Tag Archives: hip-hop education

A White Teacher Reviews Emdin’s “For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…”

If I had read Dr. Chris Emdin’s newest book, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…And the Rest of Ya’ll Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education (2016) prior to my first year of teaching, I would have been so much more equipped to work with urban youth of color…For White Folks tears down the shroud that has been concealing what many white teachers have known, even subconsciously, but been too afraid to confront; that we have been complicit in the oppressive structures of schooling and that this complicity has consequently severed our ties, not only to our students and their humanity, but to ourselves as human beings in the process of becoming…I read For White Folks less as an indictment of white teachers and more as a love letter to them, from someone who genuinely cares about students and teachers. And like Emdin reminds us, “you cannot teach someone you do not believe in.”

10 Tips for Teaching Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Poetry

Be yourself. If hip-hop isn’t your thing, don’t sweat it. Better to “keep it real” and be yourself. In other words, keep it authentic. Find connections to your students that are meaningful to you – but don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. If you love classic poetry, boom – spoken word […]