ECO550 Week 3 Scenario Script Using Techniques to Forecast Variab.docx

ECO550 Week 3 Scenario Script: Using Techniques to Forecast
Variables of Interest to Business and Foreign Exchange
Slide #
Scene
Narrations
Slide 1
Scene 1
An older cottage style family run business (Katrina’s Candies)
Slide 2
Scene 2
Herb and Renee are in Renee’s office discussing how to select
and use forecasting techniques to forecast the behavior of
variables Katrina uses to make decisions.
Display:
Regression output for the model.

ECO550_3_2_Herb-1: Good Morning, Renee!
ECO550_3_2_Renee-1: Good Morning, Herb! We should get
started because I have another meeting following our meeting.
What progress did you and Maria make at your session? I saw
your email; however, I’ve been too busy to read it.
ECO550_3_2_Herb-2: No problem, Renee! I will give you an
update now. Maria and I made a lot of progress considering we
had to revise the model you and I developed.
ECO550_3_2_Renee-2: Revise the model, Why?
ECO550_3_2_Herb-3: Let me explain. The first revision
occurred before we estimated the model. Maria was unable to
find prices for bottled-water and unable to get data on the
number of buyers of sugar-free-chocolate. Maria, however,
located proxy data for both of these independent variables; as a
result we estimated the demand model you and I formulated
using some proxy data.
ECO550_3_2_Renee-3: That’s good news; otherwise, we would
have had to reformulate the entire model.
ECO550_3_2_Herb-4: I was quite impressed that Maria made
the extra effort to find proxy data to use in order to estimate the
demand model. However, after estimating the model and
evaluating the significance of regression coefficients, we had to
drop caffeinated coffee and bottled-water from the model; as the
results were insignificant for both variables. We also added a
dummy variable to capture the supply of Katrina’s sugar-free-
chocolate on the demand for Katrina’s regular chocolates.

ECO550_3_2_Renee-4: So, did the modifications that were
made to the model make a difference in estimation results?
ECO550_3_2_Herb-5: Yes, as a matter of fact, the revised
version of the demand model generated significant results for
all of the independent variables including the price of Katrina’s
sugar-free chocolate, median household income, the export of
domestic confectionary merchandise and the dummy variable.
Let me show you the regression output for the model.
Slide 3
Scene 3
Herb and Renee are in Renee’s office discussing the first
forecasting procedure.
Show linear trend model on projector.
Show line graph example on projector.
ECO550_3_3_Renee-1: Herb, this is a great report--this means
we can use the data and the estimated model to forecast the
future demand.
ECO550_3_3_Herb-1: How are we going to forecast the
demand, Renee?

ECO550_3_3_Renee-2: Since we used historical time-series
data to estimate the demand model, we will use forecasting
methods for time series data.
ECO550_3_3_Herb-2: That makes sense but where do we begin?
ECO550_3_3_Renee-3: We’ll begin with a simple forecasting
method, a linear trend model. In a linear trend model, the
dependent variable is regressed against only one independent
variable, which is time. For this model, the quantity of
Katrina’s sugar-free-candy is the dependent variable and the
corresponding year is the independent variable for time.
ECO550_3_3_Herb-3: That’s easy to do, we can use Excel
again. Let me open the Excel file Maria created.
ECO550_3_3_Renee-4: Okay, Herb. When you open the
dataset, make a smaller dataset consisting of just the quantity of
Katrina’s chocolates and year.
ECO550_3_3_Herb-4: Done. That didn’t take long; I just copied
and pasted the data onto a new spreadsheet.
ECO550_3_3_Renee-5: Good. Now, let’s look at a time-series
graph of Katrina’s chocolates and time.
ECO550_3_3_Herb-5: A graph, what type of graph?
ECO550_3_3_Renee-6: A line graph gives the clearest picture
of the relationship between time and a dependent variable.
Excel uses the term “chart” instead of graph so look under the
Charts option.
ECO550_3_3_Herb-6: Okay, found it! I had to select the
“Insert” tab, then the Line option. Please take a look at my

graph.
Slide 4
Scene 4
Renee and Herb are in Renee’s office to analyze the graph
generated for the trend-line forecast
Show the demand function on projector.
ECO550_3_4_Renee-1: The graph reflects what we would
expect; the demand for Katrina’s sugar-free-chocolates is
increasing over time.
ECO550_3_4_Herb-1: It also looks as if demand has grown
during the last four years. Is that right?

ECO550_3_4_Renee-2: Yes, the line is positively sloped so you
correctly interpreted the relationship. Now let’s estimate the
regression for the trend line model.
ECO550_3_4_Herb-2: Okay, it will only take a few seconds.
[PAUSE] There it is now.
ECO550_3_4_Renee-3: Before we can use the results for
forecasting, we have to check for significance.
ECO550_3_4_Herb-3: I’ll do it, Renee. Maria and I performed
the same significance tests when we estimated the demand
model.
ECO550_3_4_Renee-4: Okay! Can we use this estimation to
forecast?
ECO550_3_4_Herb-4: Yes, we can use this trend-line to make
predictions. Let me show you.
ECO550_3_4_Renee-5: You can even use this information to
create a forecast.
ECO550_3_4_Herb-5: How do we do that?
ECO550_3_4_Renee-6: The data we used was from a span of
several years. We can forecast this years demand or even the
demand for upcoming years by substituting this year or other
years for “t” then solve for the quantity. Here let me show you.
ECO550_3_4_Herb-6: Trend-lining is a useful forecasting
methodology, and it’s simple.
ECO550_3_4_Renee-7: Yes it is. Now let’s use the demand
function you and Maria estimated to develop another forecast.

