Final Reflection

Dominica Beverley

Megan Keaton

ENGL 1103

29 April 2013                                                                                     Final Reflection

            Throughout the course of this semester, my writing skills and abilities have taken a journey that has changed my writing and my identity as a writer.  In the beginning, I was so stuck in the traditional way of writing: introduction, body, and conclusion. In Megan’s English class, she taught me ways and processes through writing assignments that showed me how to get out of that traditional sense of writing. The first part of the journey started with the Writing History Response. The writing history response gave me a basis to figure out where I was strong and weak in my writing. Even in writing the history response I still was stuck in the traditional writing structure that I learned in high school. A way to help with my writing history response was with my Writing Timeline and Schooling Trajectory. There were so many influences to my writing that had an impact on the way I write. I feel like most of the English teachers I encountered impact my writing in some way. They all raised my level of thinking in some way. In elementary school up until high school, I did a lot of free writing during my leisure which did not require any structure. So when I got to school and I had to write during class and I struggled with getting what I had to say from my head to paper all within a certain structure. 

            Some things that gave me more critique and feedback on my writing was the workshops and the comments from my inquiry groups and Megan. Reading these responses gave me insight on what I needed to change or expand on. For my Exploratory Essay Reflection, Annotated Bibliography Reflection, and Joining the Conversation Reflection, I received all types of feedback that really helped me improve those papers so that not only I could write a great paper but so that my way of thinking could change for future papers and essays to come.

Meanwhile, on the journey to find my identity as a writer, I have come across assignments that let my mind wonder and just ask questions. The Exploratory Essay let me write about things I was curious about to include in my inquiry process while displaying the synthesis of themes between the other pieces that we were discussing in class. I noticed that with Step One, I was still stick in the 3-part paper structure from middle and high school. I had an introduction, a big body paragraph and a conclusion. Megan and my group pointed out things that needed to be fixed like actually trying to get the reader to see the different points of view with the readings and articles I was synthesizing in my essay. After incorporating their feedback into my paper, I saw that my writing changed and I was starting to break up my thoughts into more paragraphs instead of one big body paragraph.

Seeing the different stories and watching the different videos in class about education made me wonder about music in education. Especially with the Writing Into the Day entries, I was really interested in the dynamics of school and its purpose in a student’s life. As a student, I know about some of these discrepancies that arise when discussing the topic of school and education. The Research Proposal let Megan and others know what I was going to inquire about. This took my writing to another level. Since the proposal was in the form of a letter, it helped me practice of a different form of writing while still trying to get my point across to my audience. Once I had my inquiry topic in place, I had to actually research the subject. I learned how to use the library’s online catalog system and I found scholarly articles to help me answer or even begin to answer my inquiry process. Once I found these sources, explaining why I needed them or how it was going to help me in my inquiry paper, was when I found out about an Annotated Bibliography. Before this class, I always heard about citing sources and bibliographies but an annotated bibliography really opened my eyes as a writer, especially if you are writing based off of research.

Once I started to inch away from the traditional sense of writing, my analysis started to decrease or needed more work. In my first draft of my Annotated Bibliography, I was summarizing the articles when I was supposed to analyze the text. I had such a hard time but in order to get some type of analysis of the author’s point of view, I had to really think critically about the author was trying to get me to understand while figuring out if what the author is saying makes any sense to me and my inquiry.

Continuing the journey, we did a fun but challenging assignment which was the Joining the Conversation piece. This allowed me to really step into the minds of the sources and the authors and make them talk to each other. This was another form of writing that I was not familiar with, but I just took it as another chance for me to go crazy creative. The second step to the assignment was to turn the dialogue into a paper. I found this exercise to be quite difficult, so I found that using my annotated bibliography gave me the most support when trying to write a paper. I think this was the one assignment where I did incredibly well on the structure and the points that I wanted to make. I tried something different with my writing where I use subheadings not only to break up my paper but to sequence the topics I touched on my paper. After getting comments from Megan and my group, I feel like I just wrote the most detailed paper and informing paper in my school career.

