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Christopher Emdin: Teach teachers how to create magic
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What do rap shows, barbershop banter and Sunday services have in common? As Christopher Emdin says, they all hold the secret magic to enthrall and teach at the same time — and it's a skill we often don't teach to educators. A longtime teacher himself, now a science advocate and cofounder of Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. with the GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, Emdin offers a vision to make the classroom come alive.
Christopher Emdin - Education pioneer
Christopher Emdin is a science advocate who uses hip-hop to make better teachers. Full bio
Christopher Emdin is a science advocate who uses hip-hop to make better teachers. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
Right now
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there is an aspiring teacher
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who is working on a 60-page paper
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based on some age-old education theory
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developed by some dead education professor
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wondering to herself what this task
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that she's engaging in
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has to do with what she wants to do with her life,
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which is be an educator,
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change lives, and spark magic.
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Right now there is an aspiring teacher
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in a graduate school of education
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who is watching a professor babble on and on
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about engagement
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in the most disengaging way possible.
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Right now
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there's a first-year teacher at home
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who is pouring through lesson plans
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trying to make sense of standards,
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who is trying to make sense of how
to grade students appropriately,
to grade students appropriately,
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while at the same time saying to herself
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over and over again,
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"Don't smile till November,"
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because that's what she was taught
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in her teacher education program.
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Right now there's a student
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who is coming up with a way
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to convince his mom or dad
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that he's very, very sick
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and can't make it to school tomorrow.
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On the other hand, right now
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there are amazing educators
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that are sharing information,
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information that is shared in such a beautiful way
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that the students are sitting
at the edge of their seats
at the edge of their seats
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just waiting for a bead of sweat
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to drop off the face of this person
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so they can soak up all that knowledge.
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Right now there is also a person
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who has an entire audience rapt with attention,
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a person that is weaving a powerful narrative
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about a world
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that the people who are listening
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have never imagined or seen before,
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but if they close their eyes tightly enough,
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they can envision that world
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because the storytelling is so compelling.
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Right now there's a person who can tell an audience
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to put their hands up in the air
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and they will stay there till he says,
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"Put them down."
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Right now.
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So people will then say,
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"Well, Chris, you describe the guy
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who is going through some awful training
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but you're also describing these powerful educators.
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If you're thinking about the world of education
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or urban education in particular,
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these guys will probably cancel each other out,
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and then we'll be okay."
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The reality is, the folks I described
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as the master teachers,
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the master narrative builders,
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the master storytellers
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are far removed from classrooms.
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The folks who know the skills about how to teach
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and engage an audience
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don't even know what teacher certification means.
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They may not even have the degrees
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to be able to have anything
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to call an education.
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And that to me is sad.
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It's sad because the people who I described,
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they were very disinterested in the learning process,
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want to be effective teachers,
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but they have no models.
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I'm going to paraphrase Mark Twain.
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Mark Twain says that proper preparation,
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or teaching,
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is so powerful that it can turn bad morals to good,
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it can turn awful practices into powerful ones,
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it can change men and transform them
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into angels.
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The folks who I described earlier
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got proper preparation in teaching,
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not in any college or university,
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but by virtue of just being in the
same spaces of those who engage.
same spaces of those who engage.
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Guess where those places are?
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Barber shops,
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rap concerts, and most importantly,
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in the black church.
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And I've been framing this idea
called Pentecostal pedagogy.
called Pentecostal pedagogy.
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Who here has been to a black church?
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We got a couple of hands.
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You go to a black church,
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their preacher starts off
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and he realizes that he has to engage the audience,
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so he starts off with this sort of wordplay
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in the beginning oftentimes,
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and then he takes a pause,
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and he says, "Oh my gosh, they're
not quite paying attention."
not quite paying attention."
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So he says, "Can I get an amen?"
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Audience: Amen.
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Chris Emdin: So I can I get an amen?
Audience: Amen.
Audience: Amen.
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CE: And all of a sudden, everybody's reawoken.
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That preacher bangs on the pulpit for attention.
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He drops his voice at a very, very low volume
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when he wants people to key into him,
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and those things are the skills that we need
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for the most engaging teachers.
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So why does teacher education
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only give you theory and theory
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and tell you about standards and tell you about
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all of these things that have nothing to do
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with the basic skills, that magic that you need
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to engage an audience, to engage a student?
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So I make the argument that
we reframe teacher education,
we reframe teacher education,
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that we could focus on content, and that's fine,
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and we could focus on theories, and that's fine,
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but content and theories
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with the absence of the magic
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of teaching and learning means nothing.
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Now people oftentimes say,
"Well, magic is just magic."
"Well, magic is just magic."
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There are teachers who,
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despite all their challenges, who have those skills,
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get into those schools and are
able to engage an audience,
able to engage an audience,
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and the administrator walks by and says,
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"Wow, he's so good, I wish all
my teachers could be that good."
my teachers could be that good."
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And when they try to describe what that is,
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they just say, "He has that magic."
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But I'm here to tell you
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that magic can be taught.
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Magic can be taught.
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Magic can be taught.
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Now, how do you teach it?
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You teach it by allowing people
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to go into those spaces
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where the magic is happening.
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If you want to be an aspiring
teacher in urban education,
teacher in urban education,
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you've got to leave the confines of that university
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and go into the hood.
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You've got to go in there and
hang out at the barbershop,
hang out at the barbershop,
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you've got to attend that black church,
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and you've got to view those folks
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that have the power to engage
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and just take notes on what they do.
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At our teacher education classes at my university,
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I've started a project where every single student
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that comes in there sits and watches rap concerts.
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They watch the way that the rappers move
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and talk with their hands.
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They study the way that he
walks proudly across that stage.
walks proudly across that stage.
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They listen to his metaphors and analogies,
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and they start learning these little things
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that if they practice enough
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becomes the key to magic.
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They learn that if you just stare at a student
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and raise your eyebrow about a quarter of an inch,
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you don't have to say a word
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because they know that that
means that you want more.
means that you want more.
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And if we could transform teacher education
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to focus on teaching teachers
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how to create that magic
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then poof! we could make dead classes come alive,
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we could reignite imaginations,
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and we can change education.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Christopher Emdin - Education pioneerChristopher Emdin is a science advocate who uses hip-hop to make better teachers.
Why you should listen
Chris Emdin believes the best teachers can be found in the unlikeliest of places -- and that traditional education theory is failing our students. That's why he founded Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Bring Attention to Transforming Teaching, Learning and Engagement in Science), which takes the techniques for self-expression and engagement used in hip-hop into the classroom. (Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA is a fan and supporter as well.) Emdin is a contributor to The Huffington Post and is an associate professor at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College.
More profile about the speakerChristopher Emdin | Speaker | TED.com