Research Paper: “My Ink So Hot It Burn Through The Journal” : The Use of Hip Hop in Classrooms

Ago! Ame!

I can still hear the chanting echoes of my peers from primary school. From kindergarten to third grade, I attended a public school that had adopted the African Centered Curriculum for select classrooms. As my mother saw the importance in an African Centered education, I was moved into the program. Aside from the benefits of the historical and social lessons being taught during class, the methodology behind how we learned in the classroom, proved to be just as significant to our development as young scholars. “One,two, buckle my shoe, three,four, shut the door, five, six, pick up some sticks..” This is one of many rhythmic songs stuck in my head from grade school;it taught me how to count. The macarena song Ms. Dougle remixed into a lesson was also a favorite of mine;It taught me the twelve months that make up a year. The memories I have of my time in primary school serves as an important reminder of how creativity combined with heavy rhythmic music, fostered important growth and development in my classroom with ease.

Currently most classrooms past primary school, don’t use music as a mechanism to learn in the classroom. Although scholars have attested to its benefits that applies to classrooms beyond primary school. According to the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environment, who cite various scholars, “.....exposure to music can improve learning and increase positive classroom atmosphere” (Eerola & Eerola, 2013; Foran,2009). This supports the idea that when the classroom feels safe and engaging, students are more inclined to participate in lessons.

The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environment continues by citing other scholars who argues,”During developmental stages, active engagement with music can impact the way that the brain can process information, enhancing the perception of language and speech, and subsequently improving our ability to communicate with others and learn to read” (Hallam, 2010). Even past primary school students are learning language foundations and how to appropriately read texts that increase in complexity. The use of music such as hip hop in secondary English classrooms can help foster growth and development in language foundation, incentivize participation, encourages students to explore creativity in writing, encourage critical thinking, and build community.

“If the truth is told, the youth can grow They'll learn to survive until they gain control” - Nas

Contrary to mainstream thoughts about hip hop as a genre, it beginnings stemmed from individuals, typically youth or young adults who shared important streams of consciousness with the people of their communities. Early Hip hop encouraged individuals to think critically about the ills affecting their community and shed light on them. Similarly, hip hop can be used in the classroom to influence students to think critically about texts they may be reading in class and in their personal lives. Then the students will begin to make important connections. According to David Stovall, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, “Using daily life as subject matter, critical learning encourages students to envision a social order which supports their full humanity”.

Typically, students respond well to lessons that pertain to their daily lives, it provides reassurance that their daily lives matters in the context of their education and allows them to explore why that statement is true. Hip hop shed light on community ills such as extreme poverty, lack of resources, and police brutality that weren’t being openly discussed on mainstream media or news. Having an understanding of the concept, students can begin to think critically and ask questions such as “what’s not being said in the text?” and then “How may this be important to my daily life?” Stovall backs this conclusion when he says, “the infusion of hip-hop culture can provide the context for students to develop a critical lens in approaching subject matter and its relevance to their daily lives”.

“What do I think of success? It sucks — Too much press, I’m stressed, Too much cess, depressed, Too upset, it’s just too much mess” - Eminem

Classrooms, across the nation have become extremely formulaic in regards to the way students are taught the English Language Arts. This formulaic standard can be contributed to various practices in Education such as the increase in standardized testing. Standardized tests are typically timed, leaving the student unable to let ideas naturally flow from their mind onto the paper, because that takes up time. Therefore, teachers find themselves implementing writing structures that force students into formulaic writing that decreases natural flow of thoughts and disincentivizes creative writing. Mark Wiley, author of “The Popularity of Formulaic Writing (And Why We Need to Resist) suggests “The perceived futility of their teaching tasks leads to early burnout or to a corrosive cynicism. These desperate situations (and they are desperate) are ripe for teaching writing as a formula-easy to teach, easy for students to grasp and apply, easy to produce prompt results in raising students' standardized test scores”

The use of Hip hop English classes can promote creative writing within students and provide examples of how literary devices can be used to articulate important ideas. According to Lauren Leigh Kelly, an English teacher at Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, N.Y., and an adjunct English instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University, she believes, “There’s no better way to teach literary devices than through hip-hop. Personification, metaphors, similes, rhyme schemes, and more—there’s so much richness in hip-hop.” The art of Hip hop lies in the way important ideas such as social or economic ills are articulated to an audience. Similarly, students have an audience they are writing to and should be thinking of ways to effectively communicate their ideas in a way that is engaging and unique

“You see, there are two kind of people in the world today We have, the playas, and we have, the playa haters” - The Notorious B.I.G.

