Educators channel power of hip hop as teaching tool in Salem
SALEM - Salem Public Schools are three months into a four-month pilot project that is unlike anything in Massachusetts. Students benefit from an enhanced Social Emotional Learning (SEL) experience thanks to a positive relationship that formed between two innovative thinkers.
One of them is David Augustine Jr.-best known to his fans and hundreds of thousands of social media followers-as Dee-1. The New Orleans hip hop artist (and former eighth grade math teacher) became the first rapper in Louisiana's history to become an appointee of that state's governor when he was named to the Louisiana Council on the Success of Black Men and Boys.
In 2022, he became the Nasir Jones Hip Hop Fellow at Harvard University. It is an honor he calls "divine" explaining, "My passion for hip hop and education led me to say-it would be great to bring rap into academia at Harvard by being myself." That means rapping without swearing and without glorifying drugs, guns and violence.
That distinction-and Dee's talent-caught Liza Cassella's ear. As SEL Director for Salem Public Schools, she knew how good she felt after listening to Dee's music. "For me," she explains, "thinking about my role as an educator and who am as a Social Emotional Learning Director for a district-about what I consume-this was directly in line with that... in line with my values."
Knowing its immediate benefit in her life, she was eager to share it with colleagues. "If I listen to something positive, I have a totally different mindset in how I approach my day and how I interact with people," she said. "My interactions are going to be more positive because I started my day with positive messaging."
One colleague to whom she recommended Dee's music was New Liberty Innovation School principal Jamaal Camah. He liked what he heard. Dee's lyrics stressed authenticity, positivity, and resilience; messages Liza knew would resonate with students and enhance what Salem educators were teaching.
Dee was already connecting with students at Harvard. In his role as a Fellow, he teaches and lectures-using hip hop as a teaching tool. He explains that the high-density information in hip hop lyrics combined with the repetition and rhyming lead to retention. The question he stresses (and answers in his own work) is, "What do those lyrics contain? Do they contain food for thought or do they contain poison that makes us vibrate at a lower level."
Months after Liza began listening to Dee's music, they met. Serendipitously, just days after she'd submitted a grant to the Department of Secondary Education, she and Dee attended the same conference at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard. A mutual friend made the introduction. Liza told Dee about her research on the isolation that kids experienced during the pandemic and her SEL work in Salem. Dee shared details of his work at Harvard and his upcoming record. That was a "mic drop" moment because the record he was constructing is based on the five SEL competencies. It was music to Liza's ears. Within hours-right there at the conference-they came up with an idea for an Artist in Residence Program using hip hop as a teaching tool for Salem's middle and high school students. Liza withdrew her original grant request and replaced it with a new one. DESE quickly approved it.
Three months into the pilot project, it is clear that students and educators are reaping the benefit. Conversations are fun, open, and honest. Dee shares his own vulnerabilities which, in turn, encourages students to do the same. "They want to mirror what they are witnessing from me," he explains. At New Liberty, he also tells them about the painful event that changed the direction of his life and music.
Years ago, when Dee and his friends were students, they rapped about violence, guns and money. "Money that I did not have," he tells the class. "I was talking about all this stuff in my music-all this stuff. And then I had a revelation. My best friend got murdered."
He says that's when reality hit him. "Why am I rapping about killing people and glorifying guns and violence when this just happened in real life? Not in a rap song. But in real life to my best friend," he said.
He uses the story to explain that his decision to begin glorifying God, education and more wholesome pursuits put him at odds with his friends. When he proposed using music to uplift and inspire people, his friends "weren't feeling it." They parted ways. Sometimes, he tells students, you have be less closely aligned with people you love when their path isn't healthy for you. He calls it "loving people from a distance."
Principal Camah applauds the experience that Liza and Dee have created for students. The emphasis on relationship skills is key. "It is very important for them to learn these skills because it is going to help them in the long run," Camah said. "As adults we want to be able to teach our students how to manage your time, manage your frustrations, how to be in a conflict with someone and still get the work done."
Liza says attendance, morale and academic achievement are up. "When students leave this space, their energy is palpable." She says students are more engaged in learning after an uplifting shared experience, which raises a valuable question. "What does productivity look like when you do something that makes you feel better?"
Students we spoke with say they are already using lessons in self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills. One described a renewed effort to improve his relationship with a sibling. Another told us that Dee's message is readily absorbed because he treats the students like people-not like kids. "He keeps people on the same level."
Dee visits five Salem schools once a month. When his latest visit ended at New Liberty, he took a photo with the graduating seniors. He encourages them to bet on themselves; to have the courage to express their true passions and pursue them. For Dee and Liza, education is a passion. This August, their next collaboration-a children's book-will inform and educate younger students. Dee's next record (the one he was constructing when he met Liza) will be released at roughly the same time. It's called "From the Hood to Harvard."