Shopping malls (arguably) do the majority of their work in merchandise sales and the socialization of the adult public to behave/dress/interact with the world in specific, capitalist, mainstream ways. I want to argue, however, that this process begins during childhood, molding and shaping children as cogs in the machine of modern American consumerist society. Indeed, young children do not have the purchasing power of their parents or guardians, but the shopping mall acts as a space of socialization.
Most of the children I know have fond memories of visiting various costumed characters at the mall. Where do children go to see Santa at Christmas? The mall. Thinking critically, this locale for Santa has a number of implications. The long line of children waiting to see Santa each year points to the importance of consumerism during the holidays. Children tell Santa what they want for Christmas, the parents are conveniently nearby to overhear, and afterward the parents can quickly and easily pick up these items. Santa is irrevocably tied to the success of mall and department stores, and this link likely does not go unnoticed by children. Christmas becomes more about efficiency than thoughtfulness, and the notorious “mall Santa” is just one component in this well-oiled machine. Linking Santa with shopping malls early on creates waves of lifelong consumers. It trains adults to head to the mall when they think of Christmas, since some of their most memorable holiday season moments as children took place on Santa’s lap at the local shopping mall. Who knows how much the presence of the mall Santa has affected the bottom lines of budgets across malls in America, but the connection is undoubtedly important. In this respect, one could also argue that the shopping mall Santa upholds the culture of those in power: a conservative Christian middle/upper class who celebrates Christmas rather than Hannukah, Kwanzaa, or another holiday. The occasional presence of the Easter Bunny character at shopping malls at Easter time also reinforces this Christian power structure in shopping malls. This is some of the important cultural work of shopping malls.
In terms of linking shopping and citizenship, The Washington Post article “He Told Us to Go Shopping. Now the Bill is Due” was quite insightful. In our country’s (and the Bush administration’s) nationalist, pigheaded unwillingness to adapt, we attempted to “have our cake and eat it too” as we tried to change the way the Middle East lived without sacrificing our own consumerist lifestyle. No wonder Americans get a reputation as bullheaded and empire-minded. The passive nature of the American civilian’s involvement in the past 8 years of American history has been an example of “what not to do,” and Obama’s administration has a heavy load to carry. Sure, the collapsed economy has forced Americans to give up some of the luxuries and excess that has come to personify our country to the rest of the world, but more is needed. I speculate that one of the major challenges our country will face will be trying to overcome this grotesque, excessive “buy buy buy” lifestyle without further hurting the economy. The malls will need to adapt to meet the desires of an American public facing a recession while still turning a profit.
So what is the solution? In my opinion, the “green revolution” is the answer. Once again, we must look to the past as an example. Consider America’s financial difficulties facing Clinton as he began his first term. The technology explosion helped kick our country back into a “boom time,” which bounced us back into financial comfort for a while. Shopping malls flourished during this time, as seen in the “History of the Shopping Center and Mall” article. Consider the Mall of America, for a local example. Consumerism during the technology boom helped our country and the economy during this time, and I feel that investing in a “green revolution” could do the same thing. If malls stay in touch with the desires of their clientele, then they could be on the forefront of this new mode of consumerism that could bring us back into the upswing of the cyclical nature of consumerism, mall success, and the economy.
Finally, shopping is linked in a huge way with identity. I took a geography class at the U in which this very topic was discussed at length. Consider “mall walkers”—this activity links feeling good and getting exercise (a healthy lifestyle is central to the identities of many people) to the mall. People begin to rely on the mall for involvement in their lifestyle and become attached to the mall in terms of their identity. But more importantly, have you ever seen anyone take pictures in the mall? Try it, I dare you. A security guard will promptly approach you and ask you to stop. My professor explained that the reason nobody may take photos in a shopping mall is because shopping can be seen as sinful, indulgent, and something that people may not want to admit. Mall designers want people to become lost in the mall, wandering from place to place without any critical thought. But the minute that a camera appears, people snap out of that “blissfully oblivious shopper mode,” similar to the fact that you’ll never find a clock in a mall. It is almost as if some people do not want to be “caught” shopping. Clocks and cameras bring people back to the “reality” of their own lives, exiting the escapist dreamland of the shopping mall. Every once in a while people want to imagine a new identity for themselves—think about the people who try on Prada dresses who could never afford them—and malls are uniquely designed to meet the needs of identity escapism.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Week Three Post: Gaming in the Classroom?
