The Poetry of Hip-Hop
Teacher: Evan Wettengal

Music Standards:
·         Analyze and compare the use of the elements of music upon listening to examples representing diverse genres and cultures.
·         Develop criteria for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of music performances and compositions and aply the criteria to their personal listening, composing, and performing.
·         Compose short pieces within specified guidelines, demonstrating the use of the elements of music.

Academic (Language Arts) Standards:
·         Read and discuss literary and non-literary texts in order to understand the human experience.
·         Create or produce writing to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Objectives:
·         Students will comprehend the message of confidence in oneself from Brother Ali's song.
·         Students will realize that good poetry isn't just in text books and written by dead white guys.
·         Students will write their own "I am who I am" poems. 
·         Students will put their poetry to a beat.

Why is it important the students learn my lesson?
            It is important for students to experience this lesson because poetry is a subject that teachers often miss the boat.  So often in schools, poetry is taught as something to read, analyze, and point out the metaphors and symbolism.  Most students are afraid of poetry because they think it is difficult to understand.  I want students to realize that poetry is a really fun thing and doesn’t only mean Shakespeare, Poe, and Longfellow.  Poetry is in the music all around us today, and poetry can be written by anybody.  It is important for students to know that poetry doesn't have to rhyme, it doesn’t have to follow any sort of rules, it doesn't have to be popular, and it doesn't have to mean anything to anybody else, as long as it means something to you.  I think poetry and self-esteem have a lot to do with each other, and I want to show that through one of my favorite hip-hop songs.      

Materials:
            Lyrics for Forest Whitaker by Brother Ali
            YouTube video of Forest Whitaker by Brother Ali
            Paper and pencils for students

Background:
            This is a lesson that could be done at any time of the year at any grade level.  The song might not work very well for younger students, but there are other, more appropriate songs.  Writing the poems is something that every student in any grade should do.  This should not be done in a poetry "unit," rather poetry should be read a little every day, or at least every week.  If students are exposed to poetry early and often, it is much more likely that they will understand and appreciate it more than if it is present as a single unit.

Lesson Steps:
Introduction
·         The teacher opens with the following questions:  "Who likes poetry?  Who likes listening to music?  Who likes hip-hop music?"  Teacher should suggest that music is poetry and that the lesson today is an attempt to show that poetry isn't necessarily written by some dead white guy.  Poetry can be fun, and it is all around us, we just might not know it. 

Body
·         Teacher will then pass out lyrics sheets and read "Forest Whitaker" by Brother Ali.  Teacher will ask students for their thoughts on the words, encouraging them to notice the message of confidence and image.  Teacher will ask the students if this is poetry and why or why not they think so.

·         Teacher will then play"Forest Whitaker."  Students will be asked for their reactions to the song, and how the beat and the melody made it their opinions of it different.  Teacher will ask the students if they still think it is poetry.  Hopefully students will agree that it is.

·         At this point, teacher could read or play a variety of other poems to show more examples.  Some I found on YouTube are called "Hate," "Bi-racial Hair," "Father," "What Teachers Make."  (Most of these are geared toward an older audience.) There are several other poems dealing with self-image that could be used here, depending on time and student interest.

·         Students will then be asked to write their own poems.  I am calling them "I am who I am" poems, based on the lyric from the Brother Ali song.  Teacher should remind students that there is no format, no style, no rhyming requirements for this piece.  Students should pick something about themselves that makes them different and write a poem about it. 

·         Students will then put their poem to a beat, rhythm, or melody. (These last two steps might take several days.)

Conclusion
·         Students can then perform their songs for the class.  They should not be forced to present seeing as some of the subjects might be kind of sensitive, but they should be encouraged to present anyway, because the overarching theme of this lesson is confidence. 

·         It is imperative that the teacher emphasizes the importance of being happy with who you are.  Everybody has things that are different about them, and these differences are what make the world such a beautiful place.  We should be proud of ourselves, our looks, and our abilities.  Also, we should not make fun of others because being different is not bad. 

Assessment:
            Students' poems should be assessed on effort, voice, and creativity.  This is not a lesson to worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar, style, or density of the writing.  This is a lesson about confidence in oneself and confidence in one's writing.  A strict grading rubric has the power to cancel out any progress made in that realm.  The only way a student should get less than full marks for this assignment would be if they didn't do it, or if they wrote something that wasn't a sincere effort.

Next Steps:
            Read poetry often.  Read different authors, different styles, different levels of difficulty, different cultures.  Read poetry to your students, and have them read it and write it themselves.  I would argue that reading poetry is as important as learning math, and we make our students do math every day.