UK HipHopEd

Since I started teaching, I've used any opportunity that I can find to fuse education with hiphop. As an English and Media teacher, there are plenty of ways to do it. The poetry, message and oral delivery of hiphop make it perfect for English studies, while the culture, representation and business side make it completely suitable for Media studies. 

Until I joined twitter, I didn't realise how big the hiphop education movement was. But, with the funny way that twitter unites the like-minded, I've found a fantastic hiphop fam. The UK branch of hiphop educators (hosted by @rapclassroom) have held a UK #HipHopEd chat for the last three weeks, and I'm not ashamed to say that it has been brilliant! Here are some things that make it work:

MAKING LINKS

The use of the hashtag #HipHopEd helped me to connect with even more interesting, inspirational hiphop teachers from both sides of the Atlantic.

SHARING MOTIVATIONS

It's been great to hear how, and why, teachers choose to bring hiphop into their classrooms. Some common ideas:

• A shared culture.
• Engaging with what our students know and love.
• A motivation for the disengaged.
• Great for language skills.
• Allowing the voices that are marginalised by our curriculum to be heard.

HUMOUR
Unlike other educational chats, HipHopEd gives space for humour and fun. It's very informal and free of the stuffiness of other chats I've been involved in. I have to give special props to @poetcurious for his comedic element!

UNDERSTANDING and AGREEMENT
Along with a lack of humour, other educational twitter chats can create divisions between teachers, this can lead to an 'I'm right, you're wrong' vibe which distracts from the whole point - learning and sharing ideas. In UK #HipHopEd, the contributors have been brought together through a common ground that is more specific than us just being teachers. Hiphop invites a set of shared ideologies, this understanding creates more meaningful interactions. 


Our final UK #HipHopEd chat is tomorrow, the topic is 'I'm a HipHop teacher. Who am I?' If you want to hear our answers, tune in on Wednesday 14th March at 8pm.

Katy's Dream School

In a bid to emotionally release my teacher frustrations, I hereby present a proposal for my dream school. Some parts will be idealistic, but I also hope to provide realistic solutions to the things that frustrate me in school. Being an English teacher, I will keep my focus purely in that department. I certainly can't begin to tackle the wider issues faced in schools today!


1. Creative license:

In a department where controlled assessments are dominating teaching and learning, I feel like a slave to the 'modules'. I am bound to teach Macbeth and Frankenstein in 6 weeks - that's 24 lessons! I have to teach by extract and closely target the assessment objectives, which is fine; we get great results. However, I'm not sure that my students' knowledge of the two texts is sustainable or deep enough.


In an ideal world, I would be able to read both texts with my class. From start to finish. We could stop at key moments to discuss how we feel about the developing action. We could use the texts as a stimulus for art, poetry, music and film. We could have a thorough overview of writers' effects and character motivation. Only then would we prepare for the assessment. At that moment, I would definitely whip out the objectives and guide students with their essays.


I'd like to think that I can be trusted with that amount of time and freedom. To prove it, I'd happily invite observations of my lessons and students' work. We're killing the students with this hasty, assessment-led style of 'learning' and I don't like it. 
*Throws rattle out of pram*


2. A genuine reading culture:


This one should be a whole school initiative. By seeing their teachers apply a love of reading, our students can develop their own habits. Reading should be a mandatory component in a teaching and learning 'contract', where all members of the school dedicate time to reading everyday. The texts that we read (and I'm all for a multi-modal approach here) should be discussed and explored collaboratively. I won't patronise you with the merits of reading here; you know it makes sense!

3. A broader range of texts:


Of Mice and Men? Carrie's War? Holes? Heroes? These are good books, I can't really dispute that. But are they the only option for our students? I propose that, with each academic year, English teachers are allowed to buy a class set of a book of their choice. In my department that would be 15/16 new novels each year; Budget Schmudget!


These new books should be broad-ranging and truly represent the English literary heritage. Personally, I'd focus on bringing in more texts 'from other cultures'. A few poems by our 'token' black writers doesn't really cut it for me. At the very least, I'd ensure that my students had studied Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou with the same rigour that they study Steinbeck and Shakespeare.


