10 Questions
about Music and
Literacy Lead 'Mr. Alan'
into Fascinating Areas of Inquiry.

By Christian Z. Goering
Fayetteville, Arkansas
May 7, 2009

Education buzzwords abound in various circles these days. What will our classrooms and the students who populate them look like in five or ten years?  "21st Century Skills," a concept championed by the 21st Century Workforce Commission and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, stand at the core of much of the buzz. Promises of necessary and imminent change are being floated all around.

Literate, Competitive, Prepared

What will our students need to be literate and competitive by the time they complete the eighth grade or graduate from high school? Will they be academically grounded and able to think, reason, and work together effectively? How should teachers be prepared in this changing, shifting educational arena?

And, of course, what educational role will music, especially popular music in the form of recorded tunes and albums, play in this ever changing landscape?

Most of these questions are asked and discussed time and again in faculty meetings and professional conferences at all levels of the academic spectrum and all regions of the USA. And most of the answers relate to the changing nature of students and how education must adapt to meet their needs.

'Mr Alan' Gets Real for Literacy.

One fresh, intriguing, challenging, and get-real voice for sensible change in school and schooling is Alan Sitomer. "Mr. Alan," as his inner city Los Angeles students call him, is a popular circuit speaker, an acclaimed teacher, and an articulate advocate for innovation and student-centered literacy initiatives.

Recently, I took the opportunity to interview Mr. Alan. We discussed his ideas and approaches to solving vexing issues in the classroom and curriculum. I was also interested in his perspective on the one issue most prominent on my mind: Where and how does music fit into his design for improving education, and especially improving literacy?

Our phone conversation and the questions I asked him were prompted and informed by my keen interest in the opportunities outlined in a presentation Mr. Alan gave back in November of 2008 at the convention of the National Council of Teachers of English in San Antonio. This three-time California Teacher of the Year spun a fascinating tale of teaching with Hip-Hop in a presentation entitled, Hip-Hop in the Classroom: Cultural Relevance, Pop Culture, and Discourse. Mr. Sitomer's classroom anecdotes and his perspectives on the modern student and efforts to improve literacy were inspirational and informative.

So, let's begin. 

Why use this, or any, music in the secondary English language arts classroom?

For one, according to Mr. Alan, music plays right into the unique identity of each of his students and helps them to validate their individuality.

"When you validate a student's music, you validate the student. And conversely, to devalue a student's music is to risk devaluing the student."

Alan's reply brought to mind a telling incident I observed while conducting research for my dissertation study. A substitute teacher, directed to facilitate student music presentations, decided to add a bit of personal critical commentary. Rather than allowing the students to give their presentations, the substitute felt it was necessary to articulate his dislike of their music.

The substitute stopped class after one presentation and asked, "Why are we doing this? Why are we listening to this song? Why are we listening to this crap? I know I'm from a different generation, but I think this is crap. Why do you listen to it?" In response to one student's heartfelt answer, the sub replied, "Because it touches your heart? Is that really true?"

The students united against the unruly substitute and not much progress ensued. As Alan says, the teacher insulted much more than the students' music when he spouted his rude generalizations.

Most Any Tune Will Do
If It's Attuned to the Student.

As for me, Hip-Hop really isn't my bag, but "my bag" is secondary to classroom harmony and the cultivation of a learning environment attuned to the students. Mr. Sitomer believes in giving students musical choice whenever possible. "Your music is your music and right now, in my situation, Hip-Hop is right for my students but may not be right for yours," he said.

"Engagement is critical in today's classroom. It is the essential academic principle," Alan continued. "I believe engagement leads to motivation leads to comprehension leads to increased performance. There isn't a student in my class who will tell you that when they open up their 1,400-page, five-pound textbook to page 737, they find anything riveting."
 

What other benefits can come from using music in the classroom?
 

"First and foremost, music is a universal language. I have yet to meet a kid who doesn't respond somehow in some way to some type of music. When I can find that one song as a teacher, I have an avenue to literacy and literature through books. The secret to finding that avenue is not taking personal ownership in finding the music myself, but to allow students to illuminate for me the literary merit and literary value of whatever music they prefer.

"For example, I will play something from Iron Maiden or The Eagles or Notorious B.I.G., and my students, in turn, will see the template under which I analyze the literary merit of the music, and then those skills transfer when they attempt it with their own tunes."
 

What drawbacks exist in the use of music in your classroom?
 

"The biggest drawback is the misperception of other educators, those people who remain ignorant to the potential music holds and think my class is just MTV. The misperception exists at an even greater level when you enter interdisciplinary situations.

"In my experience, science teachers almost never use music in the classroom, but they leave a spectacular tool on the table. Some math teachers are having their students rap about fractions, etc., and many newer teachers are embracing music in a way I would like to see.

"The problem really lies in the fact that I don't feel America's postsecondary schools are illuminating the merit and sound pedagogy of using music in the classrooms. Teachers have to stumble across it. There is still a feeling, even for me, that I am doing something subversive, and it is still stigmatized in a way detrimental to our profession. I don't run into many drawbacks with students, except, a few times when I didn't hold the line on the parameters (no profanity,no misogyny, no homophobia). Students always try to push me to allow just one 'f-bomb.' The answer is still 'no.' "

What are some examples of how to use these ideas in practice?
 