I was initially quite skeptical about the idea of incorporating video games into the classroom, particularly in my content area of English. With an already overstuffed curriculum and panic about standardized testing running high, it initially seemed that video games would be at odds with our goals as high school teachers. But then I remembered something from one of my foundations classes in education—students struggle because the things we ask them to do in school are so different from the things they do outside of school. In other words, their school life is not compatible with their home life, so they become disengaged because they fail to see the purpose of traditional academics. Though savvy teachers attempt to remedy this problem through incorporating blogs, wikis, etc., into their classroom, the school/home gap still exists. Perhaps video games are another way to bring students’ out-of-school interests into the classroom.
I began to ponder my own interactions with video games in school. Certainly, today’s video game environment is a different world entirely when compared to the video games that were around during my own k-12 education. Nevertheless, as a student I occasionally experienced video games in school, and not surprisingly, they immediately engaged me. Here are a few examples from my seemingly distant past, circa the mid-90s:
Number Munchers (and occasionally the lesser-known Grammar/Word Munchers):
Number Munchers made math fun for even the most resistant student. Scary green monsters attack as you solve math problems, racing the clock. In terms of teaching math, this game solves a huge problem that I have noticed in math classrooms. Moreso than any other classroom in my opinion, a huge dichotomy exists between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” meaning those who like/are “good at” math and those who dislike/struggle with math. As a result, comparing oneself to one’s peers in terms of skill level is a constant occurrence in the math classroom. I like the idea of Number Munchers because it takes the student-to-student competition out of math and gives attention to the individual. Sure, students could compare their scores. As a teacher, though, in the end I would think that student confidence could only benefit when they begin to think of math as “student versus imaginary green monster” rather than “student versus student.” Since students know immediately whether they have been categorized by their peers in class as “good at math” or “bad at math,” as a teacher I fear that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If everyone else thinks that a student is “bad at math,” why should he/she think any differently? Perhaps Number Munchers could give those students a sense of achievement in a challenging subject area. Perhaps this game is a precursor to the “math and literacy” game that was discussed in the readings for this week.
The Original Oregon Trail:
In middle school, I remember it being such a huge deal when the social studies classes got to go to the computer lab to play the original Oregon Trail game. Though I don’t remember it being a particularly educational experience (I remember hunting for buffalo in the game, crossing rivers in the covered wagon, planning a month of departure, and naming your fellow trailblazers, but nothing with historical significance), I am sure that some information about the real Oregon Trail or Lewis and Clark or something seeped in through osmosis. Nevertheless, the game succeeded in getting students excited about going to their social studies classes for the day, and perhaps that is reason enough to include it in school. If students become accustomed to feeling excited about their classes, then engagement in actual curricula can’t be far behind.
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing:
Though most of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing consists of highly repetitive drills and practices, which fail to engage many students, the “gaming” part of the experience was highly memorable for me. I remember a racing game in which the students race against another (computer operated) driver on a freeway. The graphics were crude, but the students loved it. The faster and more accurately the students type, the faster their car travels and the more likely they are to defeat their automated opponent. Like Number Munchers, this game motivates students to succeed in a specific task that is directly related to the content area.
In terms of the readings for this week, I thought that the gender studies perspectives were particularly interesting. The three games that I discussed above are all pretty gender-neutral, which I think is kind of appropriate for educational games. However, I wonder if the gender neutrality of these games prevents the sort of “identity building” that helps students become engrossed in the gamespace and really connect with the world of the game, and thus the content. I was not surprised by the “male gaze” nature of the video games described in the readings, since the core audience for video games is young males, but nevertheless the authors made some serious points about gender in games, particularly if we are to incorporate them into the classroom. I still need to think more about how I would integrate video games into an English classroom, which is my content area, but I think it would be worthwhile. Even assigning projects such as having students design certain aspects of a video game, such as characters, settting, plot, climax, etc., would engage students while still meeting the standards and benchmarks of the National Council for Teachers of English. It is definitely food for thought.
