ABSTRACT
This chapter provides teachers with strategies for developing formative and summative assessments that align with students’ identities, popular culture, and curricular standards. Through these approaches, Hip Hop literacies and the study of popular media are incorporated across lessons and assessments rather than appearing as “add-ons” in students’ learning. These assessments support students’ academic skill development in preparation for school-based and standardized testing at the same time that they encourage students to explore their individual and cultural identities and develop critical understandings of the world. The five assignments shared in this chapter include an end-of-unit mixtape, a literary allusion project, literary criticism, a Hip Hop author study, and a Hip Hop autobiography.