ECO550_3_4_Herb-7: The demand function we estimated is
here, in Excel, here’s the version I created. I am unsure though
of how we will use this function to forecast.
Slide 5
Scene 5
Renee and Herb are in Renee’s office to calculate demand using
hypothetical values
ECO550_3_5_Renee-1: You may have already used this
approach. All we need to do is hypothesize values for the next
year’s independent variables, substitute the hypothetical values
into the model and solve to get the forecasted value of demand.
This method is called a point forecast.
ECO550_3_5_Herb-1: Yes, I actually do recall this approach.
Let’s both solve this problem to make certain I get it correct.
ECO550_3_5_Renee-2: Okay. Use eight-dollars for the price,
since price will probably not change within the next year; then
use fifty-two thousand-seventeen-dollars for income. We will
then have exports measured in pounds per year, so use four
hundred eighty-thousand-eight-hundred twenty-six-point-five as
the hypothetical value. Finally, use one for the dummy variable.
ECO550_3_5_Herb-2: Are you solving by hand without a
calculator? I’m going to use Excel to solve for the predicted
level of demand for this year..
ECO550_3_5_Renee-3: Let’s compare solutions. This is the
solution that derived.
ECO550_3_5_Herb-3: My solution is the same! I’m glad I did
this correctly in Excel.
Slide 6
Scene 6

Renee and Herb are in Renee’s office comparing the results
from the demand function and the trend line
ECO550_3_6_Renee-1: Keep in mind that the demand function
forecast using hypothetical data is larger than the forecast using
the trend-line model. Off-hand, I cannot explain the difference
between the two forecasts, however, both forecasts show some
decrease but are still attractive numbers. Now we will use
smoothing techniques to forecast demand. There are three types
of smoothing techniques and they include: moving averages,
weighted averages and exponential averages.
ECO550_3_6_Herb-1: Is moving average the method where you
combine data points from different time periods then find the
average of those data points to forecast a value?
ECO550_3_6_Renee-2: Yes, that’s correct! The forecasted
value is based upon an average of two or more values. Since we
have only twelve years of data, we will use a two-year moving
average to forecast the demand.
ECO550_3_6_Herb-2: Are we using the data we compiled to
estimate the demand function?
ECO550_3_6_Renee-3: Yes, that’s the data we’ll use.
ECO550_3_6_Herb-3: Take a look on page four of the report I
emailed you, the dataset is there.
ECO550_3_6_Renee-4: I see it now. Make note that since we
are developing a two-period moving average, we start by taking
the average for the first two years of actual data, and then use
each year to forecast the next year.
ECO550_3_6_Herb-4: Ok, I understand! So using two periods, I
would compute ninety-thousand plus one-hundred-thousand

divided by two to get the demand forecast which is ninety-five-
thousand. Then for the next year the demand forecast would be
one-hundred-fifteen-thousand and so on using this method. I
used the Excel Data Analysis, Moving Average function to
finish, let me print the output for you.
ECO550_3_6_Renee-5: Wait; since you’re going to print, we
should compute the forecast error, which is the difference
between the forecasted amount and the actual amount. Just use
Excel to find forecast errors; organize the information into a
table so we can see how it looks.
Slide 7
Scene 7
Renee and Herb are in Renee’s office finishing up their
discussion on weighted average and exponential smoothing
techniques.
ECO550_3_7_Herb-1: According to the moving average
forecast, actual demand values are consistently higher than the
forecast. What does that mean, Renee?
ECO550_3_7_Renee-1: I know the behavior of forecast error
means there is forecast bias. However, other than that I don’t
know. We’ll need to ask Ken about this.
ECO550_3_7_Herb-2: I do have one more question. Can Excel
also calculate the weighted average and exponential smoothing
forecasts?
ECO550_3_7_Renee-2: Let me see if we have anything in the
video library. (Pause, clicking) Okay, I found a couple of videos
that explain and illustrate how to smooth data using weighted
averages and exponential averaging. However, it’s nearly time
for my next meeting. I think you can use the videos to learn
how to use the other two smoothing techniques.