I began to ponder my own interactions with video games in school. Certainly, today’s video game environment is a different world entirely when compared to the video games that were around during my own k-12 education. Nevertheless, as a student I occasionally experienced video games in school, and not surprisingly, they immediately engaged me. Here are a few examples from my seemingly distant past, circa the mid-90s:
Number Munchers (and occasionally the lesser-known Grammar/Word Munchers):
Number Munchers made math fun for even the most resistant student. Scary green monsters attack as you solve math problems, racing the clock. In terms of teaching math, this game solves a huge problem that I have noticed in math classrooms. Moreso than any other classroom in my opinion, a huge dichotomy exists between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” meaning those who like/are “good at” math and those who dislike/struggle with math. As a result, comparing oneself to one’s peers in terms of skill level is a constant occurrence in the math classroom. I like the idea of Number Munchers because it takes the student-to-student competition out of math and gives attention to the individual. Sure, students could compare their scores. As a teacher, though, in the end I would think that student confidence could only benefit when they begin to think of math as “student versus imaginary green monster” rather than “student versus student.” Since students know immediately whether they have been categorized by their peers in class as “good at math” or “bad at math,” as a teacher I fear that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If everyone else thinks that a student is “bad at math,” why should he/she think any differently? Perhaps Number Munchers could give those students a sense of achievement in a challenging subject area. Perhaps this game is a precursor to the “math and literacy” game that was discussed in the readings for this week.
The Original Oregon Trail:
In middle school, I remember it being such a huge deal when the social studies classes got to go to the computer lab to play the original Oregon Trail game. Though I don’t remember it being a particularly educational experience (I remember hunting for buffalo in the game, crossing rivers in the covered wagon, planning a month of departure, and naming your fellow trailblazers, but nothing with historical significance), I am sure that some information about the real Oregon Trail or Lewis and Clark or something seeped in through osmosis. Nevertheless, the game succeeded in getting students excited about going to their social studies classes for the day, and perhaps that is reason enough to include it in school. If students become accustomed to feeling excited about their classes, then engagement in actual curricula can’t be far behind.Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing:
Though most of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing consists of highly repetitive drills and practices, which fail to engage many students, the “gaming” part of the experience was highly memorable for me. I remember a racing game in which the students race against another (computer operated) driver on a freeway. The graphics were crude, but the students loved it. The faster and more accurately the students type, the faster their car travels and the more likely they are to defeat their automated opponent. Like Number Munchers, this game motivates students to succeed in a specific task that is directly related to the content area.
In terms of the readings for this week, I thought that the gender studies perspectives were particularly interesting. The three games that I discussed above are all pretty gender-neutral, which I think is kind of appropriate for educational games. However, I wonder if the gender neutrality of these games prevents the sort of “identity building” that helps students become engrossed in the gamespace and really connect with the world of the game, and thus the content. I was not surprised by the “male gaze” nature of the video games described in the readings, since the core audience for video games is young males, but nevertheless the authors made some serious points about gender in games, particularly if we are to incorporate them into the classroom. I still need to think more about how I would integrate video games into an English classroom, which is my content area, but I think it would be worthwhile. Even assigning projects such as having students design certain aspects of a video game, such as characters, settting, plot, climax, etc., would engage students while still meeting the standards and benchmarks of the National Council for Teachers of English. It is definitely food for thought.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Week Two Post
When I first read the articles assigned for this week, I became aware that I am not a very good “fan.” I’ve never attended a fan convention, I do not write or read fan fiction, and I don’t listen to “Wizard Rock” or podcasts. But although I may not be one of those fans who go “all out” in support of their cause, there are a few cases in which I would consider myself more of a fan than a casual supporter. The difference between crazed fan mania and casual enjoyment of a subject is a spectrum, and I think for many things I live somewhere in the middle of the road.
