Pop Culture and Literacy Madelyn Brakke, Jared Exner, Elizabeth McLellan, Bailey Powell, and Whitney Campagne RESEARCH QUESTION How are teachers using pop culture in their classrooms to enhance literacy learning? DANGERS OF USING POP CULTURE Gutirrezs The Right to Be a Fan -Privileging fandoms -Anti-fandoms -Extreme fans Callahan & Low Crossroads of Expertise -Be aware of sensitive issues -Making something personal academic Observation -English 30-1 ACL Poetry -Modern Marie Antoinette Movie -Appropriate for the students SOCIAL MEDIA Blogging Using blog posts can connect teachers, students, and parents to the learning in the classroom Connect Blog Explore literacy learning in a different format Twitter Connects teachers and students around the world by sharing and collaborating resources SOCIAL MEDIA - SPACE2CRE8 Student focused social media website that connects students around the world Students learn about literacy using 21st century technologies Includes: blog posts, pictures, messaging, comments, discussion boards, and student profiles WHY THEY WORK IN THE CLASSROOM Aid in vocabulary acquisition and development Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi Require the same, if not more, skills as a prose only text Maus, Art Spieglman Why They Work in the Classroom Motivate reluctant and struggling readers to read Bone, Jeff Smith Difficult texts can become more attainable Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, Classical Comics CONSIDERATIONS CRITIQUING POPULAR MEDIA Allows students to analyse the bias contained in the media they are already exposed to (Gainer, 2010) Argue perceived inaccuracies and their significances Field Experience: Marie Antoinette Judge the material based on their own personal experience and create counternarratives to express themselves Mean Girls, Speak and Me PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES Extra considerations for teachers. age appropriate how useful is this, really? Pop culture as an icebreaker. the spoonful of sugar to make the print go down? Sharing expertise. you become the student. Creating narratives. of others and of themselves. Critique it! transmedia lets do it!! -- activity ROMEO AND JULIET What do you think is the best iteration of Romeo& Juliet and what do we mean by best anyway? Which would you consider using as a future teacher? Would you have enjoyed Shakespearean texts more if they were presented in this way? IMPLICATIONS The integration of popular culture can promote learning of many different kinds of literacy. Provides a very useful outlet for teachers to integrate the students outside interests in the classroom and make the material more relatable. Popular culture can be a very powerful teaching tool if used properly and effectively. Popular culture: an additional resource for teachers which we hope you find worth considering for your own future practice. The use of transmedia can greatly help to improve students understanding of a text and can make the content more engaging. Many students identified the use of popular culture in the classroom as a catalyst for complex thinking. (Callahan & Low) REFERENCES Callahan, M. & Low, B. (2004). At the crossroads of expertise: The risky business of teaching popular culture. English Journal, 93(3), Gainer, J. S. (2010). Critical media literacy in middle school: Exploring the politics of representation. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(5), Griffith, P. (2010). Graphic novels in the secondary classroom and school libraries. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(3) Gutirrez, P. (2011). The right to be a fan. Language Arts, 88(3), Hull, G.A. & Stornaiuolu, A. (2010). Literate arts in a global world: Reframing social networking as cosmopolitan practice. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(2),