ECO550_3_7_Herb-3: Thank you for the videos they should
great learning tools!
ECO550_3_7_Renee-3: Fantastic! Before I head out, once you
finish these videos I would like for you also to participate in a
review activity I put together based on key items we discussed.
Slide 8
Interaction Slide
Incorporate iPad to show Videos about Excel and model
creation
· What is Demand Forecasting?
·
http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/content/en/416/Deman
d-Forecasting
· Forecasting Using Regression Analysis
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E73AJ73-S6g
· Using Excel for Basic Forecast Smoothing
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg7Mv54sISQ
Slide 9
Check Your Understanding
Multiple Choice Questions
Question 1: Time-series methods of forecasting are identified
by which of the following characteristics?
a. They are based on the assumption that future events will
follow patterns of past economic behavior. Correct Answer*
Correct feedback: Time-series forecasts are based upon an
analysis of historic data. Therefore, the logical assumption is
that the behavior of the variable will continue, ceteris paribus.
b. They generate data primarily from the opinion(s) of one or
more people.
Incorrect Feedback: Forecasts based upon opinions are known
as “subjective” forecasts. Subjective forecast are common
occurrences yet are considered less reliable than forecasts based

upon data. As an example, a subjective forecast is when a
person who commutes to work daily states, “today is
Wednesday, I know roads will be congested because on
Wednesdays there is always a lot of traffic.
c. They incorporate economic theory with quantitative
techniques to analyze and forecast the movement of some
economic or business variable of interest.
Incorrect Feedback: Economic theory is the basis of some
forecasting techniques but not all forecasting techniques.
d. They make use of inter-industry linkages to forecast how
changes in demand will affect output by various industries.
Incorrect Feedback: Forecasting techniques are intended to
evaluate the behavior of the variable of interest.
Question 2: Which of the following is a qualitative forecasting
method?
a. Expert opinion
b. Consumer surveys
c. Delphi method
d. All of the above are forecasting methods.
Correct Feedback: That is correct; all of the listed choices are
qualitative techniques.
Incorrect Feedback: Yes, this is a qualitative technique;
however, all listed choices are qualitative techniques.
Slide 10
Scene 10
Concluding scene taking place in conference room
ECO550_3_10_Herb-1: Renee, those videos and review
activities were very helpful!
ECO550_3_10_Renee-1: I’m glad to hear that. That is all I have
for today, Do you want to begin our review of what we
accomplished today?
ECO550_3_10_Herb-2: Sure thing! Today we developed
forecasts using the trend-line method and moving average

smoothing technique. We also used the estimated regression
function we formulated for the demand for Katrina’s chocolates.
We then used actual data for the trend-line and moving averages
forecasts. We later hypothesized data for forecast using the
estimated regression model. Based on all of our work, we
concluded that the estimated regression model gave us the best
estimate of our future demand.
ECO550_3_10_Renee-2: That’s a good summary of what we did
today. Remember to document everything we have worked on
so we can respond to any questions Ken may ask.
ECO550_3_10_Herb-3: Okay. Do we need to do anything else
today?
ECO550_3_10_Renee-3: That’s all for today, Herb, but until we
meet again, don’t forget to complete your weekly threaded
discussions based on the key concepts we covered this week.
ECO550_3_10_Herb-4: Thanks, Renee and have a great day!
PRACTICE UPDATE
Enhancing Adolescent Brain Development
through Goal-Setting Activities
Megan K. Scarborough, Carol M. Lewis, and Shanti Kulkarni
E
ffective goal setting is a critical sociocognitive
developmental exercise that enhances human
functioning across the life span (Bandura,

1997; Schunk, 2001 ; Schunk & Zimmerman, 1997).
Social learning, social exchange, and self-regulation
theories all shed light on how the goal-setting pro-
cess can build self-efficacy, social networks, and even
brain development itself Emerging evidence from
neuroscientific studies on human brain develop-
ment supports speculation that exercising executive
functions and social cognitive skills (such as setting
and working toward goals) during adolescence may
shape brain function across the life span (Blakemore
& Choudhury 2006; Giedd, 2004). Client-driven
goal setting has long been a basic tenet of social
work, but practitioners should think beyond the
concrete aspects of goal achievement and view
the goal-setting proce55 itself as a means to enhance
cognitive and social development.
This Practice Update examines a simple, low-cost
tool for facihtating client-driven goal setting that
was developed by Life Works Teen Parent Services
(TPS), an intensive case management intervention
for pregnant and parenting adolescents. A thor-
ough examination of the hterature reveals that, on
some level, goal setting is included in a number of
adolescent pregnancy programs with proven track
records for effectiveness. Demonstrating the utility
of goal setting in diverse settings, these programs'
formats vary widely to include nurse and mentor
home visitation models, school-based group brief
therapy models, and community-based models, to
name a few (Black et al,2006;Brown, 1999; Harris
& Franklin, 2007; Isaacs, 2007; Tabi, 2002). Yet in
the literature, details remain vague about how and
why goal-setting exercises should be incorporated
to ensure consistency in service programs intended