The first thing I would consider myself a “fan” of is the television show “The Office” (the American one, not the British one). I have previous seasons on DVD and the latest episodes saved on my parent’s TIVO. I never miss an episode, and I await Thursday nights each week. My friends and I quote funny lines from the show often and we discuss plots and characters. However, I do not participate in any online clubs or blogs related to the show. The most “fan-ish” thing that I have done in relation to “The Office” occurred when I dressed up on Halloween. There is a Halloween episode of the show in which the characters on the show dress up in costumes at work. One of the main characters, Jim, wears his regular work attire but tapes three big circles of black paper down the front of his shirt. When someone asks him about his costume he replies that he is “Three hole punch Jim. There are two kinds. Regular Jim and Three hole punch Jim.” The show takes place at a paper company, hence the joke. In any case, one Halloween my sister and I dressed up as “Three hole punch Rebecca and three hole punch Annie.” In this way, there is a serious social aspect of my enjoyment of the television show. I watch it with friends and family, which enhances my enjoyment.
Thinking about this more critically, I began to wonder why “The Office” drew me in as a fan. Sure, it is humorous, but there has to be more to it. First, I work in an office that looks and operates similarly to the office on the show. It has a similar number of employees, lots of drama in the relationships between the employees, some of whom are bizarre. Culturally, the show represents characters of a similar class, race, and culture as my own. So I suppose that there is a lot in this show to which I can relate and connect.
More seriously, I am a HUGE fan of Barack Obama. I voted for him, and my job at Ramsey County Elections (where I’ve worked throughout my years at the U) gave me a unique perspective on the election that got him into office. In this case, my status as a loyal fan stems from my family life. I come from a long line of staunch liberal democrats. My dad grew up with a dog named Kennedy, after JFK. My grandparents had framed photographs of JFK hanging in their home. I always thought that these framed photos were bizarre, and I never thought that I would feel that sense of loyalty and pride in my president. I simply never understood it. But when Obama was sworn in, it made a bit more sense, and although I’m still not planning any Obama shrine in my home it is refreshing to feel that sense of pride and patriotism. It also helped me understand my grandparents in a new way, and I felt a stronger connection to them than ever because I could finally understand this thing that has puzzled me for so many years. Our country is pretty screwed up at this point, and I don’t think anyone could argue with that, but the sense of hope that Obama brought recently is admirable.
It is pretty safe to say that at this point in time Obama has a huge fan base (or “fandom” as the articles would suggest). This provides a unique opportunity in the field of education. I was volunteering in a middle school English classroom on Election Day, and the feeling was electric (and support for McCain was definitely NOT the source of the electricity). Most students in middle schools and high schools are extremely supportive of Obama, based on my experiences with them. They are also fans, and they see his call for participation and service as an opportunity to make the nation better. As the leader of our county, he plays a very central role in our culture, so this provides opportunities in every school subject for incorporating the students’ fervor for Obama. Civics and history are a no-brainer for incorporating him into the classroom. In math, teachers could talk about budgets that he proposes or other spending-related topics. In English, my content area, students could analyze his speeches.
The fact that I’ll be working in middle schools and high schools gives me a unique opportunity to take advantage of the fact that teenagers are fans of lots of things, and they are the typical image our culture envisions as fans. They are a key demographic for advertisers trying to gain fans for their perspective causes. I was a teenager during the heyday of 1990s teen pop artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Jennifer Lopez, and so on. Today, in terms of the English classrooms in which I’ll be working, I can incorporate the huge fan draw of certain books that have emerged in the past few years, such as the Harry Potter and Twilight series. Using the subjects of teenage fan obsessions in the classroom helps engage even the most disengaged students and to possibly even make school….shhh don’t tell the students….fun.
