Hip Hop Education Built Me For These Times

Angela Kariotis

I was lucky. A hip hop pedagogy informs my poise and prose. This was my time to freestyle and remix without missing a beat; to be nimble, to adapt, to be flexible, to play it by ear, to rock steady. When the sudden online pivot happened my classes were already tight. They knew each other and trusted each other. This is the payoff of inclusive teaching. Paid in full. We were a crew. I integrate applied and devised theater exercises throughout the curriculum. We are always on our feet or “rocking the floor.” We used these techniques to learn each other’s names while in a “cypher” by the end of our first week of classes. I center personal narrative in the classroom as knowledge. We had done the bonding work. By the time online learning happened, we had already harvested a “community agreements” outlining what we expected from ourselves and each other during our learning process. I posted these agreements into our virtual meetings as a reminder of our commitments. This dedication to inclusive learning sustained us throughout our distance learning. It was the students who asked for synchronous meetings. They wanted to stay connected, to remain in community. They needed this class.

We met for the duration of our standard class time. I used all aspects of what was available: the chat function, media uploads, breakout sessions, videos. I got creative with it. We made it through 90% of the syllabus. We split our class time between talking about the pandemic and discussing other components that were part of the syllabus agenda. Half the time, I replaced agenda artifacts with items directly from the current moment. I offer examples on assignment re-imaginings below. First Class Memes is a staple of our class time. It was designed as a weekly assignment for the entirety of the semester. Every week, I would upload an image to the discussion board, and they would respond while referencing each other’s statements. For the pandemic, I populated the First Class Memes component with rhetoric and imagery culled from the current moment shared on social media. It gave students space to talk about the thing most on their mind while attending to our class benchmark—an oral communication proficiency.

The second component I am offering here was also adapted to the current moment: 1- minute combustibles. This is our ritual that starts every class. One person answers one random question from a questions list speaking for one continuous minute while standing in front of the class. The purpose is to build stamina for impromptu, limited preparation responses; to help them think quickly and thoroughly on their feet. Basically, they learn to freestyle. With our pandemic pivot, everyone was asked to answer the 1-minute combustible via video upload. Granted, there is preparation time, but they certainly used it to texture their offerings. Students were asked to watch and respond to the videos posted by their learning lab mates. Learning labs were created during the first week of class. These were groups of 3-4 students that moved through the semester together working in various ways. The goal with learning labs was to help scaffold the development of lasting relationships. Communication happens where there is trust. The comfortability of present support systems moved students to take creative risks and make bold choices. The students dug into their learning labs for support during “this unprecedented time.”

Make no mistake, we still had pockets of tremendous fun. I converted several fully embodied Theater of the Oppressed games into virtual reimaginings. For example, “The Wind Takes Away” is a sort of musical chairs. This quick paced exercise builds “ensemble.” The game has several tiered rounds: clothing or outward appearance, likes and dislikes, fears, dreams, family history, oppressions and privileges. A person stands in the middle of a circle while everyone else sits in a chair facing them. The person in the middle starts, “The wind takes away everyone who…” They finish the statement with a fact that is true for them in that moment. If the statement is true for anyone else in the circle, those people rush to find another seat, along with the person in the middle. There is one seat less than there are people playing! Face to face, everyone is pushing each other out of the way! There are no allegiances. We cry laughing. Online we used the chat function. The students responded “me” or “not me” as a variation to “finding a seat” or not. The last person to respond would be “in the middle” next. For the clothing or outward appearance category, “The wind takes away anyone who wears glasses.” Seeing the flurry of responses was just as exciting. The laughter and surprise at what they had in common was the same. The eventual depth the game fosters was the same. Fears: “The wind takes away everyone who is scared to get sick.” Dreams: “The wind takes away everyone who hopes to be back at school in the fall.” Oppressions: “The wind takes away everyone who is feeling oppressed by the depression of being alone.” Privileges: “The wind takes away everyone with the privilege to have a home to be stuck in.”

Building relationships takes time and effort. When there is a relationship, students are able to internalize their learning, the way they relate to the material, how they integrate and position the work. That commitment to relationship mattered. It kept together. We stayed in our willingness. This was a state of emergency, and we rallied to protect each other’s spirit with authenticity, with tenderness. Adaptability, resiliency, generosity, and courageousness are hallmarks of the hip hop aesthetic. We did the work while face to face that provided the durable scaffolding for our tenuous time online.

Here are a few of the adapted exercises from the First Class Memes discussion board and the 1-minute combustible video uploads.

3/10/2020
First Class Memes: Disability activism.
Discussion board.

3/16/2020
1-minute combustible: Personal and professional check-in.
Video upload.
Prompt: (You can go overtime but NOT under time.) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is the lowest, 10 is the highest, tell us how you are doing personally and professionally. Personally is about YOU, the self. Professionally can refer to work, school, yourself as a student. Tell us where you fall on the scale for EACH: personally AND professionally. Tell the story of why you put yourself there. Share what you’d like for us to know.

3/21/2020
First Class Memes: The language we use informs how we respond.
Discussion board.

4/2/2020
1-minute combustible: Reframe this moment as an opportunity.
Video upload.
Prompt: Albert Einstein said, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” See problems as opportunities. Problematizing incentivizes a solution.

Sometimes the only difference between a problem and an opportunity is the word you use to describe it. Whenever you face a problem, take a step back and ask how it could be described as an opportunity—to innovate, build, and improve.

The discipline of creative thinking will change you—and for the better. As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size.” Consider the current moment. Describe the opportunity we have.

4/17/2020
First Class Memes: It takes time.
Discussion board.

4/21/2020
1-minute combustible: Getting Skooled.
Video upload.
Prompt: In 2 parts. CONSIDER the question. CONSIDER the image. Present your thoughts.

PART 1: The transition to online was a sudden one. Students are saying things like, “We have to teach ourselves.” Think about the idea of “teaching yourself.” Invite your mind to re-frame the idea. What ARE students having to teach themselves? WHAT are we HAVING to LEARN? WHAT do we HAVE to learn? What lessons have been hard won? Think about this as broadly or as specifically as you’d like. Do not edit yourself. Get out of your head. All angles are welcome.

PART 2: Sit with this image. See where it takes you.

4/30/2020
The “Final”: Everyone takes a turn, I will ask you, “Is there anything else you’d like to say?”

Some students read poems, gave inspirational speeches, read quotations, relayed a favorite memory from class, offered a gratitude, or shared what they learned. This image was my last word to them:

In the new normal, may love be essential in every classroom.