“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
