“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