4. A trip every term:


Some of my everlasting memories from school are from when we went on trips: Cheddar Gorge in Somerset; Macbeth in Bath; The 'Big Pit' in Blaenavon. As a result, I still know a stalactite from a stalagmite, Macbeth inside out, and what it feels like to be 100 metres underground! I really feel for our students, who are rarely given the opportunity to explore learning beyond their school grounds.

In my dream school, I would take each of my classes out every term. Ideally, there would be no budget or cover issues to resolve; I could take them to the Himalayas for creative writing, or to South Africa to visit the District Six museum. Realistically, it would probably mean trips the the cinema or theatres. Or walks through our community. We could certainly stretch to an out-of-county trip at least once a year. 


I want to show my students the world and help them to figure out their place in it. 


5. Visits from authors, musicians and actors:


I can only be interesting for so long. I try to keep the little lovelies entertained and inspired all the time, but sometimes we have a lull. They get bored of me. I get bored of them. I'd like to arrange regular visits from literary/media icons to speak to my students about their craft and routes into their careers. As a bonus, I could quietly worship them from the back of the class!


6. More time to mark:


This is a big one. I never get marking done at school. Ever. With just 3 free hours (used to plan, email and print) it is impossible. I have to lug books and folders, to and from work, everyday. It obviously plays havoc with my home/life balance, in the sense that it is non-existent! I'd like to be given a timetabled hour a fortnight, for each class that I teach, dedicated to marking their work. I guarantee that they'll improve at a much faster rate.


So there you have it; school 'Miss Ryan' style. I think that most of these issues could be met, at least half-way. With a bit of creativity and innovation, it could be so much better!

Media Studies Magazines

My year 11 Media Studies students are in the planning stages of their final controlled assessment. Their task is to research, plan and produce magazines. It's the second time I've taught magazines and, although most of my students don't actually read them, they are quite good at creating them


To add a twist this year, my students have been given an extra incentive; their mock-ups will be judged by a journalist who has, very generously, offered to look at students' work and give them feedback. This has given students a boost; for the first time ever, every single student handed in work before the deadline was up! Pretty amazing feat.

So here are some of their mock-ups, I'm really pleased with what they've done:

Parent Style

Mission Statement: Our magazine aims to help mothers to be, or new mothers, with taking care of their children while dressing, looking and feeling fantastic.

J'adore

Mission Statement: The magazine J’adore is a brand new, spicy magazine made especially for young women to who wish to explore themselves in a variety of ways.

Elegance

Mission Statement: All women have a potential of being beautiful, but who puts their potential into practice? Elegance strives to assist women to discover their inner beauty.

The Groom

Mission Statement: There are so many magazines out there about brides, but what about grooms? We proudly introduce the first ever groom’s magazine! It offers wedding advice for men; the latest wedding fashion, finding the perfect venue and how to cope with married life. It's the men's happily ever after.

Industrial Gaming

Mission Statement: Our magazine not only focuses on gaming; we explore the business behind the world of gaming and inform our readers how they can become part of the industry.

Mr and Mrs Perfect

Mission Statement: Mr & Mrs Perfect is an exclusive magazine that is targeted at both the Bride and Groom. Mr & Mrs Perfect will bring couples closer together through collaborative planning of their wedding. Remember, "Fabulous Weddings Don't Just Happen They Are Planned!" That is why all couples who want to get married must buy this unique wedding guide.


These are the preliminary mock-ups and they made them in just two lessons! For the real deal, they'll have to use original photographs and produce a the front cover, contents page and double page spread. I'll post the top three when they're finished!

