Paint and Pages

In the summer of 2023, I spent two weeks on campus at the University of Northern Iowa learning about comprehensive literacy at the Jacobsen Center for Comprehensive Literacy. It was an incredible experience! It reignited a passion for education that has been blossoming ever since.

Dr. Schuaib Meachham taught us about hip hop literacy. When I first heard of it, I thought, “There’s no way my preschool students could do this!” One of my instructors, Marissa Schweinfurth, shared that I could adapt it to preschool. She suggested using nursery rhymes or the rules of the classroom as places to start. I began to see hip hop literacy as something preschool students could do.

I shared my idea of coteaching a Hip Hop Literacy lesson with my University of Northern Iowa Literacy Coach, Darcie Wirth. After considering the needs of my students, of which 85% are English Language Learners, I decided to start with colors. I found a color hip hop song and some free TeachersPayTeachers color posters with objects of that color to use as inspiration for my students. I laminated the posters, brought in my iPhone wireless microphone, turned on the disco light and we were ready to go!

Darcie is one of those people you’d know was a teacher just by taking a quick glance at her. She is fun, compassionate, and talented in her craft. My students flocked to her immediately and her comfort and encouragement inspired their confidence and creativity. I found myself wishing she could be in my classroom everyday!

Darcie and I began our lesson with a read aloud: When The Beat Was Born by Laban Carroll Hill. Students enjoyed learning that DJ Kool Herc came to the United States from another country. Students also learned that records, long before iPhones, were what was used to play music. I thought it was fitting that hip hop was born by playing with words and sound and connecting with others. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it!

As part of my preschool literacy block, I always include a story, music, and movement. Naturally, breakdancing seemed the perfect pairing for our lesson! I showed students a video on breakdancing, played a song that inspires movement, and students took turns coming to the center of the circle to try breakdancing. It was a blast!

After dancing, it was time to get writing! Darcie modeled writing a hip hop song about the color purple and I improved a hip hop song about the color yellow. My coworker Jesus joined our classroom during this lesson and helped me improv a song about the color green. Then, he translated the song in Spanish!

Students then separated into small groups and got to try writing hip hop on their own.

We gave students a wireless iPhone microphone that was excellent at picking up their words and not the noise around them. I played backbeats on my laptop and students took turns writing their songs.

One ELL student, who has only said a handful of words to me the entire school year, was engrossed in hip hop writing. She spoke for several minutes in Spanish and English about colors and her family. She even chose to come and write more hip hop during free choice. As I’d added five pumpkins students could wash to the water table that day, it says a lot for hip hop literacy that so many students chose to return to this activity in their free time!

One student was sad when I put the materials away at the end of the day. I told her not to worry! Hip hop literacy is something we will be doing throughout the entire school year.

Now the hunt for microphones and other sound/recording equipment begins! I know just the expert to ask: my musician father. I remember dad always having the latest Musician’s Friend catalog and being bored and confused by its contents. Now I’m intrigued!