Summary Of Disruption Of African American Education

In the video Disrupting the Miseducation of African American Youth, the speaker Kwame Shake Opare discuss how he used dance to open the eyes and show opportunities to young students in the Baltimore city school system. As a choreographer, performing artist, and dance instructor Opare has worked all over the world in areas of teaching and learning dance, but nothing had prepared him for the lack of guidance students were facing in the classroom. On the first day Opare observed the students in his classroom. The second day he gave class rules, which was shocking to the students. The students were accustom to teachers that did not care about the classrooms climate and culture. The students were allowed to speak language that was not appropriate

The area was full of poverty and despair. The students were not exposed to people that looked like them that had done wonderful things in the world. It was Opares’ goal to make what was happening in the classroom relevant to the students he was teaching. He used creativity, relevant curriculum and relevant cultural history to educate his students and instill self-efficacy. Opare did not focus on only one demographic of people he included all cultural history. His purpose was to awaken the student’s minds. Opare used traditional African Pedagogy that included: dance, music, song and poems to teach lessons that his students were never expose to. He also taught his students about their people prior to slavery, people in Africa that had done great things. His purpose in teaching them the history of their people was to help them understand that their people have done great things and they can excel in life as

The song was about a boy named Coffey and it focused on self-efficacy. It was a motivational song using a mixture of language from Ghana and Nigeria. The song talked about being a strong male and achieving no matter how hard it gets to never quit. The audience was able to pick up on the learning of the song and dance through group work and good instructions. Opare gave the history of the song, the meaning of the song and included dance moves that required the audience to engage in the learning. Opares’ technique of teaching dance and making the curriculum relevant by giving background knowledge and using good instruction is an effective tool for the classroom. Students’ in the classroom would respond the same way the audience did with this type of learning activity, because it was engaging, informative, and achievable. As an educator I have seen my students’ happily engage in the learning when dance and music is included in the learning activity. Once you have the students’ attention through the dance and music it is a great opportunity to incorporate cultural history, cultural relevance and purpose into the activity. I agree with the Opares’ idea that teachers must learn to educate students’ by introducing them to the history of their people, other cultures, and having high expectations for their learning achievements is a direct path to student