Writing Into the Day

January 16

Make a list of the characteristics of school. What do people do there? Who is there? What is purpose of school? What does “success” look like in school?

• Learn about different subjects
• sports/recreational play (gym, dance, art)
• Eat lunch
• teachers teach subjects of interest
• teachers
• studnets
• faculty
• purpose to educate student
• help them further their education
• help students develop their personal skills to prepare them for life after school
• success in school is doing your best and achieving good grades
• bettering yourself as a person

Exploratory Essay Final Draft

Exploratory Essay Final Draft

Annotated Bibliography Final Draft

Annotated Bibliography (Sources 1-5) Final Draft

Writing History Response Final Draft

Writing History Response

Joining the Conversation Step #3 Final Draft

Joining the Conversation Step #3 Final Draft

Joining the Conversation Step #3

Dominica Beverley

Megan Keaton

ENGL 1103

15 April 2013                                                                                                 Academic Essay

            As we go about our daily lives, we hear music all around us. Especially in the urban youth, music is a big part of their lives. It can motivate them, give them an emotional release, or even distract them from completing some tasks. Here is one thing I do wonder about, how does it affect them in school? Research shows that music has a significant effect on students in which the psychological processes in their brain can manipulate mood and when moods change, the actions of the person changes. Different types and styles of music contribute to this as well.

Music on My Mind

            As students, we have something that helps us focus and concentrate on completing tasks, for some students music is their motivator. Veda Brown says that, “Adolescents’ attitudes about school, material success, appreciation of themselves and others seem to be shaped to a large extent by the music they listen to” (49). She suggests that the types of music that kids listen to adjust their attitudes or plays a role in the way they behave. It is almost as if the music influences the decisions that students make in school. Similarily, Sharon Lee claims that even if we don’t voluntarily choose the music, the surrounding music has some effect on our mood and behavior as well. She also states, “Also are important are the effects of the music we do not choose, but are subjected through our environment choices such as restaurants and stores” (1). This is just like when you enter a shopping center or an elevator and you hear music playing over the loudspeaker or intercom system. The music they play is supposed to put you in a state that is comfortable to shop in. On the elevator, the ride up and down can get awkward especially if you are on the elevator with people you don’t know. The music can manipulate your mood so that the ride is easygoing. Brown says it may be the music that students choose that affects their behavior and Lee says that music affects students no matter where it comes from. Lee asks the question, “Can it [music] help students study more effectively, or does it distract from the completion of homework?” (2). She didn’t answer the question but I am trying to find that out as well. As far as I know, the answer could go either way depending on what type of student it is.

Different Types of Students

Different types of students are dispersed throughout the learning community. Every student learns differently and the aids that they use are different as well. Some students need complete silence to work or to focus while others need a snazzy beat in the background to keep them motivated while completing assignments. In the urban youth, students aren’t performing as well as the majority students (white students) and so they may need some extra help or an extra push to get them going. The Regional Education Laboratory, who has studied stereotypes about African American students, claims that, “In a society where economic opportunity depends heavily on scholastic success, even a partial narrowing of the achievement gap would lead to a positive change in the lives of academically at-risk children” (1). Since African American students or black students already have a hard time in school with stereotypes labeling them as failures, these students need some support to help them overcome this issue. Some of them do it by incorporating music in their study habits. Sharon Lee tells the reader about an article from 1991 written by Martha Giles and Giles said “Intervention programs for children at risk could use music to help them relax, build their self-esteem, and help them with their emotional problems” (3). Music not only can help students focus but it can act as an emotional release when the weight of school is overbearing. I know that when I get stressed out about something at school, the first thing I do is plug in my headphones and de-stress with some music. Most of the time I listen to songs that reflect my mood or songs that have a soothing beat.

