#alvermann

Popular culture is equated to mass media...it ASSUMES that the audience lacks the ability to interpret for themselves the messages that the media produces.

"The media is like a virus. It infect everything it touches, but it also, in turn, changes what it comes in contact with-it mutates. " - This quote really stood out to me in this article as I loved how it visualized the word media. Often times, and most recently, we have viewed information in the media as being "bad, harmful, and/or something that our children should not be exposed to in schools." BUT, why the hell not?? It is ridiculous that so many administrators and "standard makers" look to the media as a fault within the walls of our schools. It is a shame that the use of media within our classrooms has not been looked at as a way to "get-ahead" or to advance learning. It is more often than not linked with school shootings, and violence. But, with proper use of social media and popular culture within our classrooms, we are giving our children a societal advantage. They are learning how to construct new meanings that break the paper and pencil molds that are so structured within our set-curriculms today. We are offering them a discourse to learning that allows them to self-reflect and become critics of the information presented them. It gives them the opportunity to extend their learning and reference information that goes beyond a textbook, and gives them the motivation to explore and engage within new material that may challenge their previous beliefs. Isn't this what we want every child to grow into?? A wall-rounded individual, who indulges within self-exploration and challenges their own beliefs.....I would think so!!

"Children's everyday literacies can be used in schools to connect popular culture with language arts and curriculum." 

"What is popular culture? Does it cross generations? Is it not fleeting- here one day and gone the next." 

"Popular culture is equated to mass media...assumes that audiences lack the ability to interpret for themselves the messages that the media produces. Popular culture as folk culture celebrates the fact that common people are capable of making their own meanings of papular culture... It is up to audiences to negotiate the production and consumption of popular culture." 

"The media is like a virus. It infects everything it touches, but it is also, in turn, changed by what it comes into contact with-it mutates." 

Popular culture is everyday culture! It should not be ignored. It should be embraced and used in the classroom. "...we seek to show that it is not something to be shunned, set aside, or kept at a distance."

"Children are agents in the construction of their own culture at the same time as being subjects to hegemonic discourses of profit and consumerism." 

Four Approaches To Using Popular Culture In The Classroom: 

(Authors do not support this approach) Presenting popular culture as a degrading form of entertainment- Example= turn off the TV week 

 Teaching students how to critically analyze various forms of popular culture texts- Example= "the ideal reader, viewer, listener...the one who is never persuaded or fooled, who sees through the illusions the media provides" "When children are not taught to become critically aware of media-produced popular culture texts, their thinking about such texts goes unchallenged." 

Emphasizes the pleasure that students take in various forms of media-produced texts/everyone is entitled to his own pleasure 

(Authors favor this approach) Developing studnts' ability to be self-reflective in their uses of popular culture/provide opportunities for students to explore issues ..."this strikes a balance between teaching students to be critical and allowing them to experience pleasure without challenges that can extend their learning." Example= asking students to read an article from two different points of view 

"The first step for teachers to integrate students' popular culture interests into literacy teaching and learning is to learn about their own and childrens' experiences with popular culture." 

"Cu;turally response teaching calls for home-school connections in literacy instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse students." 

-Pop culture plays a large role in children's everyday life

"In defining popular culture in terms of children's everyday literacies, we seek to show that it is not something to be shunned, set aside, or kept at a distance."

-4 Approaches to Using Pop Culture in the Classroom

1. viewed as being detrimental to students (sends message that children are wasting time when immersing themselves in pop culture)

2. teaching students how to critically analyze various forms of pop culture (students encouraged to be 'ideal' viewer, not persuaded or fooled by media; pop culture is then taught to be seen as a lesson)

3. pleasures students take in various forms of media-produced texts (good but causes children to never challenge what they see/hear)

4. *developing student's ability to be self-reflexive in their uses of pop culture (explore issues, balance between being critical and finding pleasure