Today’s guest is Dr. Edmund Adjapong, a scholar whose work focuses on engaging youth through culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies centered around embracing Hip Hop culture in the classroom. In the second half of the episode, I’m joined by my colleague Elisha Li, and Eric Royo, elementary educator and founder and director of Hip Hop Building Blocks, for a discussion of ways to bring what we learned from Dr. Adjapong to the elementary and middle school ELA classroom.  **To learn more about this podcast, see the first season's guests, read full transcripts and blog responses from listeners, and read more about Jennifer Serravallo and her work, visit www.jenniferserravallo.comMore on Dr. Adjapong's work:https://edmundadjapong.comhttps://www.shu.edu/profiles/EdmundAdjapong.cfmNew article published April 2023 "For White Folks who Teach Hip Hop--and the Rest of Y'all Too: Interrogating the Positionality of Hip-Hop Educators and Researchers" (full text): https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KEWAKWHD9IWWQVFBXI9T/full?target=10.1080/10665684.2023.2200208More on Eric Royo's work:https://hiphopbuildingblocks.com/**More about this episode’s guest:As a product of New York City Public schools, Dr. Adjapong is committed to promoting equitable practices in STEM classrooms, especially in urban settings. Dr. Adjapong believes that every student has the ability to learn and does so differently. He also believes that engaging urban youth with media and utilizing youth culture–despite its unconventional method–is an effective means to educate. Dr. Adjapong is the co-founder and director of the Science Genius Program, a program that engages urban students in the sciences through Hip-Hop, and the director of The Science Genius Academy, a program that encourages and prepares students to pursue STEM careers while providing mentoring and support. Dr. Adjapong is a contributing writer for The Huffington Post and The Good Men Project, where he writes and speaks about issues of race, diversity, social justice and education.Special thanks to Scotty Sanders for audio editing this episode. https://www.scottysandersmedia.com/Support the show