“Using Popular Culture Sources To Increase Engagement Among College Students”

“Using Popular Culture Sources To Increase Engagement Among College Students”

Program Proposal Developed for theFaculty Center for Teaching and Learning

Professional Development Intensive Workshop

Facilitated by:Dr. Elizabeth (Scout) Blum

Professor of History, Associate ChairTroy University

Popular Culture

• Definition

How I Come At The Use ofPopular Culture Sources

• Research• Classes

Pedagogy• Uses of popular culture

– Increased Engagement• Luke, Media Literacy and Cultural Studies (1997)

– Popular Culture as Demonstrating Power Relationships in Society• George Lipsitz, “The Politics and Pedagogy of Popular Culture in

Contemporary Textbooks.”• Janet Lee, “Integrating Popular Culture into a Pedagogy of Resistance.”

– Popular Culture as Solving Pedagogical/Societal Issues of Inequality• Ernest Morrell, “Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Popular Culture.”• Meg Callahan and Bronwen Low, “At the Crossroads of Expertise.”

Pedagogy

• Uses of Popular Culture: Film

Pedagogy

• Uses of Popular Culture: Film– Increase levels of critical thinking (Step 1)

• Looking at the accuracy of a source• Sally Hadden, “How Accurate Is the Film?” [Amistad]• Gregory Bassham and Henry Nardone, “Using the Film

‘JFK’ to Teach Critical Thinking”– Increase levels of critical thinking (Step 2)

• Looking at themes/bigger picture/context• Howard Jones, “Cinque of the Amistad a Slave Trader?”• Robert Rosenstone, “JFK: Historical Fact/Historical Film”

Pedagogy: Cautions/Warnings

• Setting context/background absolutely necessary

• Care needs to be taken when asserting a historical (or other) “truth”

• Time limitations: problems with using only one source

Pedagogy: Benefits

• Students are engaged• Students can connect material to everyday life

outside and after the classroom experience• Students as “co-experts”• Students begin to understand that there may

not just be one “truth” out there– Sara Schwebel, Child-Sized History (2011)

Samples of Popular Culture Use

• Topical Material: Gender Differences/Oppression

Messages of Power/Gender

• Association with animals - primitivism– Blueberries for Sal (1948) by Robert McCloskey

– Blueberries for Sal (1948) by Robert McCloskey

– Blueberries for Sal (1948) by Robert McCloskey

Messages of Gender Roles/ Appropriate Behavior

• Gender– The Wild

Birthday Cake (1949) by Lavinia Davis

Messages of Gender Roles/ Appropriate Behavior

• Gender– The Wild

Birthday Cake (1949) by Lavinia Davis

Messages of Gender Roles/ Appropriate Behavior

• Gender– Play With

Me (1955) by Marie Hall Ets

Messages of Gender Roles/ Appropriate Behavior

• Gender– Play With

Me (1955) by Marie Hall Ets

Messages of Gender Roles/ Appropriate Behavior

• Gender– Play With

Me (1955) by Marie Hall Ets

Samples of Popular Culture Use

• Topical Material: Racial Differences/Oppression

Messages of Racial Differences/Gender

• Gender– Hawk, I’m

Your Brother (1976) by Byrd Baylor

Messages of Racial Differences/Gender

• Gender– Hawk, I’m

Your Brother (1976) by Byrd Baylor

Messages of Racial Differences/Gender

• Gender– Hawk, I’m

Your Brother (1976) by Byrd Baylor

Messages of Racial Differences/Gender

• Gender– The Girl Who Loved Horses (1978) by Paul Goble

Messages of Racial Differences/Gender

• Gender– The Girl Who

Loved Horses (1978) by Paul Goble

Messages of Racial Differences/Gender

• Gender– The Girl Who

Loved Horses (1978) by Paul Goble

Resistance/Agency/Challenges to Authority

• Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949), by Dr. Seuss

Resistance/Agency/Challenges to Authority

• Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949), by Dr. Seuss

Resistance/Agency/Challenges to Authority

• Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949), by Dr. Seuss

Resistance/Agency/Challenges to Authority

• Where the Wild Things Are (1963), by Maurice Sendak

Resistance/Agency/Challenges to Authority

• Where the Wild Things Are (1963), by Maurice Sendak