Flocabulary

Flocabulary, [The name "Flocabulary" is a portmanteau of the words "flow", as in the ability to start and maintain a verse of lyrics, and "vocabulary".] often shortened to Flocab, is an educational New York City-based project that uses hip hop music and other hip hop influenced tools in its lessons. Flocabulary primarily teaches SAT-level vocabulary and United States history, among other topics. The project was created by producer Alex Rappaport and lyricist Blake Harrison (aka Emcee Escher, a pun on M. C. Escher) in 2004, and works with rappers and musicians Akir, April Hill, Trajik, Lady B.L.A.D.E., Afro DZ ak, Grey, and Dee1r. So far the project has released two albums, "A Dictionary and a Microphone" and "Hip-Hop U.S. History", as well as publishing accompanying handbooks and "The Rapper's Handbook", a guide to freestyle rapping. Additionally, Flocabulary has performed live on tour.

Flocabulary has received mention from a wide variety of sources, among them ABC News,cite web
url=http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2249916&page=1
title=Rhyme and Reason: Teaching With a Hip-Hop Beat: Duo Helps Kids Learn With the Music they Love
author=Garvin, Keith
publisher=abcnews.go.com
date=2006-08-01
accessdate=2007-03-26] "The New York Times",cite web
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/magazine/17ONLANGUAGE.html?ex=1279252800&en=90a493e47d9438d7&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
title=On Language: Mnemonics
author=Rosenthal, Jack
publisher=nytimes.com
date=2005-07-17
accessdate=2007-03-26] and "USA Today".cite web
url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/hotsites/2005/2005-03-02-hotsites.htm
title=Hot Sites
author=Hot Sites support staff
publisher=usatoday.com
date=2005-03-02
accessdate=2007-03-26] The project has received praise for its nontraditional methods and effectiveness.

History

Blake Harrison first conceptualized Flocabulary in high school upon realizing that he found greater difficulty memorizing information for tests than memorizing hip hop lyrics, and that it would be easier to study if a rapper released an album helping students study vocabulary.

Harrison later graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and eventually moved to San Francisco, California. Harrison met music producer Alex Rappaport, a graduate of Tufts University, while working at an Italian restaurant. Harrison pitched his earlier idea of Flocabulary to Rappaport during a game of basketball, and the two decided to do it.

A month later, a demo was recorded and sent to several educational publishers. SparkNotes requested two songs, and Flocabulary found a distributor at Cider Mill Press. More recently, John Whalen, the founder of Cider Mill Press, has stated that there is international interest from Puerto Rico and Korea. [cite web
url=http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-04-04/winter-hiphopinclass/
title=Flocabulary is the hip-hop way to educate
author=Winter, Jana
publisher=Colombia News Service
date=2006-04-04
accessdate=2007-04-01]

SparkNotes later created a page about them. [ [http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/newsat/flocabulary/ SparkNotes: Vocabulary Builder: Flocabulary] ]

Recognition

Flocabulary has drawn attention from various media outlets, ranging from newspapers and magazines to mainstream media television networks.

Perhaps most significantly, Keith Garvin's article on Flocabulary in ABC News measured the impact of Flocabulary on the test scores at a high school. According to the article, "Menchville High reports that the average SAT writing score for 11th graders in August 2005 was 420. In April 2006, after Flocabulary was introduced into the curriculum, the average score rose to 477." However, the school's assistant principal said in the same article that they "can't say Flocabulary was 'the' factor."

Others have noted Flocabulary's effectiveness and creativity. Jack Rosenthal of "The New York Times" says that Flocabulary is "one example of how Web sites have latched onto mnemonics as ways to teach SAT words to high-school students." Laurie Thurston of SmartWriters.com stated in a review of "A Dictionary and a Microphone" and its accompanying handbook that "This music is smart. It’s funny. It’s creative. It’s "not" gangsta, homophobic or misogynistic." [cite web
url=http://www.smartwriters.com/content/view/464/54/
title=Go With the Flo
author=Thurston, Laurie
publisher=SmartWriters.com
accessdate=2007-03-31] Flocabulary has also been noted for their music, with Sara Blask of BlackElectorate.com mentioning Flocabulary as having "rap-style lyrics set to catchy music" [cite web
url=http://www.blackelectorate.com/index.asp
title=Hip Hop Fridays: Flocabulary. The Infusion of Vocabulary into Hip-Hop
author=Blask, Sara
publisher=BlackElectorate.com
date=2005-07-01
accessdate=2007-03-31] and an article on DailyCandy.com stating that the "tunes are remarkably catchy." [cite web
url=http://www.dailycandy.com/article.jsp?ArticleId=22658&city=1
title=A Good Rap
publisher=BlackElectorate.com
date=2005-03-02
accessdate=2007-03-31]

Notes

References

*cite web| url=http://www.flocabulary.com/bios.html| title=WHO WE ARE| publisher=Flocabulary.com| accessdate=2007-03-26
*cite web | url=http://www.english-test.net/esl-cafe/20/ | title=Interview with Flocabulary | author=Daerr, Torsten | publisher=english-test.net| accessdate=2007-03-27

Further reading

*cite book |last=Harrison |first=Blake |coauthors=Rappaport, Alex |title=Flocabulary: The Hip-Hop Approach to SAT-Level Vocabulary Building |origyear=2006 |origmonth=April |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc |language=English |isbn=193366214X |oclc=68485201
*cite book |last=Harrison |first=Blake |coauthors=Rappaport, Alex |title=Flocabulary: The Hip-Hop Approach to U.S. History |origyear=2006 |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc |language=English |isbn=9781933662350 |oclc=76893004

External links

* [http://www.flocabulary.com/ Flocabulary Official Site]