{"id":15564,"date":"2016-05-04T07:28:50","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T11:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=15564"},"modified":"2016-05-04T07:28:50","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T11:28:50","slug":"15564","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/15564\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Teaching through Rap: Web Exclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div id='fullscreen_slider_1'  class='avia-fullscreen-slider main_color   avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_one_fifth  avia-builder-el-first   container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><a href='#next-section' title='' class='scroll-down-link ' aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue877' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'><\/a><div   data-size='extra_large'  data-lightbox_size='large'  data-animation='slide'  data-conditional_play=''  data-ids='15241'  data-video_counter='0'  data-autoplay='false'  data-bg_slider='true'  data-slide_height='100'  data-handle='av_fullscreen'  data-interval='5'  data-class=' '  data-el_id=''  data-css_id='fullscreen_slider_1'  data-scroll_down='aviaTBscroll_down'  data-control_layout=''  data-custom_markup=''  data-perma_caption=''  data-autoplay_stopper=''  data-image_attachment=''  data-min_height='0px'  data-stretch=''  data-default-height='100'  class='avia-slideshow avia-slideshow-1 av-slider-scroll-down-active av-default-height-applied avia-slideshow-extra_large av_fullscreen   avia-slide-slider '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\" ><ul class='avia-slideshow-inner ' style='padding-bottom: 66.5333333333%;' ><li style='background-position:top left;' data-img-url='https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/05\/Freddy-Paige_211-1500x998.jpg' class=' av-single-slide slide-1 ' ><div data-rel='slideshow-1' class='avia-slide-wrap '   ><div class = \"caption_fullwidth av-slideshow-caption caption_left caption_left_framed caption_framed\"><div class = \"container caption_container\"><div class = \"slideshow_caption\"><div class = \"slideshow_inner_caption\"><div class = \"slideshow_align_caption\"><h2  class='avia-caption-title  '  itemprop=\"name\" >Thoughts on Teaching through Rap<\/h2><div class='avia-caption-content  '  itemprop=\"description\"  ><p>by Freddy Paige<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><div id='after_full_slider_1'  class='main_color av_default_container_wrap container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><div class='container' ><div class='template-page content  av-content-small alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-15564'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_fullscreen  el_before_av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-first  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_three_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u201cInformation is not knowledge.<br \/>\nKnowledge is not wisdom.<br \/>\nWisdom is not truth.<br \/>\nTruth is not beauty.<br \/>\nBeauty is not love.<br \/>\nLove is not music.<br \/>\nMusic is THE BEST.\u201d<br \/>\n<em>\u2015 Frank Zappa<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_three_fifth  el_before_av_hr  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div  style=' margin-top:-30px; margin-bottom:-30px;'  class='hr hr-custom hr-center hr-icon-no   avia-builder-el-5  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth '><span class='hr-inner   inner-border-av-border-thin' style=' width:50px;' ><span class='hr-inner-style'><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_hr  el_before_av_three_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_three_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-7  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><div  class='avia-video avia-video-4-3   av-lazyload-immediate  av-lazyload-video-embed  '   itemprop=\"video\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"  data-original_url='http:\/\/tv.clemson.edu\/phd_student_in_civil_engineering_raps_in_class\/' ><script type='text\/html' class='av-video-tmpl'><div class='avia-iframe-wrap'><blockquote data-secret=\"wOP0J6EVvY\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><a href=\"http:\/\/tv.clemson.edu\/phd_student_in_civil_engineering_raps_in_class\/\">Ph.D. Student In Civil Engineering Raps In Class<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" src=\"http:\/\/tv.clemson.edu\/phd_student_in_civil_engineering_raps_in_class\/embed\/#?secret=wOP0J6EVvY\" data-secret=\"wOP0J6EVvY\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"Embedded WordPress Post\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/script><div class='av-click-to-play-overlay'><div class=\"avia_playpause_icon\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-9  el_after_av_three_fifth  el_before_av_hr  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div  style=' margin-top:-30px; margin-bottom:-30px;'  class='hr hr-custom hr-center hr-icon-no   avia-builder-el-10  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth '><span class='hr-inner   inner-border-av-border-thin' style=' width:50px;' ><span class='hr-inner-style'><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-11  el_after_av_hr  el_before_av_three_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_three_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-12  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p>As a 24-year-old teacher with brown skin, no gray hair and a slang-infused vocabulary, I am rarely seen by my students as a sage on a stage. But that\u2019s OK, because my main concern when teaching is building an inclusive environment for my students. I don\u2019t think there is enough being done in higher education to encourage creative, innovative teaching. As a student, I consistently wished for a teacher who provided explanations that I could relate to. I saw that what distinguished the great teachers was simply their ability to ensure a learning opportunity for all.<br \/>\nEvery student helps me teach by sharing her or his experiences related to a topic.\u00a0 One topic for which this approach is especially helpful is environmental justice; most Clemson students grew up physically segregated from the non-white poor areas, which carry the burdens of pollution. Yet when students share diverse perspectives in class, someone inevitably has firsthand experience in an environmental justice hotspot. As one of the students said in their assessment of the course: \u201cI was unaware of some of the environmental justice issues affecting the less fortunate, and discussing the issues from different viewpoints helped me understand.\u201d As the issue becomes more tangible for everyone in the class, the future leaders of our state are better prepared to solve our local issues.<br \/>\nFor interdisciplinary topics like environmental justice, I try to balance depth and context while using constructivist approaches which allow students to build their own understanding. I help students find a foundation within themselves for their newly developed knowledge. At the beginning of my class periods, students hesitate to answer questions related to their assigned reading and videos. By the end of a successful period, engaged students are standing up debating solutions derived from ideas communicated in their homework. I love getting comments like these: \u201cIt was interactive and memorable,\u201d and \u201cThe classroom involvement and group activities as opposed to an hour and a half of lecturing really helped me to get a grasp of concepts and their applications.\u201d<br \/>\nRap music is part of the world\u2019s most listened to genre of music (hip-hop). Those who listen to rap know that it is not all about drugs, sex, money and basketball. Rap began as a way to tell the story of neighborhoods plagued by pollution and other social inequalities. Many of the most influential and successful songs today continue this trend.[pullquote] By rapping in my lesson on environmental justice I was able to transform the classroom into my childhood neighborhood where food was scarce, toxins were abundant and people felt powerless. [\/pullquote] Students were surprised and quickly became submerged in their new environment.<br \/>\nRap lyrics are designed to be a glue which hold together various bits of information so that listeners can think critically and remember. When students say, \u201cI loved the rap \u2014 it helped drive home the ideas of social injustice,\u201d it makes the risk of trying new techniques worthwhile. While students may not understand what it feels like to live where I grew up, they can surely relate to the concept of hunger at some level. Thousands of views on Facebook is cool, but hearing\u00a0\u00a0students say, \u201cThe rap and everyone being involved made this a very memorable class\u201d is the only acknowledgment I need to continue coming up with better ways to teach.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-14  el_after_av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-last  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,18],"tags":[3238],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-web-exclusive","tag-web-exclusive"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/05\/Freddy-Paige_142.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15564"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}