First-years get funky in introductory hip-hop class

When students first arrive at college, there’s an expectation of boring lecture halls and heaps of homework. While that may normally be the case, Janalyn Phillips has taken a different approach to teaching her First-Year Seminar History of Hip Hop, bringing students out of the classroom and onto the dance floor. “In designing this class, with all the creative expression I thought that it would be a really great opportunity to get the students out of class and give them an experience associated with what we’re learning,” Phillips said. As an adjunct Pharmacy and Health Sciences instructor who usually teaches a 50 minute lecture and a one hour and 50 minute lab each week, Phillips isn’t accustomed to teaching a class like History of Hip Hop “Initially, I didn’t follow any type of a book,” Phillips said. “I did my own research and kind of made a big sketch and a big timeline for myself. I am a hip-hop fan, but I also listen to a lot of different types of music as well. Through my research, I pieced a timeline together and introduced a lot of different pillars of hip-hop and artists and creators and highlighted their creative activity.”...