Teaching with Hip Hop in the 7-12 Grade Classroom

This book presents practical approaches for engaging with Hip Hop music and culture in the classroom. As the most popular form of music and youth culture today, Hip Hop is a powerful medium through which students can explore their identities and locate themselves in our social world. Designed for novice and veteran teachers, this book is filled with pedagogical tools, strategies, lesson plans, and real-world guidance on integrating Hip Hop into the curriculum. Through a wide range of approaches and insights, Lauren Leigh Kelly invites teachers to look to popular media culture to support students' development and critical engagement with texts. Covering classroom practice, assessment strategies, and curricular and standards-based guidelines, the lessons in this book will bolster students' linguistic and critical thinking skills and help students to better understand and act upon the societal forces around them. The varied activities, assignments, and handouts are designed to inspire teachers and easily facilitate modification of the assignments to suit their own contexts. The impact of Hip Hop on youth culture is undeniable, now more than ever; this is the perfect book for teachers who want to connect with their students, support meaning-making in the classroom, affirm the validity of youth culture, and foster an inclusive and engaging classroom environment.

Lauren Leigh Kelly is Assistant Professor of Urban Teacher Education at Rutgers University, USA.

Contents Meet the Author Acknowledgements Support Material Preface How to Use This Book Chapter One- Introduction - Glossary of Terms - A Note on Honoring the Full Humanity of Students - Language and Censorship in Hip Hop Education Chapter Two- Hip Hop Pedagogies in Classroom Practice - (Lessons One and Two) Building Hip Hop Classroom Community - (Lesson Three) "I Used to Love H.E.R.": Exploring Extended Metaphor and Allegory in Hip Hop Literature - (Lesson Four) Embodied Hip Hop Storytelling - (Lesson Five) Developing Critical Literacies through Hip Hop Jigsaw Groups - (Lesson Six) Exploring History, Geography, and Culture through Hip Hop Lit Circles - (Lesson Seven) Scrubs and Pigeons: Exploring Love and Relationships in Hip Hop Culture - (Lesson Eight) Developing Critical Hip Hop Literacies through Standardized Exam Preparation - (Lesson Nine) (Re)Defining the Modern Hip Hop Generation through Critical Media Literacies Chapter Three- Remixing Classroom Assessments - (Assignment One) Mixtape Project - (Assignment Two) Literary Allusions - (Assignment Three) Hip Hop Literary Criticism - (Assignment Four) Hip Hop Author Study - (Assignment Five) Hip Hop Autobiography Chapter Four- Teaching Hip Hop as a Content Area - "Move B!$*%; Get out the way!" Decentering the Self in Hip Hop Curriculum and Pedagogy - "Tear the Roof Off!" Reframing Teaching through a Hip Hop Lens - "If you stay ready, you ain't got to get ready": Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness in Hip Hop Education - "Teach Me How to Dougie" Modeling Critical Media Literacies and Discussion in the Classroom - "For My People" Engaging with Hip Hop community Chapter Five- Closing Thoughts Appendix A- Suggestions for Further Reading Appendix B - Suggested Texts for Hip Hop-Based Curriculum Appendix C- Hip Hop Course Study Guide Examples Appendix D- Sample Hip Hop Course Curriculum Appendix E- Hip Hop Education Resources, Conferences, and Organizations Appendix F- Suggested Museum Trips for Exploring Hip Hop History and Culture in the U.S. References