to promote decision making, social problem solving,
interpersonal relationship skills, and self-efficacy.
The centerpiece of the Life Works TPS goal-setting
approach is a simple, fiU-in-the-blank worksheet.
Its open design and individual client focus give it
a universal quality and make it relevant for various
populations and diverse social service settings. It is
particularly useful for interventions that serve preg-
nant and parenting teenagers, in which the arrival
of a new baby sparks a crucial need to accelerate
the development of parenting skills, social support
networks, and self-sufficiency.
THEORETICAL SUPPORT
Social learning, social exchange, and self-regulation
theories all shed light on how the goal-setting pro-
cess can build self-efficacy, social networks, and even
brain development itself Cognitive self-regulation is
a critical function that organizes thoughts, feelings,
and actions toward goal attainment. Self-regulation is
conceptualized as having multiple sequential phases
related to goal attainment—forethought (identifying
the goal and the necessary action steps),performance
control (carrying out the steps and monitoring
performance), and self-reflection (evaluating one's
goal progress and adjusting strategies as needed to
ensure success) (Schunk, 2001; Zimmerman, 1998).
Short-term, task-oriented goals are preferable to
distal, long-term ones because they deepen the
cognitive experience by providing individuals clear
markers of progress and allowing them to judge their
performance (Bandura, 1982).Whereas distal goals
can be vague and elusive (for example, I want to be
financially stable),proximal subgoals provide imme-
diate incentives and guides for action (for example,

I will submit five job applications by Sunday).The
achievement of short-term goals serves as a vehicle
in the development of learning, mastery, coping
skills, self-motivation, and self-direction. Tangible
goal achievement can also serve to ameliorate feel-
ings of anxiety, despondency, and futility associated
with an inability to influence one's environment
(Bandura, 1982).
276 CCC Code: 0037-8046/10 $3.00 O2010 National
Association of Social Workers
Social exchange theory sheds light how and why
the client—case manager team approach to goal set-
ting helps chents expand social support networks
and resource connections (Cook & Rice, 2003).
Social exchange theory also posits that human be-
havior and networking are propelled by incentives
and rewards, such as positive reinforcement, mutual
satisfaction, moral support, and control. Empowering
the client to identify personal goals puts the chent
in the driver's seat, creating balance and motiva-
tion in the client-case manager relationship. The
process of collaboration with case managers also
builds interpersonal skills, laying the groundwork
for clients to pursue other, similar relationships and
the resources they afford.
EVIDENCE FROM THE FIELD
OF NEUROSCIENCE
Emerging evidence on adolescent brain develop-
ment supports the social science theories that
effective goal setting is a critical sociocognitive
developmental exercise that enhances human func-

tioning across the hfe span (Blakemore & Choud-
hury, 2006; Giedd, 2004). During adolescence, the
brain undergoes a number of important changes.
Predominant among these is the increase in func-
tional specificity—the relationship between brain
anatomy and its function (Toga,Thompson, & Sow-
ell, 2006) .When young children perform cognitive
tasks, like remembering telephone numbers, they
engage relatively large brain regions. As children
develop, the amount of brain needed to perform
these same tasks decreases, suggesting an increase
in efficiency (Casey, Giedd, &Thomas,2000).This
increased efficiency appears to be related to synaptic
elimination, or pruning (Blakemore & Choudhury,
2006; Giedd, 2004). During adolescence, synaptic
pruning is most pronounced in the prefrontal
cortex, which is responsible for executive func-
tion (D'Esposito, Posde, & Rypma, 2000). Thus,
adolescence is associated with increased brain
efficiency when performing executive functions.
The emergent hypothesis is commonly associated
with the "use it or lose it" adage, suggesting that
if an individual exercises executive function and
social cognitive skills during peak periods of ado-
lescent brain development, his or her brain may
become hardwired for such thought processes for
a lifetime. Not exercising executive function and
social cognitive skills during this time may represent
a lost opportunity.
LIFEWORKS TPS GOAL-SETTING TOOL
Life Works TPS, a community-based program in
central Texas, provides a range of services for preg-
nant and parenting adolescents within a strengths-
based, youth development framework. Intensive case
management links clients to an array of educational,

parenting, job training, medical, and mental health
support services offered through its parent agency.
Life Works, Inc. Chents range between 11 and 19
years, approximately half are pregnant, and half are
parenting at intake. Case managers carry a caseload
of 20 clients, often for a period of two to three
years. Life Works TPS and the Tandem Collabora-
tion, another intensive case management program,
are partners in a five-year evaluation of a feder-
ally funded Adolescent Family Life Demonstration
Project grant.The project is investigating the effect
of these intensive case management services on
chent outcomes. Early on. Life Works's goal-setting
approach caught the attention of evaluators because
of its aim to help clients find direction in their Hves
by clarifying complex goals into simple steps.
Life Works case managers guide clients in setting
individualized goals and engage them in a collab-
orative process of goal attainment and monitoring.
Goal setting begins during intake, and case managers
focus on goals with clients at each contact. New
goals are set every three months. Pregnant and par-
enting adolescents thus become more focused and
deliberate in addressing challenges and identifying
needs and aspirations one step at a time.
A single-page instrument was developed to en-
courage consistency across chents and case managers
in the goal-setting process. All case managers and
clients complete a one-page, fiU-in-the-blank "ser-
vice plan" worksheet, which also serves as a contract.
Using the service plan as a guide, the case manager
asks the client to identify a goal or a challenge. Next,
one to four "action steps" are identified and assigned
a person who will be responsible for carrying out

