After realizing that my original selected topics (all 5 of them) were too broad and needed serious refocusing, I have decided to center my wordpress.com blog on the idea of hip-hop music and education- that is, does it belong in an English classroom? It seems to contradict the very grammatical rules and manner of speaking “proper english”- so why include it? After all, the majority of the news the hip-hop industry seems to create (or at least what is published by the media) is portrayed in a negative light, promoting vulgarity, violence, rampant drug use, and the degradation of women. So, why integrate hip-hop?
THE STUDENTS, that’s why. Hip-hop is the fastest growing music industry, reaching far beyond simply music. This genre influences the clothing students are wearing, the lanugage they are using, and has infiltrated the music and films they watch to a large degree. For example, in the 80’s and 90’s Run DMC had kids “rockin the shelltoes” (Adidas sneakers) and Adidas sweatsuits with gold chains from their hit, “My Adidas.” Since 2000, Nelly has had teens (and adults alike) running to the shoe store to pick up pairs of Air Force Ones. This shows that the influence hip-hop has is not always a negative one. Students at Indiana University echo this sentiment:
“When you look at the rap industry now, many artists have enough power and money to inspire youth to wear certain clothing,” Wellmann said, “and I think they can also do the same by inspiring social change. Wellmann said the purpose of the program was to highlight the positive influence of hip-hop music, instead of the negativity surrounding the genre. ‘I want students to do their research reading through different lyrics and try to find the meaning and message of certain lyrics,’ Wellmann said. Wellmann hopes participants learned that they have the power to make a change in their communities and that students can initiate that change, big or small.”
In other words, hip-hop sends a strong message of empowerment, even if that message is hidden behind language we as teachers would normally not deem as “classroom appropriate.” The key to using this genre in a classroom will be searching for the good among the bad and allowing a positive view of this industry to come to light. Simply put, to utilize a tool like hip-hop (which students are very interested in) to convince them to learn in the classroom would be very helpful, in my opinion. Students could create a rap which rewrites the story of Romeo and Juliet, or one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. I believe this genre could be incredibly useful. This blog will discuss different ways hip-hop could be incorporated, as well as the pros and cons of doing so.
“We’re not against rap, we’re not against rappers…” -Bone Thugs & Harmony Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Barack’s Potential Bid Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Today, Barack Obama released a statement regarding his potential run for President in 2008. According to the article, he will be touring the country in order to discover the general feelings of the American public toward his almost inevitable pending campaign. In his official statement, he repeats his long-repeated stance on politics here in America- that in order for our country to continue to thrive and grow, politics must undergo a serious change. These are stong words for a “freshman” senator from Illinois, especially considering that he was soundly beaten in his first run for office. However, Obama is charismatic and seems to be marching to the beat of a different drum than some of his older, stodgier superiors, making him an attractive candidate and leadership figure to today’s youth. Interestingly, he has taken a steadfast stance on the War in Iraq, calling for the removal of troops in stages. Statements similar to these have been released by Obama as of late, putting him in direct opposition to Bush’s recently proposed plan, which calls for the addition of more troops and does not rule out the possibility of even attacking Iran. Obama says, “…we’re still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged.”
Barack Obama seems to genuinely care about not only his position as a senator of Illinois, but about the people he represents specifically as well. It is refreshing to see a senator that cares (or at least claims to care) about the people (which in all actuality, is what he is supposed to do) to a greater degree than his depth of care for his job. I realize this post and article seems to have nothing to do with English, but I believe it does so on a larger level. As teachers we should be up to date with current information such as music, television, books (like the YA! novels we are reading), so why not discover some in depth information on our students’ possible role models?
This article has special interest with me because I am currently reading his latest book, the sequel to Dreams of my Father. His book (so far) basically outlines his reasons for getting involved in politics, as well as his stance on many key issues argued over politicians currently. The way I see it, the more I know about Obama, a potential leader of our country, the more I can forsee the direction our country (and our students) could be taking.
What makes this article, while it seems to be unrelated to my blog, important to my premise is that Obama seems to have the support of the hip-hop community. Since the hip-hop industry (specifically the artists) have such a strong influence over our students, their support of Obama could lead to a change in students’ thinking. Who knows? Maybe more seniors that are of voting age will actually vote. I know P. Diddy tried the “Rock the Vote” campaign during the last presidential election, but maybe with a stronger force and number of the artists in the hip-hop industry throwing their weight behind Obama our students will actually take an interest in government and maybe even (surprise) their education.
Follow link for full article.
Jan. 16, 2007
The Best of Intentions… Sunday, January 14, 2007
This is my official attempt in creating a reader-inspiring blog concerning a topic that I feel is important in our society today, specifically in an educational aspect: the incorporation of hip-hop into the classroom as an attempt to further inspire and reach our students. My goal in writing this blog is to discover the positive and negative aspects of incorporating this genre into the classroom. More importantly, I want to see if there are other people out in the world with this same idea that are already implementing it. I want to see their results. In short, I want to find a way to increase student interest and excitement about learning and I’m hoping that using hip-hop could help. I will be researching articles from my GOOGLE Reader to aid in my own learning process. Happy reading and feel free to comment! -Kristen
