Hip-Hop Battles, Classrooms Gangs? Teacher Says It's The Answer To Engage Low-Income Students' Interest

Teachers are not only looking for good grades and behaved students -- they're looking out for their students' own welfare and education. To do that, a certain teacher from Columbia University's Teachers College has found a way that just might work.

Christopher Emdin has spent years as a K-12 science and math teacher in underprivileged areas, reports the Huffington Post. Having seen students in underprivileged areas and also having seen teachers being ineffective in what they do, Emdin has found out one key that he believes is crucial.

"In high school, I became aware of the fact that my teachers in many ways were great people who didn't understand me and my neighborhood," Emdin explained. "Then, I found myself back in the classroom after undergrad. The early ideas I had about why teachers were ineffective started to make sense. Many of my teachers were ineffective because they didn't know how to be effective."

Emdin believes that one of the most effective ways that he could teach kids and relate to them is by treating his classrooms more like gangs, and having activities like hip-hop battles. He said that in gangs, members find their sense of responsibility, and a sense of feeling like family, adding that it makes them feel a valuable part of the community.

"I want kids to feel like they are responsible for each other's learning, that they have their own special handshake," Emdin said. "I want them to feel like they have their own special name. I want them to feel like the classroom wouldn't run or operate without them."

In his book titled "White Folks Who Teach In The Hood...And The Rest Of Y'all Too," Emdin has included the technique called "Cosmopolitanism," or the feeling of being valued in a community. By this, he wants white and non-native teachers to learn what he calls "reality pedagogy," a teaching approach that primarily aims to meet the student's needs by considering his or her cultural or emotional level.

With that approach, Emdin hopes to improve the teaching quality of white teachers, instead of merely arguing to enroll new teachers of color while the students are suffering from a low level of learning.