Using Pop Culture to Engage Students in Reading Canonical Literature

Pop Culture

Literature Review

SUPPORTS 21ST CENTURY LITERACY

Pop Culture

DISRUPTS WORLDVIEW

• "Anything produced and disseminated by the mass media through mass consumption that reaches the majority of people" (Barth 85).

ENCOURAGES CONSTRUCTIVISM

VALUES THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

LINKS TO SCHEMA THEORY

Research Questions

TARGETING LITERACY SKILLS

ENHANCING CANONICAL TEXTS

Underlying Question

CLAIM WRITING

ENGAGEMENT

How does pop culture analysis impact student transaction with canonical literature?

Research Setting

Findings & Implications

• Suburban high school
• Enriched ELA-3
• 31 students

Student Resistance

"I didn't like using pop culture. I didn't like it because it didn't really make sense to me why it was important to connect pop culture with books or plays....it just was not necessary to connect pop culture with plays in my opinion."

Future Implications

Music Matters

Student Connections

The songs will stick with me the most because music is some people's lives, and it is heard every day.

"The reference I made between The Crucible and Breaking Bad will stick with me the most because I went the most in depth with that project. Breaking Bad is also my favorite TV show, so I was more eager to try to connect it to The Crucible in some way."

I think the song connections will stick the most because I really like music and putting a tune to something will help me remember and connect it better.

"The pop culture connections I made myself will stick with me the most because those are the ones I enjoyed and related to."

• Semiotic analysis
• 21st century literacy skills
• Interrelationship between media literacy and cultural literacy
• Teacher-provided vs. student-generated connections

Literacy Skills

Bridging Literacies

Methodology

"I liked how it [pop culture analysis] made the material we were reading seem more meaningful and not so distant because the same basic messages that were in the reading can be found in today's popular culture."

• Preliminary survey
• Pop culture mini lessons
• Song analysis
• Sunglasses
• Archetypes
• Pop culture mini project
• Final evaluation

Data Analysis

• Student engagement
• Comprehension
• Level of analysis
• Text type

Bibliography

Barth, Rodney J. "ERIC/RCS Report: Popular Culture, the Media, and Teaching English." English Journal 65.3 (1976): 84-88. JSTOR. Web. 18 March 2014.

Hobbs, Renee. "The Simpsons Meet Mark Twain: Analyzing Popular Media Texts in the Classroom." English Journal 87.1 (1998): 49-51. JSTOR. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.

Maasik, Sonia, and Jack Solomon. Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Pop Culture for Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Print.

Zemelman, Steven, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde. Best Practice: Today's Standards for Teaching and Learning in America's Schools. 3rd. ed. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2005. Print.

Using Pop Culture to Engage Students in Reading Canonical Literature

Alyssa Bollinger

MAE Secondary English

April 14, 2015