{"id":19335,"date":"2020-01-18T20:35:05","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T20:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=19335"},"modified":"2020-01-21T21:06:11","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T21:06:11","slug":"why-hip-hop-belongs-in-todays-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-hip-hop-belongs-in-todays-classrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Why hip-hop belongs in today’s classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nolan Jones<\/a>, Mills College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

When Cassie Crim, a high school math teacher in Joliet, Illinois, introduced herself to her advanced algebra students in 2017, she did it through a rap video.<\/p>\n

Using a rendition of Cardi B\u2019s \u201cBodack Yellow,\u201d renamed \u201cCodack Yellow<\/a>,\u201d Crim referenced math terms and laid down classroom expecations:<\/p>\n

\u201cThese exponents, these is ratios, these is power rules
\nAlgebra and a lil\u2019 trig, I don\u2019t wanna choose
\nAnd I\u2019m quick to take a couple (points) off so don\u2019t get comfortable\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

With rap music continuing to rule as America\u2019s most popular music genre for a second straight year in 2019<\/a>, according to Nielsen Music\u2019s annual report, it makes sense for educators to use rap music to reach students who might otherwise not find a subject relevant. And Crim is by no means the only teacher who is doing just that.<\/p>\n

In Pasadena, California, Manuel Rustin, a social studies teacher at John Muir High School, uses rap songs to get students to make meaning of current events and history through a course entitled \u201cUrban Culture and Society<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Detroit\u2019s Frederick Douglass Academy, Quan Neloms<\/a> has students search the lyrics of their favorite rap songs for \u201ccollege-level vocabulary and references to key events and concepts from American history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collectively, the three teachers represent part of a new generation of educators<\/a>
\nwho embrace a form of teaching known as Hip Hop Pedagogy<\/a>. It\u2019s a form of teaching that takes the most popular genre of music<\/a> in the U.S. and uses it to foster success in the classroom.<\/p>\n

But is it paying off?<\/p>\n

As one who has taught Hip Hop Pedagogy courses<\/a> to K-12 teachers and instructors in higher ed for the last 10 years, I believe hip-hop has the potential to connect students to important subjects they might otherwise dismiss. But it all depends how it is done.<\/p>\n

In my Hip Hop Pedagogy courses, K-12 teachers and college instructors learn how to tap into the richness of hip-hop culture to engage students in topics that range from Shakespeare<\/a> to neuroscience. But I also stress the need to be authentic \u2013 in other words, don\u2019t lie about where you are from \u2013 and steer clear of gimmicky hip-hop instructional strategies, such as parroting hip-hop lingo out of context, or showing a random rap video that has nothing to do with the course subject.<\/p>\n

Hip-hop through the years<\/h2>\n

Hip-hop in America\u2019s classrooms is not new. For the past decade or two, scholars such as Marc Lamont Hill<\/a>, Chris Emdin<\/a> and Jeff Duncan-Andrade<\/a> have explored the impact and effectiveness of hip-hop in educational settings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hip-hop scholar Marc Lamont Hill.<\/span>
\nWikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Collectively, their research has found that hip-hop can be used to teach critical thinking skills<\/a>, critical literacy<\/a>, media literacy skills<\/a>, STEM skills<\/a>, critical consciousness and more.<\/p>\n

Hip-hop has made significant inroads into higher education as well.<\/p>\n

Hip-hop in higher ed<\/h2>\n

Hip-hop academic scholarship goes back at least as far as Tricia Rose\u2019s groundbreaking 1994 book, \u201cBlack Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America<\/a>.\u201d Since then, numerous hip-hop education books have been written. More than 300 colleges and universities have offered courses on hip-hop<\/a>. The University of Arizona offers a minor in Hip Hop Studies<\/a>, and McNally Smith College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, offers a hip-hop diploma, which includes 45 credits and three semesters of hip-hop music production, language and history courses.<\/p>\n

These developments are no light feat. In order for hip-hop to reach the level of prevalence <\/a>that it enjoys on today\u2019s educational landscape \u2013 at least 150 educators<\/a> at the K-12 level were using hip-hop in their class in 2011, the last time a hip-hop education \u201ccensus\u201d<\/a> took place \u2013 it had to overcome the skepticism of critics who questioned its validity<\/a> in educational spaces. How would hip-hop explain its controversial history of glorifying violence, consumption and misogyny? Is hip-hop music appropriate for classrooms?<\/p>\n

But hip-hop, despite what some may view as its flaws, is a mirror of the complexity of society. Hip-hop did not invent violence, excessive consumerism and mistreatment of women. What it does is provide a platform to talk about these issues.<\/p>\n

Breaking it down<\/h2>\n

That\u2019s what Rustin, the social studies teacher in Pasadena, did when he used rapper Childish Gambino\u2019s provocative video \u201cThis is America\u201d<\/a> to get students to critically analyze the state of affairs in American society. As one student stated<\/a> in an article about watching the video in class, \u201cIt relies on the shock value of violence and capitalizes on our society\u2019s growing numbness to seeing black bodies being brutalized \u2013 it\u2019s exploitative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drawing conclusions from hip-hop lyrics requires a certain level of critical analysis, one of the course expectations. Thus, in line with state education standards<\/a>, Rustin\u2019s course requires college-level writing, reading and critical thinking. Alums of Rustin\u2019s class have indicated that discussions in the class not only increased their critical thinking skills but prepared them for college courses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other teachers who use hip-hop in the classroom have achieved similar results. For instance, Crim, the Joliet math teacher, said she noticed improved student engagement<\/a> after her video, as well as \u201can increase in performance from one unit test to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neloms, the Detroit educator who had his student search rap songs for college level vocabulary, did so after only 33 percent of his students passed a vocabulary exam. After he introduced his class to Rhymes with Reason<\/a>, an \u201cinteractive online series that teaches college-level vocabulary and U.S. history concepts using hip-hop lyrics\u201d rooted in African American speech, Neloms documented a \u201cdramatic increase\u201d<\/a> in his students\u2019 test scores.<\/p>\n

I think similar results could be achieved by more teachers if they tap into the richness of hip-hop culture to reach today\u2019s students. Many students are already forming their views of society and the world based on the lyrics of their favorite rap artists. It only makes sense to infuse what they\u2019re already listening to into the class so that \u2013 at the very least \u2013 there\u2019s a common point of reference.<\/p>\n

[ You\u2019re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation\u2019s authors and editors.<\/em> You can get our highlights each weekend<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Nolan Jones<\/a>, Associate Adjunct Professor, Mills College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nolan Jones, Mills College When Cassie Crim, a high school math teacher in Joliet, Illinois, introduced herself to her advanced algebra students in 2017, she did it through a rap video. Using a rendition of Cardi B\u2019s \u201cBodack Yellow,\u201d renamed \u201cCodack Yellow,\u201d Crim referenced math terms and laid down classroom expecations: \u201cThese exponents, these is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":19336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[7541,687,1427,1737,2545,420],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19335"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19364,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19335\/revisions\/19364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}