each step (typically the client, the case manager, or
both). Education, parenting, health, housing, and
basic modern-day life skills required to "navigate
the system" are the areas most often covered in these
service plans, although they may also include goals
related to interpersonal relationships and emotional
well-being. For example, a chent identifies the goal
to "get back in school." Two action steps—filling out
the paperwork and turning it in by the deadline—are
assigned to the client. The case manager is assigned
the task of giving the student a ride to the school to
SCARBOROUGH, LEWIS, AND KULKARNI / Enhancing
Adolescent Brain Development through Goal-Setting Activities
277
turn it in. Once goals are set, case manager and client
agree on a due date for each task. A list of strengths/
assets and barriers/obstacles to achieving the goal
are noted. The case manager follows up in person
or by phone to monitor the status of the tasks on or
near the assigned due dates.The case manager notes
the type of follow-up in addition to the progress
or lack of progress made in completing the tasks.
If steps are not completed, the case manager works
with the client to recognize the barriers, revise the
strategy, or establish a new goal.
IMPLICATIONS
Social science theories and emerging evidence
from the field of neuroscience support the asser-
tion that the process of client-driven goal setting
promotes sociocognitive development, interpersonal
relationship skills, and self-efficacy. The Life Works

TPS goal-setting approach leads the case manager-
client relationship in a direction that is meaningful,
tangible, and empowering for the client, while
allowing the case manager to guide and support
in a modeling role. Helping to ensure consistency
in the goal-setting process across case managers,
the instrument used also holds vast potential for
evaluation and planning. In addition to revealing
the most prominent perceived needs of the client
population, an analysis of service plans could show
differences in perceived needs between subgroups
(for example sex, race, ethnicity, age, and so forth).
For process evaluation, an analysis of these data
could show differences between case managers and
the division of labor between client, case manager,
and others in the goal-setting process. For outcome
evaluation, client outcomes could be linked to
service plan content to recognize characteristics,
identify patterns, and deepen understanding about
how best to allocate resources and address gaps in
service to chents. H5D
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Teti, L. Q , McNary S., et al. (2006). Delaying second
births among adolescent mothers: A randomized,
controlled trial of a home-based mentoring program.
Pediatrics, 118, elO87-elO99.

Blakemore, S. J., & Choudhury, S. (2006). Development of
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Guilford Press.
Megan K. Scarborough, BA, is project manager. Life Works
Care Grant Evaluation, and Carol M. Lewis, PhD, is associate
director, Center for Social Work Research, School of Social
Work,
University of Texas of Austin. Shanti Kulkarni, PhD, is as-
sistant professor. Department of Social Work, University of
North

Carolina at Charlotte. This project was supported through the
Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, Office of Population
Affairs, and the Department of Health and Human Services; its
contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not
necessarily
reflect the official views of these agencies. Address
correspondence
to Megan K. Scarborough, Center for Social Work Research,
University ofTexas at Austin, 1925 San Jacinto, Suite 3.208,
Austin, TX 78712; e-mail: [email protected]
Original manuscript received September 10, 2008
Accepted January 23, 2009
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he Digest of Education Statistics forecasts that, during the next
decade, the number
of ethnic minority teachers will shrink to 5 percent, while the
enrollment of ethnic mi-
nority children in America’s schools will grow to 41 percent. As
classrooms across the
country become increasingly diverse, determining how to
connect in significant ways
across multiple lines of difference may be the greatest challenge
facing teachers today. Teach-
ers in new century schools must meet this challenge and find

ways to forge meaningful rela-
tionships with students who come from different worlds, while
also helping these students
Promoting Academic Literacy
with Urban Youth through
Engaging Hip-hop Culture
develop academic skills and the skills needed to be-
come critical citizens in a multicultural democracy.
This challenge also presents a tremendous oppor-
tunity for progressive, critical educators who wish to
promote curricula and pedagogies that value and af-
firm the cultural practices of urban students and
members of urban communities.
As English teachers at an urban high school
in northern California, we witnessed the impact of
Hip-hop music and culture on all of our students.
We saw at the same time that its influence seemed
to transcend race, as students from a variety of eth-
nic backgrounds were strongly influenced by the
culture (Mahiri). At the same time, through looking
at the literacy practices associated with engagement
(Barton and Hamilton 7–15), we also saw that stu-
dents in this non-mainstream cultural practice (Fer-
dman 181–204) were exhibiting the critical and
analytical skills that we wanted them to bring to aca-
demic texts from the canon. We ultimately decided
that we could utilize Hip-hop music and culture to
forge a common and critical discourse that was cen-
tered upon the lives of the students, yet transcended
the racial divide and allowed us to tap into students’
lives in ways that promoted academic literacy and
critical consciousness.