The first thing I would consider myself a “fan” of is the television show “The Office” (the American one, not the British one). I have previous seasons on DVD and the latest episodes saved on my parent’s TIVO. I never miss an episode, and I await Thursday nights each week. My friends and I quote funny lines from the show often and we discuss plots and characters. However, I do not participate in any online clubs or blogs related to the show. The most “fan-ish” thing that I have done in relation to “The Office” occurred when I dressed up on Halloween. There is a Halloween episode of the show in which the characters on the show dress up in costumes at work. One of the main characters, Jim, wears his regular work attire but tapes three big circles of black paper down the front of his shirt. When someone asks him about his costume he replies that he is “Three hole punch Jim. There are two kinds. Regular Jim and Three hole punch Jim.” The show takes place at a paper company, hence the joke. In any case, one Halloween my sister and I dressed up as “Three hole punch Rebecca and three hole punch Annie.” In this way, there is a serious social aspect of my enjoyment of the television show. I watch it with friends and family, which enhances my enjoyment.
Thinking about this more critically, I began to wonder why “The Office” drew me in as a fan. Sure, it is humorous, but there has to be more to it. First, I work in an office that looks and operates similarly to the office on the show. It has a similar number of employees, lots of drama in the relationships between the employees, some of whom are bizarre. Culturally, the show represents characters of a similar class, race, and culture as my own. So I suppose that there is a lot in this show to which I can relate and connect.
More seriously, I am a HUGE fan of Barack Obama. I voted for him, and my job at Ramsey County Elections (where I’ve worked throughout my years at the U) gave me a unique perspective on the election that got him into office. In this case, my status as a loyal fan stems from my family life. I come from a long line of staunch liberal democrats. My dad grew up with a dog named Kennedy, after JFK. My grandparents had framed photographs of JFK hanging in their home. I always thought that these framed photos were bizarre, and I never thought that I would feel that sense of loyalty and pride in my president. I simply never understood it. But when Obama was sworn in, it made a bit more sense, and although I’m still not planning any Obama shrine in my home it is refreshing to feel that sense of pride and patriotism. It also helped me understand my grandparents in a new way, and I felt a stronger connection to them than ever because I could finally understand this thing that has puzzled me for so many years. Our country is pretty screwed up at this point, and I don’t think anyone could argue with that, but the sense of hope that Obama brought recently is admirable.
It is pretty safe to say that at this point in time Obama has a huge fan base (or “fandom” as the articles would suggest). This provides a unique opportunity in the field of education. I was volunteering in a middle school English classroom on Election Day, and the feeling was electric (and support for McCain was definitely NOT the source of the electricity). Most students in middle schools and high schools are extremely supportive of Obama, based on my experiences with them. They are also fans, and they see his call for participation and service as an opportunity to make the nation better. As the leader of our county, he plays a very central role in our culture, so this provides opportunities in every school subject for incorporating the students’ fervor for Obama. Civics and history are a no-brainer for incorporating him into the classroom. In math, teachers could talk about budgets that he proposes or other spending-related topics. In English, my content area, students could analyze his speeches.
The fact that I’ll be working in middle schools and high schools gives me a unique opportunity to take advantage of the fact that teenagers are fans of lots of things, and they are the typical image our culture envisions as fans. They are a key demographic for advertisers trying to gain fans for their perspective causes. I was a teenager during the heyday of 1990s teen pop artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Jennifer Lopez, and so on. Today, in terms of the English classrooms in which I’ll be working, I can incorporate the huge fan draw of certain books that have emerged in the past few years, such as the Harry Potter and Twilight series. Using the subjects of teenage fan obsessions in the classroom helps engage even the most disengaged students and to possibly even make school….shhh don’t tell the students….fun.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Week One Post
Technology has expanded the reach of popular culture in countless ways during past years and today, and teachers are often reluctant to accept the impact of this popular culture explosion on students, since this may mean that they must update lesson plans and teaching methods to best serve students. Today's students live in an "electronic environment that 'literally bathes them in digital media'" (White and Walker 15). It is important, then, to note that "wishing that popular culture was not as pervasive and powerful as it is will not make it any less so" (White and Walker 15). This quotation impacted me immensely. Haven't we all had teachers who were stagnant in their teaching methods and would not change with the times? Though we were frustrated by their lack of flexibility as students, as teachers we may be tempted to say, "If a lesson plan or curriculum works with students one year, there is no reason to change it in years to come." In reality, though, this widens the gap between the in-school experiences of students and the out-of-school experiences of students, which will only make education less and less relevant as time progresses. On another note, students really appreciate being "met in the middle" when teachers attempt to speak the language of modern popular culture, even if it is a language in which the students are fluent and the teacher is not.
