The (R)Evolution Will Not Be Standardized: Teacher Education and Hip-Hop Pedagogy

• In Event: Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Educational Justice in a Changing World

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of hip hop education programs throughout the country, almost no teacher education programs have given serious consideration to the role of youth culture in the preparation of teachers who will serve students in urban settings. After more than 20 years of work in culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) extensions of this work (culturally sustaining pedagogy, Paris & Alim, 2014) incorporate youth and local, organic culture more seamlessly into the classroom. Unfortunately, at the university level where most teachers are prepared, few programs are equipped to leverage youth culture, specifically hip hop, into their programs. Instead, more and more prospective teachers are subjected to standard curriculum that prepare them to take and pass state-mandated tests of “teacher knowledge” without consideration for the need for effective teachers to develop a more sophisticated knowledge and understanding of students’ culture and experiences. This paper shares the fledgling effort of a teacher educator to prepare prospective students through innovative uses of youth culture and education research.

Author

• Gloria J. Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin - Madison