The state’s annual Summer Library Challenge has worked to get kids reading while they’re not in school for almost 40 years.
As part of this year’s theme, “Libraries Rock,” Delaware’s Division of Libraries brought a hip-hop literacy performance program to libraries across the state.
Delaware Public Media’s Sophia Schmidt recently sat down with the creator and performer of these programs, Bomani Armah, after a 1-hour hip-hop lesson at the Kirkwood library.
Public libraries across the state are hosting programs that get kids reading—and rapping— as part of theSummer Library Challenge.
Roughly fifteen kids learned about vowels, syllables and rhyming at the Kirkwood library Tuesday.
"I basically call it putting medicine in with the sweet potatoes."
Bomani Armah, orBaba Bomani when he’s performing, has honed his teaching techniques over several years working with toddlers to teens. He says rhymes, rhythms and movement help kids internalize concepts in reading, math and history — and get kids excited about writing.
"What’s cool teaching through hip hop is it’s music, it’s language and it’s dance. You’re in a school and some people are auditory learners, some are visual learners and some are physical learners. I have seen students who when I’m writing a song they don’t have any words to add. But when I’m like, OK how would you dance to represent this song, that’s when they come alive," he said. "It helps them become a member of the whole project that’s going on, and it helps them ingrain the idea through physical movement, which is more of their learning style anyway. ”
The Maryland-based educator mainly performs his hip hop literacy programs at schools, after-school programs and camps.
He adapts his programs to the age of the audience, and what they're learning in school.
"Last year we wrote songs about the history of the american revolution, where to put the decimal place, the water cycle," he said. "Literally whatever you’re working on in class I show you how to use the same techniques to write an essay that you would to write a song. I basically call it putting medicine in with the sweet potatoes. And we just have a lot of fun.”
Tuesday’s program at the Kirkwood library ended with a rap about Frederick Douglass teaching himself to read—and freeing himself from slavery.
“He took his literacy into his own hands. And if you talk to 11, 12, 13-year-old boys, that’s the stage where you want to be a rebel,” said Armah. “And his rebellion was, I’m going to spend as much time as possible so I can to educate myself, because I know that if I’m educated I can move forward. And that’s the message I love leaving."
Elisabeth Simmons, youth and teen services librarian at the Kirkwood Library, voted to include Armah's program this summer because of how he engages kids through music and dance.
“For those kids that go, ugh I can’t stand reading, it’s too hard … There’s reading involved in this program that energizes you, that affects your whole body,” she said. “So sometimes for those kids that are either just starting or are on the reluctant end of it all, their eyes will be opened.”
The “Rock the Mic: Hip Hop and Literacy” program landed in New Castle County public libraries in June, and continuesin Sussex and Kent county libraries through mid-August.
The Summer Library Challenge also features programming about natureand storytelling.
The Summer Library Challenge is an effort to promote literacy and reduce the summer learning loss for Delaware kids.
According to Beth-Ann Ryan, deputy director at the Delaware Division of Libraries, the annual Challenge is the longest running statewide summer reading program in the nation. It’s in its 39th year.
