Hip Hop in the Heartland Panel: The Future of Hip Hop Education and Pedagogy - What Does the Future Look Like? Featuring Toni Blackman, Michael Cirelli, and Baba Israel, moderated by Gloria Ladson-Billings

Toni Blackman is an American rapper, actress, writer, and U.S. State Department Musical Ambassador. She was the first Hip-Hop Cultural Envoy to travel with the State Department. Blackman is also founding director of Freestyle Union, a cipher workshop which uses freestyling as a tool to promote social responsibility.

Baba Israel is a spoken word and hip-hop teaching-artist. Since earning an MFA from Goddard in Interdisciplinary Arts, he has worked internationally developing projects with a young people-centered focus. He was co-founder of Playback NYC, which brought theater to prisons, hospitals, shelters, and arts venues. He has toured the world as an emcee, beatboxer, and theater artist.

Michael Cirelli is Executive Director of Urban Word NYC, a non-profit that provides free, safe, uncensored writing, performance, college prep opportunities for teens. He teaches courses on hip-hop poetics and English Education at New York University and Bank Street College of Education. He was featured on Season 5 of HBO's Def Poetry and both seasons if HBO's Brave New Voices.

Gloria Ladson-Billings, Ph.D. is Hip Hop in the Heartland faculty of record. She is a professor of Urban Education in the UW-Madison Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Her research examines the practices of teachers who are successful with African American students. Her work has won numerous scholarly awards.