Mr. Sitomer gave several examples to illustrate how he uses Hip-Hop in his inner city English classes. He told of using Tupac Shakur's "Me Against The World" to teach Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night." Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" (excerpts only) can be used to teach figurative language and tie into the work of Langston Hughes' "A Dream Deferred."

Mr. Sitomer also teaches personification by connecting Rakim lyrics to the literary work of Sylvia Plath. "At the end of the day, I am just like you," he said. "I am picking a core content standard and trying to find new and innovative ways of teaching them to my students. I build essential connections, then have my students take over. That validates what they are doing and engages them in it because it is relevant."

Some of these examples feature prominently in Alan's innovative book, Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics for the Classroom (Milk Mug 2004), which he wrote in collaboration with Michael Cirelli. It is a phenomenal asset for classroom teachers.

Lesson Plans, Writing Activities

Kevin J. Tober, a teacher from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, had this to say in an Amazon book review: "This book was introduced to me in an English Department meeting held by our county. It was introduced with such enthusiasm, I just had to check it out for myself. This book is wonderful. Lesson plans are included in the book including poetry writing activities and analysis of poetry sorted by literary devices (such as symbolism, imagery, metaphor, etc.)."

Mr. Tober's praise is typical of many who encounter Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics. I frequently share the book with colleagues and my own pre-service education students, and sometimes have to ask several times for it to be returned.
 

What other practical uses of music have you discovered since you finished the book?

"As I push forward to bringing twenty-first century skills into my classroom, music becomes an increasingly relevant part," Alan said. "As I have students create presentations, podcasts, and videos, musical soundtracks set the tone and add a texture to the other projects. Music is an even more relevant part of my teaching today. Students are scrolling through their iPods, seeking to match songs with the intellectual arenas of literature. They are operating at a different level than students of the past. For example, my students are currently doing a project on poverty in urban America. The music that matches up with their podcasts adds depth and tone and meaning to the words they have written."
 

Can you relate a time when someone has challenged your use of music or other media to engage students? What did you tell them?

"When I first started bringing Hip-Hop into the classroom, I definitely felt I was being ostracized a bit by my colleagues," Alan said. "Bringing music into the classroom meant, in their eyes, I was sacrificing rigor. I am of the opposite mind. I feel the better engaged students are, the more rigor you can demand of them.

"For new teachers, it is important to always use music with an academic objective in mind. This is not play time in the classroom. This is sound methodology that is seeking to reach high achievement and greater goals."
 

What, when everything is said and done, do you consider your vision for literacy instruction over the next twenty years?

"I bring in music and use it to harmonize with the classroom as it transforms into muti-modal, project-based learning with the twenty-first century skills. The era of us seeing things existing separately is on its way out. I see these new skills all together as composing, as synthesizing ideas and genres and modalities together, rather than focusing on individual aspects of them. Our students are currently operating in much this same way. They are merging capabilities and capacities at an incredible rate. They don't see music as being separate but rather as a part of the whole experience.

"The soup metaphor works well in thinking about the changes in education," Alan continued. "You don't eat soup in parts. First you have some water, salt, vegetables, and other ingredients. If things are separated, the soup doesn't taste the same. The individual ingredients congeal together to form a whole. Modern education is in need of doing a better job of coalescing."
 

What is a useful, working definition of "Hip-Hop?" What other genres are closely related?

Alan agrees with the Wikipedia definition of hip hop, but stops short of providing his own. According to Wikipedia, "Hip hop music is a genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans."
 

How are the tunes chosen?
 
 

According to Mr. Sitomer, one of the myths out there in adult land is that Hip-Hop music is wretched with profanity, misogyny, and homophobia. "Everything in my classroom is clean," he said. "We bring up and discuss these terms as part of the core vocabulary and discuss these at the beginning of each year. There is plenty of music not appropriate for my classroom or my goals, but there is plenty that is.

"I let my students do it," he continued. "I come in with one song or two songs. They go off. They just have to have the parameters to choose the music and then the template through which to examine it. My job is to empower my students. If I am going to be successful at that, I can't just give them free reign. They need guidance and instruction. My role as an educator varies frequently and is perpetually changing. Sometimes I am in back, sometimes I am front, and sometimes I am on the side. Mostly though, I don't have the luxury of making that decision. My students do and I respond to what they need."
 

Are there standard Hip-Hop tunes that are useful in your introductory lesson? If so, which ones?

In Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics, Alan suggests these songs (sometimes excerpts of them) as good starting places to introduce the concept of Hip Hop music and how it connects to literature and literacy:

  "Fight The Power" by Public Enemy

  "Lose Yourself" by Eminem

  "Paid In Full" by Rakim

  "I Am Music" by Common

  "Respiration" by Mos Def
 

Other Works by 'Mr. Alan'

Mr. Sitomer is an acclaimed author of five other works of young adult fiction and classroom teaching materials: The Hoopster, Hip-Hop High School, Homeboyz, The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriquez, and Teaching Teens & Reaping Results In a Wi-Fi, Hip-Hop, Where-Has-All-The-Sanity-Gone-World.

His most recent project, The Book Jam, is an online social networking space for teachers to collaborate about how to change the way literature is taught. For more information or to contact Alan, visit his websites:

www.alanlawrencesitomer.com
www.thebookjam.ning.com
 

Editor's note:
Mr. Sitomer's presentation at the 2008 San Antonio conference included Blake Harrison's talk, "Elevate the Culture."

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