The Sesame Street idea that "if you can gain and hold the attention of children, they will learn" must constantly be in the minds of teachers (16). Engagement is a huge factor in whether or not students learn, and incorporating popular culture into the classroom is a highly effective way to boost engagement and make school...shhhh some people won't want to hear this....fun for students. Some of the best lesson plans allow students to learn from nontraditional sources and experiences, and bringing popular culture into the classroom is one way to achieve this goal. At the same time, analysis and engagement with popular culture in the classroom helps students build a toolkit of skills for facing the pop culture overload that has come to be modern life in America and much of the world.
This must go far beyond showing an episode of "The Simpsons" here and there or letting students watch a film version of the novel they just read. The issue of consumerism must, in my opinion, be raised if popular culture is to be addressed in the classroom at all. If advertisers are treating students as though they are "kidults," then we must help them think like adults in order to process the information coming at them. The fact that the film "Spiderman" has over 15 product placements should be proof alone that students must be armed with skills to navigate the new popular culture/technology landscape. Or consider another type of "product placement." What exactly are Disney animated films trying to "sell?" Conservative ideologies? "Glorified pagan earth worship" (26)? Homosexuality? Different perspectives suggest very different stories. Therefore, we must offer students empowerment in the classroom to make educated decisions about media outside of the classroom.
In my own limited teaching experience, I have found that incorporating popular culture into classrooms is enormously successful. Granted, with more experience I will become more comfortable delving into it much more deeply and adopting a "critical media literacy approach." But even by scratching the surface I was able to glean some insights. In a middle school classroom, I taught students Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." I then proceeded to show the students clips from a few different film versions of the play. These included an early black and white version, a 1960s classic version that did not stray far from the original text, and the modernized 1990s version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. With each version, the students had to analyze how the directors were interpreting the original text. What did the directors include or omit? Why? How are they trying to position you as an audience? Not only were the students thrilled that they got to watch films, as all students are, but they came up with some great, surprisingly complex ideas. If I had more time with them, I would have loved to explore this idea more deeply, because they showed remarkable interest and thoughtfulness about media consumption.
I am going to be student teaching in a few months, and after reading these chapters I really began to think about the extent to which I want to explore critical media literacy and popular culture in my classroom. I think I will feel more comfortable with it when I have my own "official" classroom, but even on this limited, abbreviated scale I would like to incorporate it in some way. But I definitely agree with White and Walker when they discussed the challenges of using this approach in a curriculum already overstuffed with expectations and standards, and how using the approach can feel like "just one more thing" to be covered. I am challenging myself not to think in that manner, however, and instead think about the increased level of engagement and appreciation that I can expect from my students. I am most likely going to address media literacy in the unit I am planning on teaching about "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom. I plan on showing clips from the real Morrie Schwartz's interviews with Ted Koppel, among other things. I will then ask the students how the news program they watched portrayed Morrie differently or similarly than the novel, and why. I will also ask students to think about the idea that if one person is portrayed differently by different media sources, which one is most accurate and why. Are any of them accurate, and how can consumers know or decide? How does race and/or culture fit in? Though I know that I could always incorporate media literacy more fully and make it more of a focus, as a first-time teacher I feel like I am tackling it in a manageable way. Who knows? Maybe as I continue to read "Tooning In" and other texts which support using popular culture and media in education, I will feel more and more comfortable with the idea in my classroom.
