Current Initiatives

BACKLIST CONTENT CREATION: THE MESSAGE HIP-HOP & LITERACY ENRICHMENT PROGRAM

Looking for ways to engage young people with reading, writing, and critical thinking?

Looking for a "hook" to get the young people who you serve excited about words?

But don't know where to begin? Or have the time to develop a standards-based program?

Look no further. We've done the work for you. BackList has developed THE MESSAGE: Hip-Hop & Literacy Enrichment Program. 

DETAILS:
This fully customizable enrichment program is based on Felicia Pride's book, THE MESSAGE: 100 Life Lessons From Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs

Download our informational catalog and pricing breakdown:

The Message Enrichment Program Catalog.pdf


Download a sample session plan:

THE MESSAGE Enrichment Program_Sample Session_Final.pdf

Using hip-hop culture as a hook and the primary text, THE MESSAGE, this enrichment program engages young people with reading, writing, and critical thinking.

Here's the important stuff:
  • The program is both interactive and multimedia-based.
  • The program is based on national academic standards and written by educators.
  • The program is appropriate for ages 12-19 and is ideal for middle schools, high schools, summer programs, after-school programs, libraries, and other educational centers.
  • The program is a collection of "session plans" (or lesson plans) that include interactive activities as well as comprehensive extension activities.
  • The program includes a comprehensive vocabulary bank along with vocabulary-building activities.
  • The program includes teaching materials needed to conduct sessions
  • Clients receive a one half-day training about how to implement the program and assistance from BackList throughout program implementation via telephone and email.
  • Best of all, the hours and hours of planning that goes into writing lessons has been done for you!
  • You can even spice up your program by having Felicia Pride, author of THE MESSAGE, BackList founder, and the co-developer of this enrichment initiative, visit with your young people. How cool is that?
  • This impetus behind this program is also great for staff and educator training. Want to know more about using hip-hop as a hook? We can help you! Contact us to learn how to schedule a training.

 Interested? Send an email to info@thebacklist.net.

EDUCATORS ON THE MESSAGE:
"The Message is an intellectual and artistic triumph. While reading it, my students and I experienced the overwhelming heights of this seismic little book, as we ventured through Hip Hop's history to learn life's lessons. Felicia Pride, indeed, has been the perfect tour guide for our journey, carefully moving us readers at a quiet pace closer to the fountains of knowledge from where we Hip Hop heads love to drink. Her writing is at once personal, powerful, and prophetic. Her book--inspiring, funny, practical, and spiritual--will be long put to use in my Hip Hop class at NYU." -David E. Kirkland, Assistant Professor of English Education, New York University

"The Message is a must read for teachers and other professionals who work with youth. Hip Hop plays a major role in the socialization of youth worldwide. Ms. Pride's work highlights the power of Hip Hop. Pride's work illustrates the beauty of Hip Hop as an art form." -David Miller, Urban Leadership Institute

"The Message resonated with my English students more than most classroom texts, and inspired them to think and write about the music that is meaningful to them.  It is a great catalyst for writing, and students expended a great deal of effort in finding connections between music and their worlds, which in turn makes them better, more thoughtful writers." -Nancy Ferrone Teacher, FLAGS High School

"The Message has been an instrumental text in showing an entire 9th grade how to write personal essays about music.  Felicia Pride's candor about issues like violence, racial and gender discrimination, hip-hop culture, drugs, family, relationships, and empowerment resonates with high school students.  And her strong writing voice, her well-crafted sentences, and her hip prose show high school students an accessible and smart way to write personal essays." -Jeannie Reynolds, Education Consultant, Teachers College Columbia University


"I was and continue to be inspired by you. I've started reading THE MESSAGE and I'm loving it. Congratulations on your chatting your own path!  Thank you for not playing small and doing your thing in a big way. I appreciate having met and being exposed to you."-Dionne Kirby, Deputy Director, Interstages


FREE RESOURCES FOR THE MESSAGE
Download these free education resources that were develop by author and scholar Marcella Runell Hall.

Download the Lesson Plan

Download the Discussion Guide

Download the Syllabus


EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS USING THE MESSAGE INCLUDE:

100 Black Men Saturday School
Alameda College
Art and Music Academy
Atlanticare
Books for Boys
Bucknell University
FLAGS High School
Interstages
Martha's Table
New York University
Urban Arts Academy
Robert E. Lee High School
Sacramento City College
SEED School
SUNY Geneseo
The Hip-Hop Club
TERI

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Upcoming Event

What
Tuition-Free Teen Creative Writing Workshop
When
July 13, 2010, 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where
Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex

Full Schedule