Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics

 (12 customer reviews)

This book was introduced to me in an English Department meeting held by our county. It was introduced with such enthusiasm, I just had to check it out for myself. The book is WONDERFUL. Lesson plans are included in the book including poetry writing activities and analysis of poetry sorted by literary devices (such as symbolism, imagery, metaphor, etc..)

My students LOVE the selections of poetry in the book -- the "hip hop" selections allow them to see that contemporary song lyrics are indeed poetry and the classic selections allow them to see how "classic" poetry is similar to popular music lyrics today by using the same techniques utilized by the classic poets. I would rate this book an A+ and definitely recommend it for high school English teachers.

It is so hard to educate some children, mainly because of the outside influences of music, television, and video games. There needs to be a way to connect with them in the classroom similar to those things, and now there is. HIP-HOP POETRY AND THE CLASSICS by Alan Sitomer and Michael Cirelli is the perfect teaching tool for English teachers and educators, a resource for teaching poetry. In this well-thought-out book and teaching guide, Alan Sitomer and Michael Cirelli have produced a product which connects the classic curriculum, which may not hold a student's attention, to hip-hop poetry through standards-based language arts instruction.

HIP-HIP POETRY AND THE CLASSICS analyzes the core literary elements of poetry with examples of each term in a chapter-to-chapter format which includes the actual definition of the term, a classic poem utilizing the device, an interpretation guide for teachers, and a student worksheet. It is then followed with a hip-hop example, its...Read more

this is one of the best tools i have used in my classroom. my students are mostly minorities and they went from a group that complained about poetry to a group that enjoyed poetry! i highly recommend this book!