Hip Hop in the Classroom: Light Some Fires!
Posted Mar 30 2006
Critics like Malkin might just be witnessing bad samplings of hip hop implementation the same way a critic could point to bad lesson plans about grammar. When it comes down to it, it’s all in the way that the material is presented. As Zarazua points out, some educators "present hip hop as some panacea but don't have empirical proof." Just think: any vehicle in education could be misused. That isn’t the technique’s fault, it is the educator’s.
Another educator positively using these ideas in his classroom is Andrew Ryan, who specializes in systems engineering and computer science. Lango Deen, a journalist for blackengineer.com, interviewed Ryan about how he got into teaching with hip hop. Ryan noticed the lack of attention being paid to hip hop in literature classrooms at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He decided to do something about it. Ryan convinced university administrators to let him teach a course that melded his two loves: hip hop and computers. “The common denominators? Heavy writing emphasis, group projects, and they're both "real world," Ryan says. "It makes students feel what they say means something. They're adding onto what the literature is." Ryan also points out something that might make conservative educators think again about using hip hop. According to blackengineer.com, although the genre got its start in Black America, more than 70 percent of hip-hop albums now are purchased by Whites, according to a 2002 paper entitled "Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-hop Culture," published by the National Council of Teachers of English. So for those critics (like Malkin) that think hip hop automatically equals urban schools and minority groups, think again.
Hip hop not only helps to gain the initial interest of students, but also help students to begin displaying the basic fundamentals of literature interpretation. According to Jerome Evans, “Once [students] see that songwriters and performers develop themes in the music they enjoy, discovering those themes (and, of course, others) in literature new to them is simply not so difficult.” (Evans 33) This reiterates Zarazua’s technique that students can begin to link the use of metaphors, similes, alliteration, and other devices that they hear in rhyming hip hop songs with those devices used in the classical canon of literature often presented in the secondary classroom. This makes the transition of learning definitions and employing them by use of understanding much easier. “Students also recognize themes of moral struggle, freedom, the journey, and the frontier in the song lyrics.” (Evans 33) Imagine presenting a song to students that they can already recite word-for word and helping them to “rip it apart.” Then imagine watching as they compare the protagonist (whether it be 2pac or Eminem) with that of Huck Finn, Holden Caulfield, or Scout Finch. A link between pop culture and classic literature has been made for the student.
Closely related to today’s hip hop circuit is spoken word poetry. This new field melds poetry and performance. Zarazua acknowledges its benefits, too. He explains that having students share their work aloud gives them even more of a reason to care. When other people will be hearing their thoughts, it gives students even more motivation. Of course, analyzing new poets of the spoken word genre (such as writer/speaker Paul Flores and former punk-rocker turned spoken word artist Henry Rollins) could be invaluable in aiding lessons on poetry, since most English teachers know that poetry lessons carry a very negative stigma. Many students view poetry as old, dated, or dead. How nice to change their minds!
No comments for this article yet.