Baker, Farley, and George all argue that the
creative people who are talking about youth culture
in a way that makes sense happen to be rappers, and
the youth are responding in many ways. Hip-hop
artists sold more than 81 million CDs, tapes, and al-
bums in 1998, more than any other genre of music.
Although Hip-hop got its start in black America,
more than 70 percent of albums are purchased by
whites. Taking their cue from the music industry,
other major corporations are creating advertising
campaigns that cater to the “Hip-hop generation.”
Even mainstream Hollywood, with films such as
Warren Beatty’s Bulworth, is dealing with issues re-
lated to Hip-hop. Although the music is largely crit-
icized by politicians, religious groups, and some
women’s groups, its proponents claim that it is here
to stay, as it represents a resistant voice of urban
youth through its articulation of problems that this
generation and all Americans face on a daily basis.
Rose and Powell argue strongly that Hip-hop
music is the representative voice of urban youth,
since the genre was created by and for them. Pow-
ell states:
[Rap] emerged from the streets of inner-city
neighborhoods as a genuine reflection of the
hopes, concerns, and aspirations of urban Black
ERNEST MORRELL AND JEFFREY M. R. DUNCAN-
ANDRADE
88 J U L Y 2 0 0 2
T

EJ07-3.QXD 6/13/2002 9:12 AM Page 88
SElson
Copyright © 2002 by the National Council of Teachers of
English. All rights reserved.
youth in this, the last quarter of the 20th century.
Rap is essentially a homemade, street-level musi-
cal genre . . . Rap lyrics concentrate primarily on
the contemporary African American experience
. . . Every issue within the Black community is sub-
ject to exposition in the rap arena. Hit rap tunes
have broached touchy subjects such as sex, sexism,
racism, and crime . . . Rap artists, they contend,
“don’t talk that love stuff, but [rather] educate the
listeners.” (245)
Many rappers consider themselves as educators and
see at least a portion of their mission as promoting
consciousness within their communities (Lipsitz
23–48, Rose 277–91). As articulated by Freire, the
raising of critical consciousness in people who have
been oppressed is a first step in helping them to ob-
tain critical literacy and, ultimately, liberation from
oppressive ideologies. The influence of rap as a voice
of resistance and liberation for urban youth prolif-
erates through such artists as Lauryn Hill, Pras,
Wyclef Jean of the Refugee Camp, Public Enemy,
Nas, and Mos Def, who endeavor to bring an accu-
rate yet critical depiction of the urban situation to a
Hip-hop generation.
Giroux (27–28, 31) takes a much less cele-

bratory view of the impact of Hip-hop culture on
working-class urban youth but, nevertheless, agrees
that it is a worthy topic of study in urban schools.
His work addresses the crisis confronting youth,
whom he labels a generation under siege, where
they are enmeshed in a culture of violence coded by
race and class. He speaks to the negative connota-
tions of youth culture promoted in popular media
that propel youth toward mistrust, alienation, misog-
yny, violence, apathy, and the development of fugi-
tive cultures. This same media, he contends, has
commercialized the working class body and crimi-
nalized black youth. Critical educators, he argues,
must consider elements of popular culture such as
Hip-hop music as a serious site for social knowledge
to be discussed, interrogated, and critiqued.
Whether the power in its messages can be used for
good or ill, few can dispute the impact of Hip-hop
culture on the lives of working class urban youth.
We further argue that Hip-hop texts are lit-
erary texts and can be used to scaffold literary terms
and concepts and ultimately foster literary inter-
pretations. Hip-hop texts are rich in imagery and
metaphor and can be used to teach irony, tone, dic-
tion, and point of view. Also, Hip-hop texts can be
analyzed for theme, motif, plot, and character de-
velopment. It is possible to perform feminist, Marx-
ist, structuralist, psychoanalytic, or postmodernist
critiques of particular Hip-hop texts, the genre as a
whole, or subgenres such as “gangsta” rap. As Lee
points out, once learned, these analytic and inter-
pretative tools developed through engagement with
popular cultural texts can be applied to canonical
texts as well. If one goal of critical educators is to

empower urban students to analyze complex literary
texts, Hip-hop can be used as a bridge linking the
seemingly vast span between the streets and the
world of academics. Hip-hop texts, given their the-
matic nature, can be equally valuable as spring-
boards for critical discussions about contemporary
issues facing urban youth. Provocative rap texts can
be brought into the classroom, and discussion top-
ics may be produced from a listening/reading of the
text. These discussions may lead to more thoughtful
analyses, which could translate into expository writ-
ing, the production of poetic texts, or a commitment
to social action for community empowerment.
Whether the power in its messages
can be used for good or ill,
few can dispute the impact
of Hip-hop culture on the lives
of working class urban youth.
Teaching Hip-hop as a music and culture of
resistance can facilitate the development of critical
consciousness in urban youth. Analyzing the critical
social commentary produced by the Refugee Camp,
Public Enemy, or Nas may lead to consciousness-
raising discussions, essays, and research projects at-
tempting to locate an explanation for the current
state of affairs for urban youngsters. The knowledge
reflected in these lyrics could engender discussions
of esteem, power, place, and purpose or encourage
students to further their own knowledge of urban
sociology and politics. In this way, Hip-hop music

