Hip Hop and Math (4/14/08)

Learning the rules of working with exponential expressions can be a tedious learning experience. 7 properties ranging from what to do when multiplying powers with the same base to how to handle negative exponents. Although not terribly difficult, there's certainly nothing inherently engaging about developing your skills around how to handle (x^3 * x^5)/x^4. As a result, I decided to come up with a way to really get the kids going on learning these properties.

Our kids love music. Whether it's hip hop, alternative, or Latino, they just really seem to love music. As a result I thought why not bring music into the classroom? What if the kids were asked to take a song that they really like and change the lyrics to teach the properties? That was the task I assigned the kids. Making sure you use all 7 properties we've learned change the lyrics to teach the listener how to use the rules.

The beauty of teaching is that just because an idea sounds great doesn't mean it will actually work. As I discovered for the umpteenth time in my career. First of all, my assumption that because my kids love hip-hop means that they could produce hip-hop lyrics was false. Putting the constraint on them by saying your song needs to teach the properties of exponents became too much of a daunting task for many groups. Creating rhythm and rhyme with a set amount of material really is tougher for students than I anticipated. In addition, it takes a long time...something that we are always worried about in the teaching profession. If it's going to take a while then it better be a valuable experience that ensures the learning outcomes are being met. In this case, as two days passed, I realized that it was too much time for too little learning. Like recognizing when to take a loss on a stock that's continuously dropping it was time to sell. I scrapped the project.

As disappointed as I was that the groups were unable to really come up with some amazing songs I was pleased to see Ladon and Torian really take to the challenge. Moving into their third day of writing they have been fully engaged in the activity and it seems as though this project suits their interests and learning needs. We know that all kids learn differently and enjoy engaging with materials in different ways. It's clear that these two appreciate the musical side of things and are able to transfer their knowledge into meaningful lyrics. I'm really excited to hear their final version. If you're curious, their song choice was the rap song that starts "I wish I was a little bit taller...I wish I was a baller..." They're new version starts with "I wish I was a product of a power...it took my nearly an hour..."

What did I learn from my mistake...
1.) Just cause kids love music doesn't mean they all want to create it. The same holds true for video games. Just cause kids love to play them doesn't mean they all want to learn how to make them. (False assumption)
2.) An activity like this one can be really powerful for some, and therefor should not be put in the closet just because it didn't work for everybody. In the future, I should just make it an option in a list of many choices on how students can demonstrate what they know.
3.) As one of my more astute students, Jamel, suggested to me yesterday afternoon, I should have started the activity later on when the kids had more familiarity with the rules and how to work with them. "Hey Mr. Singer, we should have done this after we were already comfortable with the properties...it would have been easier to work with them and write lyrics about them." He was absolutely right...it's far easier write about things you know.

As teachers it is essential that we experiment in our classrooms with any ideas that we believe will further engage students in learning. Sometimes our experiments work and other times they fail, but that doesn't mean we stop experimenting.