Journal article
"Welcome to The Shop" Insights and reflections from teaching hip-hop-based spoken word poetry for social justice
English teaching : practice and critique, v 15(3), pp 394-410
05 Dec 2016
Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the ways in which hip-hop pedagogies and literacies encouraged middle school students to explore performance poetry as a tool to "(w) right" the truth(s) about learning and living in their local and global communities.
Design/methodology/approach - Collaborative self-study research methodologies were used by the author, a black male teacher educator and hip-hop cultural insider, along with two white, female reading specialists and hip-hop cultural outsiders, to collect and analyze the practices and behaviors used in The Shop - an after-school hip-hop-based spoken word poetry club for middle school students in a small, urban public school district in Northeastern USA.
Findings - Three primary findings emerge: teachers with limited cultural and content knowledge of hip-hop may struggle to negotiate real and perceived curricular constraints associated with using pedagogies with hip-hop texts and aesthetics in traditional school contexts, the intersections of teachers' racial, cultural and gender identities informed the respective practices and behaviors in a number of interesting ways, and using hip-hop pedagogies for social justice in public schools requires a delicate balance of both transparency and discretion on the part of teachers.
Originality/value - Study findings are salient for in-and pre-service English teachers and English educators, as they offer insights and reflections on the instructional and relational challenges cultural outsiders may face when using hip-hop culture to create spaces and opportunities for young people to talk back and speak truth to power.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- "Welcome to The Shop" Insights and reflections from teaching hip-hop-based spoken word poetry for social justice
- Creators
- H. Bernard Hall - West Chester University
- Publication Details
- English teaching : practice and critique, v 15(3), pp 394-410
- Publisher
- Emerald Group Publishing
- Number of pages
- 17
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000392141100006
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85006074482
- Other Identifier
- 991021861873204721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Education & Educational Research
- Language & Linguistics
- Linguistics