should stand on its own merit in the academy and
be a worthy subject of study in its own right rather
E n g l i s h J o u r n a l 89
EJ07-3.QXD 6/13/2002 9:12 AM Page 89
than necessarily leading to something more “ac-
ceptable” like a Shakespeare text. It can, however,
serve as a bridge between urban cultures and the
literary canon.
Given the social, cultural, and academic rel-
evance of Hip-hop music and culture, we designed
a classroom unit with three objectives:
1. to utilize our students’ involvement with
Hip-hop culture to scaffold the critical and
analytical skills that they already possess
2. to provide students with the awareness and
confidence they need to transfer these
skills into/onto the literary texts from
the canon
3. to enable students to critique the messages
sent to them through the popular cultural
media that permeate their everyday lives
The unit was designed to incorporate Hip-
hop music into a “traditional” senior English poetry
unit. Our desires were to increase motivation and
participation in discussions and assignments and to
teach critical essay writing and literary terminology

in the context of, among other types of poetry, rap
music. We also wanted to situate Hip-hop histori-
cally and socially and discuss its inception as a re-
sponse to urban post-industrialism. Further, we
wished to encourage youth to view elements of pop-
ular culture through a critical lens and to critique
messages sent to them through popular media, as
well as to help students understand the intellectual
integrity, literary merit, and social critique contained
within elements of their own youth culture.
The second major portion
of the unit involved a group
presentation of a canonical poem
along with a Hip-hop text.
Several goals and objectives for this unit
combined our simultaneous agendas of tapping into
popular culture and facilitating academic and criti-
cal literacy development. To accomplish this, we
needed to cover the poetry of the Elizabethan Age,
the Puritan Revolution, and the Romantics, which
were part of the district-mandated curriculum for
twelfth grade English and which they would be ex-
pected to have knowledge of for the Advanced
Placement exam and college English. It was also im-
portant to learn about the poets in the context of the
literary and historical periods in which they wrote
to gain a greater understanding of the role poetry
plays as a critique of its contemporary society.
In addition to a critical exposure to the liter-

ary canon, we felt it important to concentrate on the
development of issues and ideas presented in poetry
and song as a vehicle to expository writing. Our ob-
jectives were as follows:
• to develop oral and written debate skills
• to facilitate the ability to work in groups
• to help students to deliver formal public
presentations
• to teach students how to critique a
poem/song in a critical essay
• to help students develop note-taking skills
in lectures and presentations
• to help students become comfortable writ-
ing in different poetic forms such as the
sonnet, elegy, and ballad
We began the unit with an overview of po-
etry in general, attempting to redefine poetry and
the role of the poet in society. We emphasized the
importance of understanding the historical period
in which a poem was written to come to a deeper in-
terpretation of the poem. In the introductory lec-
ture, we outlined all of the historical/literary periods
that would be covered in the unit (Elizabethan, Pu-
ritan Revolution, Romantic and Metaphysical Poets
from England, Civil War, Harlem Renaissance,
Civil Rights Movement, and Post-Industrial Rev-
olution in the United States). It was our intention
to place Hip-hop music—as a post-industrial art
form—right alongside these other historical peri-
ods and poems so that the students would be able

to use a period and genre of poetry they were fa-
miliar with as a lens with which to examine the
other literary works and also to encourage the stu-
dents to reevaluate the manner in which they view
elements of their popular culture.
The second major portion of the unit in-
volved a group presentation of a canonical poem
along with a Hip-hop text. The groups were com-
missioned to prepare a justifiable interpretation of
their texts, situating each within its specific histori-
90 J U L Y 2 0 0 2
EJ07-3.QXD 6/13/2002 9:12 AM Page 90
cal and literary period, while also analyzing the link-
ages between the two. There were eight groups for
this portion who were, after a week of preparation,
each given a day to present to the class and have
their arguments critiqued by their peers. The groups
were assigned as follows:
Group Poem Song
1 “Kubla Khan,” “If I Ruled the
Coleridge World,” Nas
2 “Love Song of J. Alfred “The Message,”
Prufrock,” Eliot Grand Master Flash
3 “O Me! O Life!”, “Don’t Believe the
Whitman Hype,” Public Enemy

4 “Immigrants in Our “The World Is a
Own Land,” Baca Ghetto,” Geto Boys
5 “Sonnet 29,” “Affirmative Action,”
Shakespeare Nas
6 “The Canonization,” “Manifest,” Refugee
Donne Camp
7 “Repulse Bay,” “Good Day,”
Chin Ice Cube
8 “Still I Rise,” Angelou “Cell Therapy,”
Goodie Mob
Other poems used for this unit were “Let America
Be America Again” by Langston Hughes and “Elegy
Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray.
In addition to the group presentations, stu-
dents were asked to complete an anthology of ten
poems that contained an elegy, a ballad, a sonnet,
and a poem that described a place with which they
were familiar. The title of the poem was to be the
place that was featured. Also, the students were
asked to write a poem that conveyed a mood; a
poem that dealt with a political, social, or eco-
nomic problem that was important to them (e.g.,
racism, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, police bru-
tality, poverty, homelessness); a love poem; a poem
that celebrated a particular facet of life (e.g., first
date, summertime, graduation); and two open
poems that dealt with whatever subject students
wanted and written in any style they desired. Fol-
lowing the group presentations, we held a poetry
reading, where each student selected five original

