Hip-Hop

A significant amount of research regarding Hip-Hop Based Education (HHBE) fails to provide insight on how to incorporate elements of Hip-Hop into daily teaching practices; rather educators focus mainly on incorporating Hip-Hop culture into curricula. This talk explores how pedagogical approaches that are directly tied to the creative elements of Hip-Hop can be used to engage young people.

Using music, especially song lyrics, to motivate students has long been a practice for in education to get and keep students engaged and to teach academic content. Most song based instruction involves writing/creating original works that focus on specific content or skills. Unfortunately, these songs may not resonate with all students, thus it may not be as effective as a mechanism for learning. This reality is particularly possible for students with disabilities and students in alternative settings who are usually considered as having behavioral struggles.

We can effectively promote student discourse, deeper level understanding, and student content creation when we use music and hip hop to teach. Since hip hop is our youths culture we can effectively use it as a tool to build relationships and teach our next generation of learners. The key is a solid understanding of implementation within the context of social emotional, developmental, and physiological needs.