Music in the Schools

            If music helps students perform better outside of school, why not bring music inside the schools and integrate it into the curriculum? Margaret Hagood, along with other authors, discusses the thought of including music in the teaching instruction. They suggest that it would give the teachers an edge if they include pop culture in their instruction and it would have the students more interested since the music already appeals to them. She states, “They [21^st century texts] also include pop culture texts, which are mass-generated print and non-print texts (e.g., comics, anime, TV shows, movies, videos, young adult books, music lyrics) that use multiple modes (e.g., linguistic, visual, aural, performative) to entice audiences to use them” (2). By incorporating music and other forms of pop culture into the instruction, both teachers and students will be satisfied. Teachers will gain student attention and comprehension and the students will be engaged because they have something that is interesting to them to make learning a little bit easier because the music appeals to the different learning types. Marc Hill agrees with this notion of including pop culture and music into the classroom. He says, “Given the salience of hip-hop culture in the lives of many American youth, the educational community has begun to pay considerable attention to the pedagogical possibilities of hip-hop culture within formal schooling contexts” (2). He explains of scholars who have made a course titled “Hip Hop Lit” which is a course in which you study different aspects of hip hop and listen to songs and analyze them. These scholars understand and have “shown how the elements of hip-hop and other forms of popular culture—rap music, turntablism, break dancing, graffiti culture, fashion, and language—can be used within classrooms to improve students’ motivation, teach critical media literacy, foster critical consciousness, and transmit disciplinary knowledge” (2). In my English Literature and Composition class, my teacher Ms. Woods used music in her instruction to familiarize us with analyzing text to find the author’s point of view. We were focusing on the theme of the American Dream and she used the song “Made It In America” by Jay-Z and Kanye West ft. Frank Ocean. This made the class interested in learning especially because we had to do an assignment on a popular song. However, not all teachers think that music or pop culture incorporated into the curriculum and teacher instruction is a good idea.

It’s a Distraction

As it was stated in the previous paragraphs, not everybody can think of music as an asset when it comes to school or schoolwork. With students who are struggling, especially black students, may be emotionally distraught and use music as a release. It can, in turn, cause them to act out of character. For example if a song’s lyric has violence and an angry tone, it may cause the student to act in such a way. Veda Brown states, “Children who lack pro-social skills associated with stable emotional intelligence tend to be easily influenced by various environmental factors such as peers and media. Some adults believe that this emotional weakness in children may leave them vulnerable to ideas of violence, sexual promiscuity, and other forms of anti-social behavior that are often portrayed in some popular hip-hop songs and videos” (51).Some students give into peer pressure and wind up being susceptible to the acts of violence and sexual promiscuity which is prevalent in urban communities today. The adolescents are the main targets of music, videos, and other forms of pop culture; they appeal to them the most. Society has placed negative views on Black children and students and that is why it is hard for them to focus in school. These students are worried about failing and living up to that stereotype. The Regional Education Laboratory claims, “stereotype threat arises from a fear among members of group of reinforcing negative stereotypes about the intellectual ability of the group” (1). From a teacher’s and a parent’s standpoint, they oppose music only if it is negatively impacting their child. Brown writes, “Well meaning adults have often complained that the popular music of today seems to have a detrimental effect on children’s thought and subsequent behavioral patterns. Particularly, many adults believe that the lyrics of some celebrated musical artists such as Fifty-Cent, Nelly, Foxy Brown, Marilyn Manson, Lil’ Kim, and Eminem have often undercut the very attributes, skills, and values of emotional intelligence that form the basis for pro-social behavior” (51). I know of a song by Soulja Boy called “Throw Some D’s”. I can understand why a responsible adult figure would be very cautious of what their child/student listens to. In his song, he says, “I always be in school, but I be walkin’ halls/A lot of teachers give me test but they be super hard/I get into some trouble, then my mama calls/But after I get out the office I’ma tell ’em all dat/I’ma superstar and that’s best/ Every time you see me up in class, my head on that desk” (MetroLyrics.com). If I was a parent, I wouldn’t want my child or my student listening to someone who is promoting bad gestures in school. Since children listen to this artist and idolize him, they might be tempted to act like him, which causes a problem for everybody. In the song, he also uses bad grammar, “I always be in school, but I be walkin’ halls” (MetroLyrics.com). Parents send their children to school to get an education and when they go home everything they have learned is being erased when they listen to music like this. Most students don’t even listen to the lyrics of a song; all they hear is the beat. Once the words get embedded in their minds, it’s like mind control. They don’t even know what they are saying, let alone know what the lyrics mean. Music can be a benefit and a fault, but it all depends who you listen to and what message they are sending to the listener.

