Creating a Shared Energy to Advance the Art of Teaching: A Collaborative Auto-Ethnography Cypher

• In Event: 18.044 - A #HipHopEd Compilation: Hip-Hop as Education and Knowledge of Self

Abstract

Purpose Statement
The scholarship presented in this proposal serves to address teaching as an art form. The goal of this presentation is to share a cypher that recounts the shared reflections of a White female urban mathematics educator and a Black male hip-hop artist and radio personality on educating pre-service teachers about hip-hop culture. A significant objective is to inspire educators to consider hip-hop as a pedagogical tool in the classroom. For educators unfamiliar with hip-hop culture, the hope is to address misconceptions of hip-hop and promote collaboration between teachers and artists.

Theoretical Framing
Our work is framed utilizing a collaborative autoethnography cypher. Autoethnography allows researchers to interrogate and reflect on their personal stories and connect to broader cultural and social contexts. By participating in a collaborative autoethnography, Blalock and Akehi (2018) propose that “intentional and purposeful dialogue can act as a pathway for transformative learning” (p. 89). Similarly, Emdin (2016) evokes the hip-hop cypher within co-generative dialogues where students and teachers engage to co-construct classrooms that attend to students’ social, emotional, and academic needs. The cypher is a collective where participants exchange rhymes or dances to create a shared energy and advance the craft. There is a shared energy that has been developed through the work that we do together, and in turn there is an energy that is created as we have worked with pre-service teachers to embrace the creative power of hip-hop.

Methods & Data Sources
This study is a based on a recorded conversation where the artist and I shared our experiences working together with pre-service teachers. Prior to the conversation, we each reflected on our prior experiences within educational spaces. Inspired by Irizarry (2009), the conversation was reflective of the hip-hop cypher. Thematic analysis of the transcript was conducted utilizing an inductive approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006), which allowed for themes to emerge from the data. The conversation for this paper was conducted in spring of 2018 and involved the author and a hip-hop artist. This conversation lasted approximately two hours and the author transcribed the audio recording. Initial codes were generated to search for themes.
Prevalent themes were reviewed and defined, and the results are reported as overarching themes.

Findings
Findings of this research suggest that at least three themes exist: 1) interaction with the artist is important in breaking stereotypes, 2) looking beyond mainstream hip-hop to see the complexities of the culture, and 3) working together through shared passion and love of hip-hop.

Significance
The cypher in this research shows how the rapper, who is often shunned in educational spaces, can become the teacher. Keeping with the theme of the conference, attention is given to leveraging our story to combat biases and misconceptions about hip-hop culture, highlighting the potential of collaboration between hip-hop and education. This collaboration creates a new energy in the classroom and strengthens the art of teaching.

Author

• Marti Cason, Crowley ISD