Music from my Mother

There was a lot of Motown played in my house as a child. I remember mum getting a 'Hitsville USA' CD box set in the early 90's, a big deal as we'd just got our first CD player. We listened regularly and Motown has stayed with me since. I've always enjoyed the music, with age I've grown to appreciate the soul. Here are a few of my favourites:

Shorty Long - Devil with the Blue Dress

Martha and the Vandellas - Heatwave



Smokey Robinson and The Miracles - Shop Around



Smokey Robinson and The Miracles - You Really got a Hold on Me

HipHop with Ms Ryan

HipHop has been in the spotlight this week, for good and for bad. On one hand, the 'culture' has been blamed for the London riots. On the other, Channel 4 aired the highly celebrated 'Life of Rhyme'. I was really impressed with the show, and grateful to everyone involved in creating it. Too often, I feel as though I have to explain myself; justifying the need for HipHop in the classroom and reassuring people that I don't use any of 'that gangsta stuff' (rolls eyes) From now on, I'll tell them to go and watch 'Life of Rhyme' here before making assumptions.

Personally, I've been inspired to incorporate it more and more in my lessons next year. Partly because of my own passion; partly because my students always lap it up; partly to prove that it is relevant and necessary. When I speak of HipHop, I don't mean throwing in a few raps here and there for the novelty factor, it's bigger than that. So, aside from looking at the linguistic aspects, it also allows the opportunity to explore wider social and historical contexts. Namley, the cultures, history and influence of Africa and the diaspora, an area that MUST be taught intrinsically in our curriculum. 

Here are a few ways HipHop (and the extended 'culture') will creep into my classroom next academc term...

English (Key stage 3 and GCSE)

Benjamin Zephaniah's 'Dis Poetry'.

Students learn and explore figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, assonance, alliteration)

'My Addidas' by Run DMC.

Students study the rap then create a their own rap that personifies a treasured, inanimate object.

Malorie Blackman's 'Noughts and Crosses' and 'Nothing's Changed' by Tatamkhulu Afrika.

We read Blackman's novel about an Apartheid state with a twist; Blacks are the ruling class. Pupils learn the history of Apartheid in South Africa, using Tatamkulu's poem as a stimulus. Students write an essay, that will also be delivered orally, on the representation of racial divides in literature and how this relates to the world they live in. Students also look at Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and their roles in the US Civil Rights Movement.


'Refugee Boy' by Benjamin Zephaniah

This novel explores the story of Alem, a half-Ethiopian, half-Eritrean boy, who seeks refuge from his war-torn home to come to England. It allows the opportunity to explore the geography and history of this part of East-Africa, as well as issues of asylum, refuge and race. Students create a marketing campaign for Refugee Rights; poster, leaflet and a speech or a rap (depending on skills and interest!)


Attitudes to Spoken language (GCSE English)
Last year we looked at 'electronic' language (tweets, texts and MSN). My students completed great coursework analysing JME and Stephen Fry, using their tweets to explore their idiolect and sociolects. My lesson ended up on The Sun online! 

This year, we'll focus on transcribing actual speech. With a focus on the language of social class, sub-cultures and age. I will definitely use these two videos to get us started:


Dizzee Rascal Meets Paxman:





David Starkey on Newsnight:





GCSE Poetry 'Checking Out Me History' by John Agard, linked with 'I Can' (3rd verse)by Nas.

Students will look at the forgotten and misrepresented history of Africans by exploring both texts. They will undertake research projects on Toussaint L'Ouverture, Mary Seacole, The Maroons, The Zulus, Kush and Timbuktu. 

Riots Debate
Almost as soon as we get back, my year elevens will plan and execute a debate about the London Riots; Newsnight style. This will be assessed for the Oral GCSE.


I use this when teaching Macbeth (thanks Flocabulary!)

Other Poems:

'Half-Caste' (Agard); 'Still I Rise' (Angelou); 'Hurricane Hits England' and 'Island Man' (Nichols); 'Limbo' (Kamau Braithwaite);'I Sing of Change' (Osundare).

Other Raps:
'For Women' (Talib Kweli); 'Fight the Power' (P.E.); 'Lose Yourself' (Eminem); 'I used to love H.E.R.' (Common); 'Me Against the World' (Tupac).





Media Studies (GCSE)

Representations of specific groups during the riots
Media Representations can be challenging topic for 14 year olds. Very often, they hold the stereotypes found in the media, as their own viewpoint on people. The riots present an excellent opportunity to explore misrepresentation of groups of people and the power of media propaganda to infiltrate public opinion.

