Reimagining the Motown Era: Black Male Teachers' Historical Use of Hip-Hop to Maximize Classroom Instruction

• In Event: 64.066 - "Check the Technique": Tools and Methods of Hip-Hop Pedagogy

Abstract

This study focuses on African American male K-12 teachers who were born between 1965 and 1984 and feel closely connected to Hip Hop music and culture and is motivated by a desire to address the diminishing presence of African American male teachers in urban schools. The significance of this proposed study is multifold. Through an examination of pedagogical beliefs of African American male teachers from the Motown Era, this study sheds light on the cultural contexts in which their experiences with Hip Hop culture and their motivations to teach emerged. In doing so, this study seeks to expand upon the existing literature on teacher beliefs, which includes the ontologies, epistemologies, and pedagogies of these African American male educators.

Authors

• Antonio Latrell Ellis, Howard University

• Jaquial D Durham, Howard University

• Edmund S Adjapong, Seton Hall University