Television, movies, and music provide fodder for connections among our disconnected citizenry. Why not use this, rather than belittle it?
Cameron White & Trenia Walker, Tooning In
Cameron White & Trenia Walker, Tooning In
The first three chapters in White and Walker's book Tooning In: Essays on Popular Culture and Education seem to offer several arguments in favor of incorporating texts from popular culture into the classroom. The first is that popular culture is what connects the world at the present moment in history. If you don't believe me, consider that there are people all over the country who know exactly what Rickrolling is just because they've seen the same viral videos. They're intimately aware of the characters on Gossip Girl because they watch the same episodes each week. Although their daily lives might look starkly different, students from two different parts of the country (or different socioeconomic backgrounds or different family structures) could come together to discuss the latest Coldplay album. In an increasingly isolated consumer society, it is important to recognize the things that bring people together.
The second argument in favor of using popular culture in educational settings recognizes that young people are intimately familiar with popular culture, more familiar than they are with current events or great literature. Because they are comfortable with the themes in music, movies and television, they can bring that prior knowledge to forge connections between pop culture and traditional coursework (literature, history, etc.). Students who are fans of "desert island" shows like Lost and Survivor might be able to come to a greater understanding of Lord of the Flies, for example. Prior knowledge, research shows, pushes learners to new levels of understanding, and the connections between pop culture and curriculum and plentiful. "These connections allow kids to develop the scaffolding needed to construct knowledge" (p. 5).
The third argument is that curriculum designed with popular culture topics in mind are more engaging for the students. Because watching television and movies and listening to music are activities that young people enjoy doing in their free time, why not use that enthusiasm to keep students' attention?
The fourth and most compelling argument in favor of using texts from popular culture in the classroom is to give students' hands-on instruction in "reading the world." Educational goals are changing, the book argues, and should include instruction on critical thinking skills and
"Students who are asked to read popular texts from these broader and multiple perspectives have the potential to develop a more powerful literacy to engage and explore popular culture texts" (p. 23). Young people must find ways to become critical viewers and consumers, to look at pop culture representations as both mirrors and changers of our society and to resist letting pop culture wash over them passively as entertainment
My reaction to these arguments was a resounding "duh." Perhaps it's because I not only love popular culture texts for their entertainment value but I love forging connections between those texts and traditional texts (such as history and literature). My analytical skills allow me to read the world as well as books. I grew up with the internet, which has allowed people to share in their experiences and interpretations of pop culture texts in a way generations before us have not been able to do. Viewers of television shows have the opportunity to use internet forums to discuss and analyze, and music listeners can post their own interpretations of songs on YouTube. This world is familiar to me to such an extent that I can't imagine not using TV parodies to teach Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and it would disappoint me not to teach students how to evaluate films and television.
My hope is that this course will help me to brainstorm new ways to encourage critical thinking skills through a study of pop culture texts. I did not need to be convinced by these first chapters in Tooning In (although I'm sure many outside of my generation did), and I look forward to discussing the implications of these arguments during this semester.
The second argument in favor of using popular culture in educational settings recognizes that young people are intimately familiar with popular culture, more familiar than they are with current events or great literature. Because they are comfortable with the themes in music, movies and television, they can bring that prior knowledge to forge connections between pop culture and traditional coursework (literature, history, etc.). Students who are fans of "desert island" shows like Lost and Survivor might be able to come to a greater understanding of Lord of the Flies, for example. Prior knowledge, research shows, pushes learners to new levels of understanding, and the connections between pop culture and curriculum and plentiful. "These connections allow kids to develop the scaffolding needed to construct knowledge" (p. 5).
The third argument is that curriculum designed with popular culture topics in mind are more engaging for the students. Because watching television and movies and listening to music are activities that young people enjoy doing in their free time, why not use that enthusiasm to keep students' attention?
The fourth and most compelling argument in favor of using texts from popular culture in the classroom is to give students' hands-on instruction in "reading the world." Educational goals are changing, the book argues, and should include instruction on critical thinking skills and
"Students who are asked to read popular texts from these broader and multiple perspectives have the potential to develop a more powerful literacy to engage and explore popular culture texts" (p. 23). Young people must find ways to become critical viewers and consumers, to look at pop culture representations as both mirrors and changers of our society and to resist letting pop culture wash over them passively as entertainment
My reaction to these arguments was a resounding "duh." Perhaps it's because I not only love popular culture texts for their entertainment value but I love forging connections between those texts and traditional texts (such as history and literature). My analytical skills allow me to read the world as well as books. I grew up with the internet, which has allowed people to share in their experiences and interpretations of pop culture texts in a way generations before us have not been able to do. Viewers of television shows have the opportunity to use internet forums to discuss and analyze, and music listeners can post their own interpretations of songs on YouTube. This world is familiar to me to such an extent that I can't imagine not using TV parodies to teach Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and it would disappoint me not to teach students how to evaluate films and television.
My hope is that this course will help me to brainstorm new ways to encourage critical thinking skills through a study of pop culture texts. I did not need to be convinced by these first chapters in Tooning In (although I'm sure many outside of my generation did), and I look forward to discussing the implications of these arguments during this semester.