Music Promotion
This will be my third year teaching music video, and I'm really looking forward to it. The students enjoy it too, of course! Generally, the most popular music genres for my students are HipHop, RnB and Grime. I always seize the opportunity to show them more innovative, 'undergound' artists, who they normally haven't heard of. We look at various issues surrounding music video including:

• Independent labels, Major labels and Unsigned artists.
• The power of YouTube and social media.
• Controversy in Music Video.
• Representations of people, places and ideas.

Students then undertake planning and pre-production for their own music video, where they create an artist who provides a countertype for the misrepresentations.


Floetry - Rap Club


I run a rap club at school, where we meet once a week to write and perform rhymes. Here is what I hope to achieve with the group this year:

• Create a hip-hop/lyricist wall of fame in my classroom, giving students to study the history of the culture.
• More audio and video recordings of the students' rhymes.
• Discover ways to use rhymes for revision.
• Visits from rappers/performance poets.
• Collaborations with rap clubs in other schools.

So there you have it, by no means exhaustive, but a taste of how I like to stretch the curriculum. There is a completely relevant place for HipHop in the classroom; it's contemporary poetry of the people, as socially relevant now as the 'master poets' of their day. I'll leave you with a little quote from Greg Tate concerning the future of HipHop:

"When asked whether he saw an end to rapping, Afrika Bambaata said he expected that MC-ing would be around as long as people were still talking. By this logic, the future of HipHop lies in the first cry of the next unborn soul, man or woman. If you want to know the future of HipHop, get thee to a maternity ward."

Benjamin Zephaniah

"Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that word "empire"; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised. It is because of this concept of empire that my British education led me to believe that the history of black people started with slavery and that we were born slaves, and should therefore be grateful that we were given freedom by our caring white masters. It is because of this idea of empire that black people like myself don't even know our true names or our true historical culture. I am not one of those who are obsessed with their roots, and I'm certainly not suffering from a crisis of identity; my obsession is about the future and the political rights of all people. Benjamin Zephaniah OBE - no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire." 

Zephaniah rejects OBE - Gwaan!!

Benjamin Zephaniah came up on my Twitter timeline tonight. I was excited to see his name pop up, as he is a writer, performer and human being who has inspired me deeply. So much so, that I abandoned Twitter, for fear of TMI, and came here to release.

As an English teacher, I find his literature an excellent way to enthuse my students to read, write and gain confidence when expressing themselves verbally. Watch this:



He proves to my students that you don't have to speak in the queen's English to be heard, or say something important. He visited our school a few years back, and was able to keep a hot, stuffy room, full of over 100 students and staff, hanging on his every word for two hours. He's charismatic in a totally unassuming way, with a warm and genuine nature that gives you faith in the messages he sends out; anti-colonialism, veganism, anti-war, race/identity...

Zephaniah with me and some colleagues

The themes of his work are also right up my street, his books rightly deserve a place alongside the literary 'greats' that we push upon our children. I use 'Refugee Boy' with my year eight groups to explore issues surrounding assylum and refugees from war torn Africa. It gives us the opportunity to iron out misconceptions surrounding refugees, remove the stigma attached and allow students to reflect and empathise. It also gives me the opportunity to explore a little African history and geography with my classes; my students know that if I can bring a lesson 'back to Africa', I'm a happy Miss!

When it comes to poetry with my year 7 groups, I use 'Dis Poetry' to teach the top techniques: metaphors, similes, assonance, rhyme, alliteration... Again, his style and verbal prowess win over the students, who lap it up and excitedly make their own 'Dis Poetry' spoken word poems. Here's his:

Before I was a teacher, I was a TA. I was assigned two of the 'toughest' boys in school to assist; both with educational statements for behaviour, numerous suspensions under their belts, a history of drugs and violence. They were lovely kids, both of them, that type of behaviour is exactly that - a behaviour, not a character. This was always evident when I got them reading. The 'tougher' one of the two particularly enjoyed 'Gangsta Rap'. I'll admit, his initial enthusiasm came from the fact that I let him read a book with swear words in it, but when he got to know Ray, the protaganist, he was transformed. So much so, that the librarian lifted his ban from the library (hallelujah!)

