“And from the soul I bring you/

The Daisy of your choice/

May it be filled with the pleasure principle/

In circumference to my voice” - Dove from De La Soul

This was actually one of my first lessons that explicitly incorporated Hip-Hop into a lesson. Given the prevalence of ideas, concepts, and physical representations of circles/cyphers, the lesson seemed fitting; however, using the imagery of clocks as a symbol of social and political statement proved to be conflicting at times. During my early years of teaching, I used to make all my worksheets. I wanted to be able to incorporate photos and illustrations that depicted the elements of Hip-Hop and all of its popular practitioners. Well, one of these worksheets included Flavor Flav. Yes, Flavor Flav from the hit show, Flavor of Love, but more importantly, the hype man and polarizing figure of the heavily political group, Public Enemy. Needless to say, one of my second grade parents was not too happy when she took a look at this worksheet. See for me….Flava Flav gave a much needed balance to the socio-political consciousness of Public Enemy. I mean, clearly, he was rockin’ the huge clock ‘cause he truly wanted the people to know “what time it was” literally and figuratively. I vividly remember him saying, “911 is a Joke.” However, a parent’s complaint served as a reminder to:

Don’t waste time recreating the wheel. Try to find a worksheet already created and save your time and energy.
Be conscious of the images that you project to children, especially when that figure can be seen as a caricature amongst certain people.
If you choose to use an image that may cause controversy, you may need to provide further explanation to justify its use.

These were just a few lessons I learned that day. Nevertheless, some good did come out it, as the students were highly engaged with learning about vinyl records, turntables, and its connection with Math, including Time and Geometry.

Objective: SWBAT determine the circumference and area of circles by exploring everyday objects with measuring tools. (TEKS 7.9B)

Essential Questions: How can one part of a circle help determine the measure of another part? How are area and circumference connected? How can we determine area, given circumference? Can we determine diameter or radius, given area or circumference?

Activity: First, the students had a discussion on the importance and prevalence of circles/cyphers in Hip-Hop culture. They were introduced to vinyl records and were able to listen to music from a few artists.

After our discussion, the students were placed into groups. Note: This particular class consisted of thirteen students, ranging from first to eighth grade (That’s a whole other story!!), so they did separate activities. The older grades were introduced to the concepts of area and circumference. Furthermore, they learn how each can be calculated by identifying the radius and diameter. The students were responsible for measuring the diameter of the vinyl record and then use this information to calculate the radius. Next, students worked with their shoulder partners to find the area and circumference of the record. Here are the results:

Diameter = 11.75 in

Radius = 5.875 in

Pi = 3.14

http://gapersblock.com/drivethru/2010/03/11/pi_day/

https://www.onlinemath4all.com/finding-the-area-and-circumference-of-a-circle.html

As the students in the upper levels were working on finding the area and circumference of the vinyl record, students in the lower levels reviewed the concept of time by developing Turntable Time Clocks.

Objective: SWBAT tell time to the hour and half hour using analog and digital clocks (TEKS 1.7E). SWBAT read and write time to the nearest one‐minute increment using analog and digital clocks and distinguish between a.m. and p.m. (TEKS 2.9G)

Essential Questions: What is deejaying? How is time related to deejaying?

Materials/Teacher Resources: two small paper plates, piece of cardboard, two fasteners, construction paper, coloring utensils (crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc.), clock worksheet

Activity: First, we had a discussion on how time is used in our daily lives and how it can measured using a variety of methods. After the discussion, I directed the students’ attention to the classroom clock and asked them a series of review questions related to the hour and minutes. Since they were already introduced to the art of deejaying and how it has played a pivotal role in the development of Hip-Hop culture, the students were responsible for creating their own “turntables” to help tell time.

First, the students attached the paper plates on both ends of the cardboard by putting a hole through the middle of each plate with a fastener, ensuring that their “hands” made out of construction paper is placed between the fastener and plate. Second, the students labeled the hours around one plate and the minutes around the other. Lastly, the students decorated their turntables and used these to complete a worksheet.

This activity can also be found on the Teachers Pay Teachers: (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Turntable-Time-Clocks-4708527)

Turntable Time Clocks and the Area & Circumference of a Circle