David Kennedy

David Kennedy is a master's student in the Curriculum and Instruction program at the University of Denver's Morgridge College of Education. Prior to graduate school, he was both a middle school and high school teacher for six years. As a certified special educator in both Florida and Colorado, he realized that the seamless merger of arts in education could bring about profound change in his students. As a result, he developed and taught an elective high school course entitled, Hip Hop & Poetry 101.

Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, David is the self-proclaimed dreamer. During the day, he plays the role of a mild-mannered graduate student, but at night, he changes into Coppa Stone, his alter ego, a hip-hop and reggae music artist. He has toured the world, performing everywhere; from podiums in the Caribbean, to street corners in Asia, straight back to stages in both Europe and the US.

His current research interests include: Hip Hop and the arts as it pertains to urban education, and reggae music and poetry as a vehicle for social change in the Caribbean. David is closely affiliated with the professional organization, American Association for Teaching & Curriculum (AATC), and is also an on-site mentor/tutor for the Bridge Project here in Denver. In June, he will be co-presenting his paper Colorblindness and Race Neutrality in Special Education: A Black Teacher's Perspective, at the 2012 Diversity Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

In addition to academics, music, art and poetry, David also enjoys spending time in the mountains any time except during the winter, and travelling back home to Jamaica twice a year during the holidays with his life-partner Saran (who is also a Higher Education Doctoral Candidate at DU), and their two-year-old daughter, Sekai (who might as well be a DU student because of all the time she spends on campus).