One thing I will do for sure, however, is help students see the relevance of schooling. This is one of my biggest goals, and although I have not figured out how I will implement this idea on a day to day basis, I know that it must become a part of the everyday fabric of my classroom. At first it might be as simple as playing music from popular culture in the background as my students work, but I know that it will become more complex as I gain experience.
The Sesame Street idea that "if you can gain and hold the attention of children, they will learn" must constantly be in the minds of teachers (16). Engagement is a huge factor in whether or not students learn, and incorporating popular culture into the classroom is a highly effective way to boost engagement and make school...shhhh some people won't want to hear this....fun for students. Some of the best lesson plans allow students to learn from nontraditional sources and experiences, and bringing popular culture into the classroom is one way to achieve this goal. At the same time, analysis and engagement with popular culture in the classroom helps students build a toolkit of skills for facing the pop culture overload that has come to be modern life in America and much of the world.
This must go far beyond showing an episode of "The Simpsons" here and there or letting students watch a film version of the novel they just read. The issue of consumerism must, in my opinion, be raised if popular culture is to be addressed in the classroom at all. If advertisers are treating students as though they are "kidults," then we must help them think like adults in order to process the information coming at them. The fact that the film "Spiderman" has over 15 product placements should be proof alone that students must be armed with skills to navigate the new popular culture/technology landscape. Or consider another type of "product placement." What exactly are Disney animated films trying to "sell?" Conservative ideologies? "Glorified pagan earth worship" (26)? Homosexuality? Different perspectives suggest very different stories. Therefore, we must offer students empowerment in the classroom to make educated decisions about media outside of the classroom.
In my own limited teaching experience, I have found that incorporating popular culture into classrooms is enormously successful. Granted, with more experience I will become more comfortable delving into it much more deeply and adopting a "critical media literacy approach." But even by scratching the surface I was able to glean some insights. In a middle school classroom, I taught students Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." I then proceeded to show the students clips from a few different film versions of the play. These included an early black and white version, a 1960s classic version that did not stray far from the original text, and the modernized 1990s version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. With each version, the students had to analyze how the directors were interpreting the original text. What did the directors include or omit? Why? How are they trying to position you as an audience? Not only were the students thrilled that they got to watch films, as all students are, but they came up with some great, surprisingly complex ideas. If I had more time with them, I would have loved to explore this idea more deeply, because they showed remarkable interest and thoughtfulness about media consumption.
I am going to be student teaching in a few months, and after reading these chapters I really began to think about the extent to which I want to explore critical media literacy and popular culture in my classroom. I think I will feel more comfortable with it when I have my own "official" classroom, but even on this limited, abbreviated scale I would like to incorporate it in some way. But I definitely agree with White and Walker when they discussed the challenges of using this approach in a curriculum already overstuffed with expectations and standards, and how using the approach can feel like "just one more thing" to be covered. I am challenging myself not to think in that manner, however, and instead think about the increased level of engagement and appreciation that I can expect from my students. I am most likely going to address media literacy in the unit I am planning on teaching about "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom. I plan on showing clips from the real Morrie Schwartz's interviews with Ted Koppel, among other things. I will then ask the students how the news program they watched portrayed Morrie differently or similarly than the novel, and why. I will also ask students to think about the idea that if one person is portrayed differently by different media sources, which one is most accurate and why. Are any of them accurate, and how can consumers know or decide? How does race and/or culture fit in? Though I know that I could always incorporate media literacy more fully and make it more of a focus, as a first-time teacher I feel like I am tackling it in a manageable way. Who knows? Maybe as I continue to read "Tooning In" and other texts which support using popular culture and media in education, I will feel more and more comfortable with the idea in my classroom.
One thing I will do for sure, however, is help students see the relevance of schooling. This is one of my biggest goals, and although I have not figured out how I will implement this idea on a day to day basis, I know that it must become a part of the everyday fabric of my classroom. At first it might be as simple as playing music from popular culture in the background as my students work, but I know that it will become more complex as I gain experience.
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