blog
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Teaching Tip – Visual Prompts
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I don’t expect my Grade 3 students to write a thousand words but I do want to see them writing. Perhaps with a little encouragement, they will write longer and more detailed compositions. This is one of the picture prompts I have used in my classroom…
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Rap Calls Attention to Real Issues
Image by 216 wear via Flickr In the 1980s rap exploded in popularity. This allowed a brand new voice to be added to popular discourse, the voice of the black man. Rap groups started to call attention to issues such as racism, freedom of speech, police brutality, racial unity, and countless other issues that affected…
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Know Your History: Episode 11 – Political Rap
Some people think hip-hop is totally devoid of a message. Granted, there are songs that are meant to be fun and pointless, but you will find this in any genre of music. Likewise, you will also find plenty of songs that carry a deep message to them, no matter what genre of music you listen…
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Hear This – Cradle Orchestra
I came across this amazing album by Cradle Orchestra quite by chance. Sometimes all it takes is a name or a creative album cover to catch my attention. This one certainly did that. It’s called “Transcended Elements.” As I scanned the tracklisting, I was intrigued to see the line up of notable emcees featured on…
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Alan Davis Autograph
Alan Davis is a comic book artist and has been producing published work since 1979. He has worked on Batman and The Outiders, The Uncanny X-men, JLA, Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-man, and countless other titles. I found this autographed copy of Fantastic Four in a comic book shop and was happy to add this comic…
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Teaching Tip – Get Them Writing
Image via Wikipedia Our students need to be writing every day. Unfortunately, some of my students don’t see a purpose behind their morning journal. I have students who simply won’t start writing anything. They will talk to their classmates, play in their desk, sharpen their pencils for the third time, or anything else they can…
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Latest Daredevil Find
I picked up a few new figures for my Daredevil collection. It’s a little known fact but Daredevil’s original costume was yellow. I’ve wanted a Yellow Daredevil figure to add to my collection for quite some time. This weekend, I finally found it. The Marvel Legend Icons Series figures are 12 inches tall and are…
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Beatboxing is an Art
Biz Markie was beatboxing before he was rapping. Most of us are familiar with his classic song “Just a Friend” but I’d like to play for you the way he can “Make the Music” with his mouth. That was Biz Markie “Make the Music With Your Mouth.” What a perfect song to play for a…
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Know Your History: Episode 10 The Beatbox
Welcome to Know Your History, your monthly dose of hip-hop knowledge. Today we are going to explore the fifth element of hip-hop, the art of beatboxing. Beatboxing joined the culture of hip-hop quite early. It can’t be credited to a single person, however. Much like graffiti, it sprung up quickly and we’re not exactly sure…
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DOPEfm 2010 Tribute Mix (free download)
It was a bit late this year but we finally have Gamma Krush’s Tribute to 2010. You can download Part 1 and Part 2 for free or stream it with the player below. I know that I will be bumping these tunes for weeks to come. Listen to DOPEfm live Saturday overnights on 93.3 CFMU…