Hip-Hop Education Summit Brings Hip-Hop Into The Classroom
Posted Mar 13 2006
H2Ed has adopted what organizers call a T.O.P.S.Y. philosophy targeting Teachers, Organizations, Parents, Social Workers, and Youth Educators-those they feel are key to the development of young people. This year, those fitting in to the T.O.P.S.Y. categories traveled from all over the country and the world including California, Louisiana, England, Toronto and Germany to participate.“It was great to see the growth,” says H2A’s Director of Brand Development Rolando Brown. “This year we also traveled to 5 countries to share the summit including South Africa, Spain, France, England and Cuba. It is also great to see people come back year to year, and to see the growth in the educators themselves, turning theory into practice.”
For those educators that are utilizing hip-hop in the classroom, they have seen results. Daniel Zarazua is a 9th and 10th grade teacher who teaches World History, Ethnic Studies, Algebra and English in Oakland. He has seen an improvement in student interest in his classes since he has incorporated hip-hop into his curriculum. In his History class, his students rate their interest as a 4.8 out of 5. He also found that student’s average grade increased 5%.
Hip-hop in the classroom is becoming more and more utilized as a way to increase student interest in learning. However as much success as those teachers who utilize hip-hop have found, there are still many teachers across the country who have not recognized the potential of hip-hop as a learning tool. “Most teachers don’t like hip-hop, and their classes are boring,” says Sahianna, a 13-year old student who traveled from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to attend the Summit.
She continues, “Teachers should have a week off where all they do is learn about hip-hop and using it in the classroom.” While a week long training on hip-hop in the classroom may be a stretch for now, the Hip-Hop and Education Summit is a good start.
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