Works Cited

Lee, Sharon. “The Effects Of Music On Student Psychology.” Online Submission (2011): ERIC Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

(ED) Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast, et al. "Reducing Stereotype Threat In Classrooms: A Review Of Social-Psychological Intervention Studies On Improving The Achievement Of Black Students. Issues & Answers. REL 2009-076." Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (2009): ERIC. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

Brown, Veda. "Guiding The Influence Of Hip-Hop Music On Middle-School Students' Feelings, Thinking, And Behaving." Negro Educational Review, The 57.1-2 (2006): 49-68. ERIC. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.

Hagood, Margaret C, Donna E. Alvermann, and Alison Heron-Hruby. Bring It to Class: Unpacking Pop Culture in Literacy Learning. New York: Teachers College Press, 2010. Print.

Hill, Marc L. Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity. New York: Teachers College Press, 2009. Print.

Self Assessment Reflection

My goals for this paper was to really understand what the author was trying to get the reader to understand. I think I did pretty good job tying in all of my sources to support each other as well as using sources to differ. I feel like I still have problems summarizing the sources when I should be analyzing the author's points. I really liked using the in-class workshops because I got feedback from my peers and my inquiry group and I got time to work on my paper. When I am not in class, I spend a lot of time in my room catching up on assignments so I end up doing some assignments late at night the night before. I spent a lot of time on this paper and I feel like it is one of the best papers I wrote based on the information I included and the way the paper was structured. As I progress in my writing, I see myself getting out of the traditional structure of writing (introduction, body, conclusion). I am doing better at getting my argument across tot he reader without beating around the bush. I am starting to be concise and straight to the point.The inquiry groups are really helpful to me because I get to see different views and opinions of my paper. The diversity of students in my inquiry group allows me to get grammar, general/overall, and academic feedback.The hardest part of writing this paper was trying to find out how all of the sources I used connected to one another to answer the question I proposed. All of my sources answered a part of the question and I ended up changing my question a little just to accommodate the sources I was using.

Workshop Reflection

What advice did you receive from each member of your group?  Explain each person’s advice separately and be specific.
My group didn't have enough to read over my academic essay during workshop time in class, so they commented on my blog. Brian said that structure of my paper was great but it seems like an annotated bibliography with the summary of the author's arguments. He suggested that I include  things that the author left out or something I think they should have included. Kayla liked the use of subheadings in my paper. She thinks that I should add some personal experiences. She agreed with Brian on the structure of my paper and she didn't see any grammatical errors and she understood all of my arguments. I have not received any feedback from Rachel yet so I don't have anything to say about her.

What was the most helpful piece of advice you received? Explain.
The most helpful pieces of advice came from Brian and Kayla. They both told me things that would enhance my paper and that would get my paper to the required length along with the necessary information. They told me to include include more of the author's point of view and somethings that they left out as well as some of my personal experiences with the subjects.

What was the least helpful piece of advice you received?  Explain.
I didn't not receive any feedback from Rachel so that could potentially help me in the revision of my paper but other than that the other information that I received was very helpful to me.

What are your plans for revision?  Be specific.  I should be able to understand exactly how your work will change in exactly which places.
When I revise my paper, I will include information from my personal experiences and go back to find places where I summarized and analyze them. I will also find out what the author's didn't answer in the sources and incorporate that in my paper.

Joining the Conversation Step #2

Dominica Beverley

8 April 2013

Megan Keaton

ENGL 1103                                                                                                     Academic Essay

            As we go about our daily lives, we hear music all around us. Especially in the urban youth, music is a big part of their lives. It can motivate them, give them an emotional release, or even distract them from completing tasks. Here is one thing I do wonder about, how does it affect them in school? Research shows that music has a significant effect on students in which the psychological processes in their brain can manipulate mood and when moods change, the actions of the person changes. Different types and styles of music contribute to this as well.

