A Hip-Hop Approach to Social Emotional Learning

Teachers Edition (with an emphasis on race, culture, and culturally responsive instruction)

In “Like Music to My Ears,” Dwayne D. Williams shows how to use hip-hop cultural themes to build the social emotional learning (SEL) skills students need for success: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. These SEL skills have been effective at increasing academic engagement levels and decreasing suspension rates among students. After showing thousands of middle school and high school students the power of SEL, Williams has trained hundreds of practitioners on the creation of dynamic hip-hop SEL groups. “Like Music to My Ears” coaches social workers, school psychologists, and teachers through pairing SEL skills with hip-hop elements.

In this book, Williams provides the following:

• A step-by-step map to creating hip-hop SEL groups–and how you can get your students to help you do it
• A discussion on race and culture
• A discussion on culturally responsive instruction within the context of SEL skills
• 14 lessons by Williams, all tested and shown to increase engagement
• 14 action-item agendas to bring hip-hop SEL lessons to life
• Rap songs aligned with the 5 SEL competencies