Kennesaw State University DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects Summer 2012 From Homer to Hip-Hop: Using Popular Music to Teach Composition Rebecca Kraegel Kennesaw State University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Kraegel, Rebecca, "From Homer to Hip-Hop: Using Popular Music to Teach Composition" (2012). Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects. Paper 515. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. From Homer to Hip-Hop: Using Popular Music to Teach Composition By Rebecca Kraegel A capstone project submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Professional Writing in the Department of English In the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, Georgia 2012 Kraegel 1 From Homer to Hip-Hop: Using Popular Music to Teach Composition By: Rebecca Kraegel July 14, 2012 Chapter One: The History of Popular Music in the Classroom “The problem of getting the freshman to write something he cares about…continues to be the biggest obstacle in a first-year English program.” Wrote teacher Steven Carter. In 1969. In more than forty years, not much has changed: engaging students remains one of the biggest challenges composition teachers face. Frequently, students are indifferent about assigned topics, and as a result, they are also indifferent about the writing process.