Music on My Mind

            As students, we have something that helps us focus and concentrate on completing tasks, for some students music is their motivator. Veda Brown says that, “Adolescents’ attitudes about school, material success, appreciation of themselves and others seem to be shaped to a large extent by the music they listen to” (49). She suggests that the types of music that kids listen to adjust their attitudes. It is almost as if the music influences their decisions in school. However, Sharon Lee claims that even if we don’t voluntarily choose the music, the surrounding music has some effect on our mood and behavior as well. She states, “Also are important are the effects of the music we do not choose, but are subjected through our environment choices such as restaurants and stores” (1). Brown says it may be the music that students choose that affects their behavior and Lee says that music affects students no matter where it comes from. Lee asks the question, “Can it [music] help students study more effectively, or does it distract from the completion of homework?” (2). The answer could go either way, depending on the type of student.

Different Types of Students

Different types of students are dispersed throughout the learning community. Every student learns differently and the aids that they use are different as well. Some students need complete silence to work or to focus while others need a snazzy beat in the background to keep them motivated while completing assignments. In the urban youth, students aren’t performing as well as the majority students (white students) and so they may need some extra help or an extra push to get them going. The Regional Education Laboratory, who has studied stereotypes about African American students, claims that, “In a society where economic opportunity depends heavily on scholastic success, even a partial narrowing of the achievement gap would lead to a positive change in the lives of academically at-risk children” (1). Since African American students or black students already have a hard time in school with stereotypes labeling them as failures, these students need some support to help them overcome this issue. They do it by incorporating music in their habits. Sharon Lee tells the reader about an article from 1991 written by Martha Giles and Giles said “Intervention programs for children at risk could use music to help them relax, build their self-esteem, and help them with their emotional problems” (3). Music not only can help students focus but it can act as a emotional release when the weight of school is overbearing. This is another good use of music as students in school.

Music in the Schools

            If music helps students perform better outside of school, why not bring music inside the schools and integrate it into the curriculum? Margaret Hagood, along with other authors, discusses the thought of including music in the teaching instruction. They suggest that it would give the teachers an edge if they include pop culture in their instruction and it would have the students more interested since the music already appeals to them. She states, “They [21^st century texts] also include pop culture texts, which are mass-generated print and non-print texts (e.g., comics, anime, TV shows, movies, videos, young adult books, music lyrics) that use multiple modes (e.g., linguistic, visual, aural, performative) to entice audiences to use them” (2). By incorporating music and other forms of pop culture into the instruction, teachers and students will be satisfied. Teachers will gain student attention and comprehension and the students will be engaged because they have something that is interesting to them to make learning a little bit easier. Marc Hill can agree with this notion of including pop culture and music into the classroom. He says, “Given the salience of hip-hop culture in the lives of many American youth, the educational community has begun to pay considerable attention to the pedagogical possibilities of hip-hop culture within formal schooling contexts” (2). He explains of scholars who have made a course titled “Hip Hop Lit” which is a course in which you study different aspects of hip hop and listen to songs and analyze them. These scholars understand and have “shown how the elements of hip-hop and other forms of popular culture—rap music, turntablism, break dancing, graffiti culture, fashion, and language—can be used within classrooms to improve students’ motivation, teach critical media literacy, foster critical consciousness, and transmit disciplinary knowledge” (2). Not all teachers think that music or pop culture incorporated into the curriculum or teacher instruction is a good idea.

