Institute provides engagement tools for working with youth

If you are an educator or community leader looking seeking ways to capture, keep and encourage your students’ focus on learning through spoken word, art, music and movement, there is still time to register for “Hip-Hop in the Heartland,” this year’s Educator and Community Leader Training Institute.

The summer seminar will be July 23-27 at Union South on the UW–Madison campus.

Hosted by the UW–Madison’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives in partnership with Urban Word NYC, the weeklong training offers educators and community leaders the opportunity to learn the best practices in hip-hop and spoken-word pedagogy.

The institute brings together the leading educators, professors, emcees and activists using spoken word and hip-hop as relevant, dynamic and necessary educational tools to engage students in multi-disciplinary learning for daytime instruction supplemented with evening performances and lectures. The evening performance and lecture series is open to the public.

World-renowned facilitators will lead workshops and hands-on, curriculum-building lessons throughout the week, including Christopher Emdin, an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology at Columbia University, who will speak on STEM, hip-hop and urban science education. Other faculty instructors include institute director Michael Cirelli, Columbia University assistant professor Yolanda Sealey Ruiz, HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” artist Taylor Mali, Dialogue Arts Project founder and director Adam Falkner, Cave Canem Fellow Mahogany L. Browne, author Quraysh Ali Lansana, education consultant Sam Seidel, and San Francisco State University assistant professor Dawn-Elissa Fisher.

Each will draw on educational theories such as socio-cultural theory, culturally-relevant pedagogy, critical race theory, and social justice practices that will help educators connect hip-hop as both an art form and an instructional tool to improve students’ academic success.

Registration is $200 for the week (additional fees apply for university credit). There is a limit of 75 participants, but space is still available. A limited number of partial scholarships are available. Contact Alexis Anderson-Reed at (608) 890-1006, aandersonree@wisc.edu for more information.

The seminar can be taken for professional development for 1-3 university credits at a special student reduced tuition rate of only $150/credit. The seminar also can be taken for continuing education credits and fulfills Wisconsin Professional Development Plan requirements.

Visit here to register and for more information.

The Educator and Community Leader Training Institute is offered by Urban Word, NYC, the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate, and the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives and co-sponsored by UW–Madison Continuing Studies, UW–Madison Education, Outreach and Partnerships, and the Madison Metropolitan School District.