Bringing
Pop Culture
into Our
Classrooms
Jon Weldon
Concept Schools
http://english.conceptschools.net/?page_id=772
The Bed Intruder
Concept Schools ELA curriculum
includes numerous other “texts”:
Theme – Mysterious Worlds
Second Unit - Recommended for 2nd Quarter
Essential Questions:
Where can we find mysterious worlds?
Why is it necessary or important to explore other worlds?
What can we learn from mysterious worlds?
How can books and art bring us closer to other worlds?
Texts/ Resources
Common Core
Activities/Projects
Standards
Primary Novel:
Literature 6.1
Compare and Contrast Venn Diagram –
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle
Literature 6.2
Phantom Tollbooth book to play
Literature 6.3
Review
Literature 6.4
Write your own scary story – Writer’s Workshop
and publish your own book
Textbook Selections:
Literature 6.5
6th Grade
Assessments/Measures
Interim Assessments
Narrative Writing Rubrics
Ongoing Writing Portfolios
Formative Assessments: Quizzes, Tests
Literature 6.6
Author’s Study – Horror writers (R.L. Stein,
Stephen King, etc.)
Mysterious Worlds, see Selections by Theme,
p. xxv
Literature 6.7
Art as a springboard for story
Weekly spelling tests covering frequently
misspelled words
Literature 6.10
Album Cover Project
Direct Vocabulary Instruction
Secondary Texts:
Informational 6.1
Theme Song Essay
Informational 6.2
Author Quest
“The Phantom Tollbooth”
Night of the Bat (novel), Paul Zindel
Informational 6.6
“Writing a Movie”
Skeleton Man (novel), Joseph Brachac
Informational 6.7
Sound Movie
Phantom Tollbooth (novel), Norton Juster
Informational 6.9
Abstract Representation
Informational 6.10
Character Mandala
Various Goosebumps titles, R.L. Stine
Writing 6.2
Art: “The Scream” (Munch), Surrealism
Writing 6.5
Music: Baroque, scary movie soundtracks
Writing 6.6
Writing 6.7
Movies: Stand By Me, Green Mile, early horror,
Writing 6.8
including Hitchcock
Writing 6.9
Unit Requirements
1 long writing piece
1 Oral Presentation
1 21st Century LIteracies Activity
3 Lessons incorporating non-print texts
Concept ELA Curriculum
Theme – Visions and Dreams
Essential Questions:
How can I make this a better world?
What do I believe?
Am I a participant or a bystander?
What is the American Dream?
Texts/Resources
Primary Novel:
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, or
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya
Angelou
Textbook Selections:
"Dream Deferred", “Dreams”, Langston
Hughes,
"Hope", Emily Dickinson
"I Have a Dream," Martin Luther King
“First Inaugural Address”, F. D. Roosevelt
“Uncle Marcos”, Isabel Allende
"I Hear America Singing", Walt Whitman
Poetry
"I, too, Sing America", and "A Negro
Mother", Langston Hughes
"There is a Longing," Chief Dan George
"Still I Rise", Maya Angelou
Hiphop Lyrics
"Umi Says," Mos Def
"I Can," Nas
"At the Helm," Del, the Funky Homosapien
Nonfiction
My Story, Rosa Parks
Film: The Pursuit of Happyness
Fourth Unit – Recommended for 4th Quarter
Common Core
Standards
Literature 9-10.2
Literature 9-10.9
Literature 9-10.10
Informational 9-10.1
Informational 9-10.2
Informational 9-10.4
Activities/Projects
9th Grade
Assessments/Measures
Authentic Task: Create a newspaper dated 1933, Maycomb, AL
using real historical events as well as the events in Harper Lee's
To Kill a Mockingbird. Include all contents of Newspaper
Nonfiction Writing Rubrics
Speech using persuasive techniques
Formative Assessments: Quizzes, Tests
Poetry Video Essay: Students choose five different types of
poetry that represents how they want to live their life, combine
them, read them, and create a video that shows images of them
with symbols of their future
Advertisement for a unique product line that would improve the
future (create an authentic audience by having a student-wide
contest)
Letter to the Editor with cooperation of local editing staff
Direct Vocabulary Instruction
Ongoing Writing Portfolios
Interim Assessments
Products (personal dictionary, interactive
notebook, journals, etc.)