I could go on forever about this man and his work, but I don't have the time. Instead, I'll leave you with a few more poems I like to teach, and a link to his website where you can explore more - should you wish!


The British



Talking Turkeys



Overstanding




Bought and Sold 
Smart big awards and prize money
Is killing off black poetry
It's not censors or dictators that are cutting up our art.
The lure of meeting royalty
And touching high society
Is damping creativity and eating at our heart. 

The ancestors would turn in graves
Those poor black folk that once were slaves would wonder
How our souls were sold
And check our strategies,
The empire strikes back and waves
Tamed warriors bow on parades
When they have done what they've been told
They get their OBEs. 

Don't take my word, go check the verse
Cause every laureate gets worse
A family that you cannot fault as muse will mess your mind,
And yeah, you may fatten your purse
And surely they will check you first when subjects need to be amused
With paid for prose and rhymes. 

Take your prize, now write more,
Faster,
Fuck the truth
Now you're an actor do not fault your benefactor
Write, publish and review,
You look like a dreadlocks Rasta,
You look like a ghetto blaster,
But you can't diss your paymaster
And bite the hand that feeds you. 

What happened to the verse of fire
Cursing cool the empire
What happened to the soul rebel that Marley had in mind,
This bloodstained, stolen empire rewards you and you conspire,
(Yes Marley said that time will tell)
Now look they've gone and joined. 

We keep getting this beating
It's bad history repeating
It reminds me of those capitalists that say
'Look you have a choice,'
It's sick and self-defeating if our dispossessed keep weeping
And we give these awards meaning
But we end up with no voice. 

American Dreaming: 1. Nola

I'm itching. Don't worry, it's not contagious, it's more metaphorical. I need to visit the 'States. It's been a long time since I've been, 6 years in fact, and I'm craving a slice of American Pie. A road trip is on the cards for my 30th next year...

My love afair with the place started at a young age. I lived there with my mum between the ages of 1 and 3. We shacked up in a Kansas trailer with my Auntie Annie and my 2 cousins. Our mothers, two British single mums, making their own American Dream, with us in tow. I'm not making this up, look at how they dressed us!

These early memories are scattered and fading, but several trips since have kept me in check. Until now. Family life, work and lack of funds have kept me away these past few years, but musical nostalgia has taken over and I'd like to share some memories with you.

As always, my memories are underlined, highlighted and emboldened by the music that accompanied them. So for the next few posts (I can't commit to a daily blog) I will post a memory with a link to a couple of songs. Starting in the dirty south.

1. Nola

I've been in a swinging kinda mood today, musically that is! Watching Janelle Monae at Glastonbury over the weekend, reminded me of a night in New Orleans in 1998. A car load of us drove from Jackson, about a four hour drive. I was a sixteen year old British kid, fresh out GCSE exams, on a road trip with my older, way cool, American cousin and her friends. It was wicked! I didn't really know what to expect from New Orleans, but the tone of the night was set when we used the car as a dressing room to glam up. As my cousin drew stocking seams on the back of her thighs with an eyeliner pencil, I knew this was gonna be good!

We went to the House of Blues to watch swing band, 'The Big Bad Voodoo Daddies'. I was surprised at how easy it was to blag my way in, pretending to be 18 and knocking back drinks purchased by my over 21 'chaperones!'. Everybody looked so cool to me then - Zoot Suit Boys and Pin Up Girls. I tried, miserably, to swing dance and failed; too much foot work for my liking.

The music from the show seemed to spill out into the streets, as we headed down to the French Quarter and Bourbon Street for my Nola initiation. Hurricane cocktails, dancing in the street, mystifying the locals with my exotic Britishness! One of those nights that stays with you forever.

So here's the track. It's not one I'd listen to on a regular, but memory-laden when I do. Enjoy!