This session will provide participants with the pedagogical approaches and strategies the Fresh Education team use to engage students in grades 6-12 to enhance academic competency and student achievement. Participants will be taken through a brief experiential culturally responsive lesson that incorporates music into ELA and Social Studies classrooms. The NEA defines Culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) as "using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of diverse students to make curricula more relevant and accessible for them. Culturally responsive pedagogy teaches to and through the strengths of diverse students. It is 'validating and affirming.'" Participants will be introduced to the resources where youth culture can be accessed, such as
worldstarhiphop.com, Instagram, Black Twitter, and the ‘trending’ section of Google. Participants will then be tasked to reflect on the the impact this could have for our classrooms, schools. teachers, and educational policy, as a whole.