Participation
Oral Presentations using multi-media
Scenario Scavenger Hunt: Teacher provides students with a list of
scenarios with the purpose of students choosing the best mode of Publishing (web pages, authentic tasks
communication for response. When the student uses the correct with authentic audiences)
Informational 9-10.10 mode of communication, the next prompt is given. Once the
student has achieved all prompts they receive a reward.
Interim Assessments
Informational 9-10.8
Writing 9-10.2
Writing 9-10.4
Writing 9-10.5
Writing 9-10.6
Writing 9-10.10
P.O.I (presentation of issues)
Unit Requirements:
D.O.L (quote journals)
1 Authentic Assessment Writing Piece
Independent Reading with logs or journals
1 Oral Presentation
Literature circles
Anticipation Guides
K-W-L Chart
Simulations
Question/Answer Relationships (Blooms Taxonomy)
Wikis and Blogs
Classroom Forums
1 21st Century Literacies Activity
3 Lessons incorporating texts other than
print
Common Core Standards and
Pop Culture
Grade 6 – Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or
viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see”
and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.
9. Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical
novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics
Grades 9-10 – Listening and Speaking
2. Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.
Grades 9-10 – Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums,
including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden’s “Musée des
Beaux Arts” and Breughel’s “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus”).
Grades 11-12 – Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production
of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source
text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
What are your literacies?
What does a textual day in your life look
like?
What kinds of “texts” do you regularly read?
What kinds of “texts” do your students
regularly read?
Analysis of a Textual Day in
Your Life
Identities
Texts
Values
Social Networks
Literacy Learning
Athlete, runner
www.usatf.org,
www.iaaf.org,
Sports sections in
newspapers, ESPN
Health, outdoors,
relieve stress,
competition
Runners, hikers,
outdoor enthusiasts
Skimming and scanning
(for fast times, people I
know); strategies to
prevent injuries; map
usage; directions
Movie watcher,
amateur film critic
www.nytimes.com,
www.rottentomatoes.com,
www.hollywood.com,
Chicago Tribune –
entertainment section, Late
Night Talk Shows
(Letterman, Leno, etc),
Download torrents or
NetFlix, TNT, USA, TBS
Entertainment, cultural
awareness, film history
Friends and family,
movie critics, other
downloaders
Critical awareness
(what types of movies
will I like), summarizing,
reflection (what did I
like), reading schedules
How do you view pop culture?
• “I wish that teachers listened to the music
we like and would learn some of the
dances through watching the videos. It
would be really cool for a teacher to ask
me how to do a dance or learn about a
song. We could get to know teachers
some, and teachers could get to know us
some.”
-Interview with a 7th grade student
• “I don’t look to using popular culture for its
own sake. I have to see some connection
to the standards, and I also have to be
able to achieve some connection to it
myself. Essentially, it’s as much about my
popular culture if not more than the
students.”
