagonist, antagonist, inciting action, conflict and what they had just witnessed inside the squared circle: resolution.
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