I found Promising Practices to be
a very eye opening conference to attend, and not at all what I expected. I honestly
went in assuming it would be boring, dull, and sleep-inducing. And while one of
my two smaller presentations was what I expected, the key-note speaker was
anything but.
Dr. Emdin’s teaching on the
merits of hip hop education was energetic, powerful, and enjoyable to observe
while also very insightful. I absolutely agree with what I took to be his
overall message: Students don’t all learn the same way, and expecting them to
all benefit from the same teaching style is detrimental to their education.
Students are taught the same way
every year. Sit down at a table, don’t fidget or move, use a pen or pencil on
paper, and be silent. While this teaching style works for some, it’s not
effective for everyone, especially for children with lots of energy. We as
teachers owe it to our students to teach them in ways that they can relate to.
If that means sitting at their desks, then so be it. If that means raping in a
circle, then so be it. We need to package the lessons we are tasked to teach in
a way that is relatable to our students, or else we may as well be talking to
an empty room.
After hearing Dr. Emdin speak I
know that I cannot have a “traditional” classroom. Am I going to have my
students rap every class? No, and I can’t believe that that’s what Dr. Emdin
was suggesting. Will I have days or weeks in which I’ll use rap as a technique
of teaching? Sure! The point is that I vary my teaching technique week to week
(or month to month) in order to figure out what my students connect with best.
Do they learn best when raping in a circle? If so, that’s how my class should
be set up for the year. Do they learn best when they are moving around and not
sitting in class? If so, I’ll get rid of my chairs! The point is that I will be
flexible in my teaching style and classroom management in order to ensure that
my students are set up to succeed in my class.
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