-Interview with a high school
English teacher
3 Ways of View Pop Culture
1. Mass Culture
• Assumed that audience passively accepts the
text and meanings intended by producer
(writer)
• Low culture
• For pleasure
News Clip – Woman Wakes up to
find Intruder in Her Bed
2. Folk Culture
• Texts have no inherently produced
meaning
• Important part of people’s lives
• Focus on how the audience (not producer)
uses the text
• Examples: jeans, cellphones, birth of
hiphop
3. Everyday Culture
• Assumed that both producers (writer) and
audiences (reader) have the power to
create meaning
• Important part of people’s lives, for
learning identities and beliefs
• Focus on both producer’s intended
meaning and audience’s created meaning
Shepard Fairey
3 Ways of Viewing Pop Culture
1. Mass Culture
2. Folk Culture
3. Everyday Culture
– Allows the most potential as meanings are
constantly creating according to social and
cultural contexts
– Multimodal in nature
Multimodality
•
•
•
•
So much of pop culture is multimodal
Ron Clarke Academy’s “Vote However You Like”
Not just the text on a page
This then gets into what we mean by “new
literacies”
• Anything can be multimodal now with videos and
software so easy and prevalent
• performative and visual modes play a larger role
in creating meaning
Inanimate Alice
• http://inanimatealice.com/episode1/index.h
tml
• Lots of resources at the site:
www.inanimatealice.com
Advantages of Multimodal Texts
• Distributes meaning across linguistic, visual, aural,
and performative modes at the same time
• touches on our multiple ways of learning –
Gardner’s multiple intelligences and learning
styles
• empowers students by allowing them chances
to comprehend texts based on their own
experiences
• NOT about catering to a shortened attention span
or lowering our standards
• Intertextuality – focuses students’ attention on
how texts work off or inform each other
Very important for instruction to give
students opportunities to negotiate a
producer’s (writer’s) assigned meaning
with one that is personally acceptable
to them
4 Primary Ways of Integrating Pop
Culture into Your Classroom
1. Connections
• Connect “irrelevant” content to students’
personal lives
• For example: “Mysterious Worlds” Unit in 6th
grade includes scary movie soundtracks:
1. Show clips of some scary movies. Discuss how
the music affects your viewing of the scene
2. Draw attention to plot development
3. Create a scary soundtrack to parts of A Wrinkle
in Time or other novel your class is reading
4. Then do the Sound Movie activity on page 44.
Jaws – the skier scene
Psycho – the shower scene
2. Cultural Capital (Allegiances)
• Recognizes the value of a cultural
experience
• Values the power of knowledge about
particular popular texts within different
groups
• Encourage students to bring texts that are
normally ignored
• For example: Using blogs and social
networks for discussion (Nings)
Example: Create a Soundtrack
• Credit to Ms. Jack at HSA Denison Middle
• Album Cover, list of songs and lyrics
• Also an example of this in the curriculum
guide on page 48 – The Album Cover
Project
3. Critical Awareness
• Should naturally be a part of the curriculum to
develop critical awareness
• Deepens students understanding of self and
others
• Questions how texts are produced and
consumed:
–
–
–
–
–
What is represented in the text?
Who is the intended audience?
Why do audiences like this text?
Who benefits from using this text?
Who is left out or silenced in this text?
Movies and Films
• Ms. Carter’s lesson
• Should never show a movie for a whole
class period
• Better to choose a clip or two and just
show that
Hiphop Poetry Unit
• Combines first 3 models:
– Connections
– Cultural Capital
– Critical Awareness
1. Connect to the canon
2. Compare to other poems
3. Students create their own poems/rhymes
A word about hiphop/rap
1.
2.
3.
4.
Be careful.
Be respectful.
Show lyrics both on paper and as music.
Many different types. Be certain of the type
you want.
5. Multimodal. Think about what mode you
want to focus on.
4. Recontextualized
• Incorporates parts of the other models
• Provides opportunities for students to build
new knowledge and to transform pop
culture texts for new purposes
• How can instruction both value students’
enjoyment and transform meaning and
understanding?
“The Bed Intruder” at the BET
Awards
Various Internet Resources
•
•
•
•
•
•
www.popculturemadness.com
www.rottentomatoes.com – movie reviews
www.allmusic.com
www.readwritethink.com – many lesson plans
www.zamzar.com – convert video files
Photo Story 3 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/di
gitalphotography/PhotoStory/default.mspx
Conclusion – the 3 R’s of Pop
Culture Pedagogy
1.Reflective
2.Responsible
3.Respectful