It’s a Distraction

As it was stated in the previous paragraphs, not everybody can think of music as an asset when it comes to school or schoolwork. With students who are struggling, especially black students, may be emotionally distraught and use music as a release. It can, in turn, cause them to act out of character. For example if a song’s lyric has violence and an angry tone, it may cause the student to act in such a way. Veda Brown states, “Children who lack pro-social skills associated with stable emotional intelligence tend to be easily influenced by various environmental factors such as peers and media. Some adults believe that this emotional weakness in children may leave them vulnerable to ideas of violence, sexual promiscuity, and other forms of anti-social behavior that are often portrayed in some popular hip-hop songs and videos” (51). From society’s point of view, the music, videos, and other forms of pop culture are aimed at the adolescents. Society has placed negative views on Black children and students and that is why it is hard for them to focus in school. These students are worried about failing and living up to that stereotype. The Regional Education Laboratory claims, “stereotype threat arises from a fear among members of group of reinforcing negative stereotypes about the intellectual ability of the group” (1). From a teacher’s and a parent’s standpoint, they oppose music only if it is negatively impacting their child. Brown writes, “Well meaning adults have often complained that the popular music of today seems to have a detrimental effect on children’s thought and subsequent behavioral patterns. Particularly, many adults believe that the lyrics of some celebrated musical artists such as Fifty-Cent, Nelly, Foxy Brown, Marilyn Manson, Lil’ Kim, and Eminem have often undercut the very attributes, skills, and values of emotional intelligence that form the basis for pro-social behavior” (51). I know of a song by Soulja Boy called “Throw Some D’s”. I can understand why a responsible adult figure would be very cautious of what their child/student listens to. In his song, he says, “I always be in school, but I be walkin’ halls/A lot of teachers give me test but they be super hard/I get into some trouble, then my mama calls/But after I get out the office I’ma tell ’em all dat/
I’ma superstar and that’s best/ Every time you see me up in class, my head on that desk” (MetroLyrics.com). If I was a parent, I wouldn’t want my child or my student listening to someone who is promoting bad gestures in school. Since children listen to this artist and idolize him, they might be tempted to act like him, which causes a problem for everybody. Music can be a benefit and a fault, but it all depends who you listen to and what message they are sending to the listener.

"Annotated Bibliography 2nd Draft" Reflection

What was the most helpful piece of advice you received? Explain.
Megan told me to analyze the second paragraphs of most of the sources because I was summarizing them. By analyzing them, I can really get some insight on what the author tried to portray to the reader. This can also help me by telling me if the source was credible or not and how this information from the source will
answer all my questions.
What was the least helpful piece of advice you received? Explain.
I did not receive any piece of advice that wasn't helpful to my revision of my paper. All advice and criticism is helpful to me.

What questions do you have about Megan’s comments?
When you ask me to give more examples of how different music can cause different reactions, I thought that I would explain that in detail in my paper. I didn't think I had to go into too much about this in my bibliography.

What are your plans for revision?  Be specific.  I should be able to understand exactly how your work will change in exactly which places.
To revise my Annotated Bibliography, I plan on analyzing my sources in the second paragraph instead of summarizing them. I also plan on extending my commentary to give more examples to connect the reader to my source. I need to figure the placement of information as far as in my paper.

Workshop Reflection

What advice did you receive from each member of your group? Explain each person’s advice separately and be specific.
Rachel told me to correct some grammar in the dialogue so that the flow of the play would go smoothly. She also told me to change the subject of my question to students in general because it is hard to address African Americans. She also suggested that I try to find another source to show some type of contrast or another opinion that would oppose what these authors are claiming. Brian told me that the structure and the story line of my dialogue was good. Since the tone was mostly formal, I should be consistent and not include slang unless I change the whole tone of my dialogue. He also said to make the dialogue sound like something my characters would say. He said that I go from regular conversation into factual information that doesn't flow. They both suggested that I change tryna to tryin' and to put the source's information in my own words.

What was the most helpful piece of advice you received? Explain.
The most helpful advice was to be consistent in my dialogue as far as grammar and the way the characters speak to each other (informal or formal). The dialogue would flow more smoothly if I didn't jump to a different style of speech. I am going to be informal in the dialogue then, I should keep it that way throughout the play.

What was the least helpful piece of advice you received? Explain.
The least helpful piece of advice was changing tryna to tryin'. It is not important as the content of my dialogue so it may be overlooked when proofreading or revising. I mean I can change it but I don't see how it would affect the dialogue as a whole.

What are your plans for revision? Be specific. I should be able to understand exactly how your work will change in exactly which places.
I will revise the dialogue so that the style of speech is consistent throughout the play. I will summarize the technical information to put it in my own words as if I was really having a conversation with the other people. My sources really address students in general instead of African Americans so I think that changing my focus to students will allow me to get into depth more throughout my inquiry process.