There are many that believe the use of Hip hop in classrooms won’t be appealing to all students, will create a distraction, learning curve for teachers, or won’t comply with state curriculum standards. Fortunately, there are answers to these concerns. As for students who may not be into Hip hop, the idea behind using the style of music is less about the genre and more about the literary merit in the art. As my suggestion is to use Hip hop as the genre that facilitates this kind of learning, in general, one could use any other genres as well. David Stovall, a professor of educational policy studies and African-American studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 6 articulates this same idea when he says, “I don’t put too much emphasis on the hip-hop but the relevance,” he said. “It could be Coolio’s music or rock metal. It’s looking at ways in which to engage young folks in ways that they find relevant, while also building skills and critical analysis. And that could be hip-hop and it could not be hip-hop.” Teachers across the nation can decide that the use of music in classrooms can be Hip hop or another genre. The decision could very well come down to the opinion of the students and what they may want to engage in. Either way, the argument for the use of Hip hop seems spot on for linguistic purposes

Some Educators are concerned about the potential learning curve on behalf of the teacher. How can one exactly implement hip hop into their curriculum or specific lessons. According to Quan Neloms, a teacher at Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit, he says, “I started using an educational tool designed specifically to help teachers teach using hip-hop and that program, “Rhymes with Reason,” has improved the educational outcomes of his students”. There are programs specifically created for teachers to use for the purpose of learning how to integrate Hip hop into their curriculum or certain lessons.

On the other hand, some educators believe that the use of Hip hop or music generally, may not fit into state curriculum standards. In response to an earlier mentioned teacher, Lauren Leigh Kelly, an English teacher at Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, N.Y., and an adjunct English instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University who teaches a Hip hop integrated English course, Emily Chiariello, an independent education consultant who designed Teaching Tolerance’s Perspectives for a Diverse America curriculum, said “Culturally relevant instruction of the sort used in Kelly’s hip-hop course can work well with the expectations set forth in the Common Core State Standards”. Common Core was a nationally imposed standard that schools across the nation had to comply with and use of Hip hop in conjunction, was approved.

Outro or “Coda ”

As I continue my education at a post secondary institution, it's clear where the use of Hip hop can be integrated into writing or history based classes. More importantly, as I pursue a career in Secondary Education, I yearn to find progressive and or dynamic ways of teachings. I want my future students to feel as if the classroom can parallel to real life and serves as a space to address the ways in which is does and why that may be important. I believe creative writing is getting lost and in an attempt to comply with the demand for formulaic writing in order to achieve success on standard testing. Therefore, I want my future students to find ways to develop their language beyond the standard demands and find joy while they explore their creativity in writing. I believe this approach to education with be monumental to the change we need to see in education.

References

Wiley, Mark. “The Popularity of Formulaic Writing (And Why We Need to Resist).” The English Journal, vol. 90, no. 1, 2000, pp. 61–67. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/821733.

Stovall, David. “We Can Relate: Hip-Hop Culture, Critical Pedagogy, and the Secondary Classroom.” Urban Education, vol. 41, no. 6, Nov. 2006, pp. 585–602, doi:10.1177/0042085906292513.

Elisha, McNeil. “English Teacher's Hip-Hop Curriculum Gets Students Writing” Education Week Teacher, 20 june 2016, https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2016/06/20/english-teachers-hip-hop-curriculum-gets-studen ts-writing.html

Eerola, P. S., and Eerola, T. (2014). Extended music education enhances the quality of school life. Music Education Research. 16 (1), 88-104,https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14613808.2013.829428

Hallam, Susan. (2010). The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. International Journal of Music Education. 28. 269-289. 10.1177/0255761410370658. https://www.veronaschools.org/cms/lib02/NJ01001379/centricity/dom

The National Center on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments, “Voices From The Field”https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/voices-field/how-does-music-benefit-your-classroom -or-school-community-most

Paynter, Kevon. 99 Problems and SATs Ain’t One: How Hip-Hop Literacy Programs Improve Student Reading Skills, yesmagazine.org, 12 march 2018 https://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/how-hip-hop-is-helping-students-study-for-the-sats20180312

#TheLastPoets #HipHop #Education #Linguistics