Should popular culture come in to the classroom?

Today’s blog is a reflection on parent’s perceptions of using popular culture in the classroom, based on a recent interview with the mother of a 9 year old girl. Popular culture refers to the concepts that surround people in day to day life and is highly determined by the films and television that they are exposed to (Marsh and Millard, 2003). In contemporary life, those films and programmes, be it Moshi Monsters or Toy Story, act as an advert for their brand, selling merchandise by creating a “craze”. I will explore this further alongside the development of new technologies that have produced the ‘digital natives’ that will make up my future classes.

It was interesting to hear first hand how a parent’s experience of using technology differs from that of their child. A shift is highlighted, in that her child’s experience as a digital native commenced not only early on, but at home prior to school, whereas her own encounters with computers were carefully managed within the school environment. This impacts children’s view of technology, from a complex concept that must be mastered through instruction, to a tool for creativity that can be operated instinctively. Her child recognises the potential of the internet as a platform to share, watching user-created videos on the topic of Minecraft and communicating to peers via Skype software (Ofcom, 2012). This new way in which children socialise has, however raised concerns amongst parents (Prensky, 2001). Palmer (2007) notes that television and other technologies are blamed for the lack of language and social skills of many children. However, my interview would suggest that it is for the parents themselves to enforce sufficient boundaries and thereby avoid children being absorbed by technological entertainment at the expense of social interaction.

So what are the implications of this for my future practice? It is important to consider that digital natives’ brains may be physically different as a result of the digital input received growing up (Prensky, 2001). This has left them with an expectation of interactivity, impacting on their thinking and reading preferences (Bearne, 2003). Teachers should promote reflection and critical thinking through relevant and interesting elements of popular culture such as Doctor Who or digital games, that, when brought into the classroom allow children to act as experts in their “native language” (Harrett& Benjamin, 2009; Prensky, 2001).

Looking at the effect on literacy, it would appear that parents seek to protect traditional literacy, defined in my interview as ‘the ability to read and write’. She highlights real life cases of children's written work taking the form of 'text speak'. To combat this, there is rich potential for teachers to draw upon popular culture within the classroom, as evidenced by Sandy Stockwell’s experience of using Pokemon as a context to address prefixes and suffixes. This example captures the children’s interest and builds on their understanding of character names changing as new powers were collected. Marsh (2000) is just one supporter of using popular culture and media in the classroom, stating that it motivates children who may otherwise not engage with the curriculum. However, a study carried out by Harrett & Benjamin (2009) highlights the need for more training for teachers so that they may use media resources and cross-curricular approaches with confidence. I would agree with this for my own practice as, despite being a digital native myself, I welcome added guidance to keep up with children’s ever-growing expertise.

References

Bearne, E. (2003). Rethinking Literacy: Communication, Representation and Text. Reading Literacy and Language, 37(3), 98–103.

Harrett, J. & Benjamin, T. (2009) Travel with a Time Lord: Using Media to Enhance Literacy, Literacy 43(3): 134-142. UKLA

Marsh, J. & Millard, E. (2003) Literacy and Popular Culture in the Classroom Reading: National Centre for Language and Literacy

Marsh, J. (2000) Popular culture in the classroom, Literacy Today available at: http:/www.nationalliteracytrust.org.uk/Pubs/ marsh.html, accessed 24th January 2014

Ofcom (2012) Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report Research Document Ofcom.

Palmer, S. (2007) Toxic Childhood - how the modern world is damaging our children and what we can do about it London: Orion Books.

Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?’ in On the Horizon 9 (6) (pdf on LN)