Beats Beyond "Fun Friday": Exploring Hip-Hop Play as a Culturally Relevant Approach for Promoting Social Emotional Wellness of Young Children

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session Five
  In Roundtable Session: The Hip-Hop Cypher: Collective Voices for Systemic Change (Table 5)

Abstract

Although Black children are suspended at alarming rates (Stegelin, 2018), Culturally relevant educators have countered these statistics by fostering positive social and academic outcomes for their students (Boutte, 2015; Emdin & Adjapong, 2018). While scholars have demonstrated the ability of Hip Hop pedagogy to address the mental health challenges of urban youth (Levy & Adjapong, 2021), this qualitative study (Patton, 2002) explored how Hip Hop play can be a culturally relevant approach to support young children’s social-emotional learning. Five preschool educators and four kindergarten educators in the southeastern region of the country were selected as participants in the study. The findings of the study demonstrated that young children met and exceeded learning outcomes and grade-level standards for social-emotional development.

Author

• Anthony Broughton, Alabama State University
  Presenting Author