Joining the Conversation Step #1

The Sound of Music

Written by Dominica Beverley

CAST

Sharon Lee (SL)

Regional Education Laboratory (REL)

Veda Brown (VB)

Margaret, Donna, Alison (MDA)

(They are considered to be one person; as one source)

Marc Hill (MH)

Dominica Beverley (DB)

[It is a cool Friday evening; Kendrick Lamar is having a concert at the Time Warner Cable Arena. Many fans are in attendance and as “The Crew” pulls up in the parking lot, you can hear the bass from one of his songs, “Poetic Justice”, emanating from the arena.  After the concert, “The Crew” goes out to dinner then back to campus to chill.]

Sharon Lee: (kicking off her heels and sits on the couch) Whew! Kendrick Lamar did his thing out there. He puts on a great show. Don’t you guys think so?

Veda Brown: Yea girl! I just like the beats of his music. They make me wanna dance all over the place.

Margaret, Donna, Allison: I wish I could listen to this music during school or at least play it while I’m working on an assignment. I would be jammin’ but at least I would get my work done.

Regional Education Laboratory: Does that not distract you? You know that you get distracted real easily; you can see that in your grades.

MDA: No, It helps me focus actually.

Marc Hill: I agree with MDA because I feel motivated to do my work when I listen to music. It’s like I block out everything else and I focus on the task at hand.

Dominica Beverley: I understand what REL is saying but saying we get distracted when listening to music could be a stereotype. Not everybody can focus while listening to music, but everybody is different so some people may use music as a way to concentrate.

SL: Not only that, music has some type of psychological effect on people especially students like us. Music is mostly used to motivate us or to comfort or change our mood. Just think about when you are working out or cleaning up your room. You can’t have no slow songs playing while you tryna bench press. I mean, if that’s your thing then so be it, but different types of music have different effects on people.

REL: I mean majority of the students at our school are categorized as those who are lucky to have made it to college and since they made it here, they are predicted to be struggling throughout their courses. I see this as problem.

VB: I think that introducing something that they are familiar with such as music, whether it is hip hop or not, into the classroom setting, they will have some sort of motivation because they can relate to something from a cultural standpoint as African Americans and Black students. I mean it is easier to learn something if you integrate it with something you are interested in.

SL: Well how do expect these professors to integrate these concepts and materials that could potentially enhance our learning experience?

MH: I figure that scholars have gained considerable insight into the extent to which hip-hop does things to young people, but they have learned very little about the motivations, processes, or nonclinical consequences of youth engagements with hip-hop.

DB: Uhhh… English please.

MH: (takes a deep breath as if he is about to explain in layman’s terms) Well…

SL: I got this Marc. (turns to DB) What he means to say is that the professors know what effects hip hop has on the youth but they don’t quite understand how and why they have these effects on the students. Luckily, I can answer that. It all has to do with the psychological processes that music affects. Whether we know it or not, music that is played in our environment and our surroundings can have some effects on our mind. Several theories propose explanations for arousal or excitement caused by music. When applied to listening to background music, this means that any given person has an optimal level of arousal at which they will perform certain tasks most effectively, and music can help him achieve that optimal level. Meaning that, in a culture where music is constantly playing all around us, it is important for parents, students, and teachers to understand how music may help or hinder us in the completion of our tasks.

DB: I get it now, but just because they understand how it works doesn’t mean they will use it in their instruction. I wonder why.

MDA: I think it’s because some teachers don’t know how to incorporate it in the curriculum or don’t know whether it is allowed to incorporate in the curriculum. The challenge for educators is to determine how pop culture is connected to, addressed, included, and excluded in classrooms. Instruction must provide opportunities for students to think critically and to develop their facility with 21^st-century texts.

VB: Well if they could include music in the curriculum, then adolescents' attitudes about school, material success, appreciation of themselves and others will seem to be shaped to a large extent by the music they listen to.

DB: True. Well it’s about that time. I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow in class. I’ll get my dose of hip hop whether it is in class or not (laughing ).

[DB leaves the group and goes back to her room. The rest of “The Crew” starts to disperse in their own way and it’s lights out.]