poems to read for the class, giving brief comments
on each poem such as the context or a special
meaning. For the outside of class assignment, stu-
dents were allowed to pick any song of their choice
and write a five-to-seven page critical essay on that
song. They were also required to submit a tran-
scription of the song.
The unit was consistent with the original goals
of being culturally and socially relevant, critically ex-
posing students to the literary canon, and facilitating
the development of college-level expository writing.
The positioning of Hip-hop as a genre of poetry
written largely in response to post-industrialism
was a concept to which the students were able to
relate. The issues of joblessness, poverty, rage, and
alienation all had resonance to the urban youth cul-
ture of which the students were all a part. The fore-
fronting of Hip-hop as a genre of poetry also
helped to facilitate the transition to understanding
the role individual poets may have played in their
own societies.
The students were able to generate some ex-
cellent interpretations as well as make interesting
linkages between the canonical poems and the rap
texts. For instance, one group articulated that both
Grand Master Flash and T.S. Eliot gazed out into
their rapidly deteriorating societies and saw a
“wasteland.” Both poets were essentially apocalyp-
tic in nature as they witnessed death, disease, and
decay. Also, both poems talk about a message, indi-
cating the role of a poet in society as a messenger or
prophet. Another group discussed the role of alle-
gory in their two texts, where both John Donne and

the artists from the Refugee Camp utilize relation-
ships with lovers to symbolize the love and agony
poets can feel for their societies.
The unit was consistent with the basic tenets
of critical pedagogy in that it was situated in the ex-
periences of the students (as opposed to those of
the teacher), called for critical dialogue and a crit-
ical engagement of the text, and related the texts to
larger social and political issues. The students were
not only engaged and able to use this expertise and
positionality as subjects of the post-industrial world
to make powerful connections to canonical texts,
they were also able to have fun learning about a
culture and a genre of music with which they had
great familiarity. Ultimately, our experiences in-
troducing Hip-hop and other elements of popular
culture into traditional curricula lead us to believe
that there are countless possibilities for urban ed-
ucators who wish to jump outside the box and tap
into the worlds of their students in order to make
more powerful connections with traditional aca-
demic texts and affirm, in meaningful ways, the
everyday lives of those they teach.
E n g l i s h J o u r n a l 91
EJ07-3.QXD 6/13/2002 9:12 AM Page 91
Works Cited
Baker, Houston A. Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Barton, David, and Mary Hamilton. “Literacy Practices.” Sit-
uated Literacies: Reading and Writing in Context.
Eds. David Barton, Mary Hamilton, and R. Ivanic.
New York: Routledge, 2000. 7–15.
Digest of Education Statistics. Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics, 1998.
Farley, Chris. “Hip-hop Nation: There’s More to Rap than
Just Rhythms and Rhymes. After Two Decades, it
Has Transformed the Culture of America.” Time
153.5 (1999): 55–65.
Ferdman, Bernardo. “Literacy and Cultural Identity.” Har-
vard Educational Review 60.2 (1990): 181–204.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Con-
tinuum, 1970.
George, Nelson. hiphopamerica. New York: Penguin Put-
nam, 1999.
Giroux, Henry A. Fugitive Cultures: Race, Violence, and
Youth. New York: Routledge, 1996.
Lee, Carol D. Signifying as a Scaffold for Literary Interpre-
tation: The Pedagogical Implications of an African-
American Discourse Genre. Urbana, IL: NCTE,
1993.
Lipsitz, George. “History, Hip-hop, and the Post-Colonial
Politics of Sound.” Dangerous Crossroads: Popular
Music, Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place.
New York: Verso, 1994. 23–48.

Mahiri, Jabari. Shooting for Excellence: African American
and Youth Culture in New Century Schools. New
York: Teachers College Press, 1998.
Nas. It Was Written. New York: Columbia Records, 1996.
Powell, Catherine T. “Rap Music: An Education with a Beat
from the Street.” Journal of Negro Education 60.3
(1991): 245–59.
The Refugee Camp. The Score. New York: Columbia
Records, 1996.
Rose, Tricia. “Fear of a Black Planet: Rap Music and Black
Cultural Politics in the 1990s.” Journal of Negro Ed-
ucation 60.3 (1991): 277–91.
ERNEST MORRELL teaches in the Department of Teacher
Education at Michigan State University, East Lansing. JEF-
FREY M. R. DUNCAN-ANDRADE is a doctoral candidate in
the Graduate School of Education at the University of Cali-
fornia, Berkeley.
92 J U L Y 2 0 0 2
EJ 2 5 Y e a r s A g o
Teachers Withhold Judgment, Gain Respect
“Isn’t it true that those teachers we learned to respect and grew
to love never saw us as interchangeable faces or invio-
late numbers spawned by testing agencies and nurtured in
guidance departments? They never presumed to predeter-
mine our station in life, never tagged us as ‘promiscuous gum-
snapping hairdresser’ or ‘hung-over auto mechanic.’ The
best teachers, if they judged us at all, did not look to others for

that judgment. They saw not what we appeared to be
but what, in truth, we were, and more importantly, what kinds
of humane beings we might become.”
Charles F. Greiner. “Humanizing Education: The Possible
Dream.” EJ 66.8 (1977): 28–31.
EJ07-3.QXD 6/13/2002 9:12 AM Page 92

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