“If you have nothing better to do at a party you can always try on a literary critical analysis of it, speak of its styles and genres, discriminate its significant nuances or formalize its sign-systems. Such a ‘text’ can prove quite as rich as one of the canonical works.” Terry Eagleton

It is important to keep in mind that we are here to teach students in the most efficient manner possible. In today’s culture, reading is dying out more and more. This, however, does not mean that critical thinking and analysis should disappear. Nowadays many different things can be envisioned and analyzed as a text. Popular culture is a great way to reach our students and speak in “their language” while at the same time directing them into critical analysis and writing effectively about something they can relate to more. It is of crucial importnace to stress that literature should not be discarded but should be meshed with ideas, concepts and activities that students can strongly identify with in order to make the learning process more effective and permanent. This is why I chose this topic of teaching through the means of popular culture. I chose the genres discussed earlier because I believe that they are not only fun but also great topics for questioning and comparing to such literay canons as Twain’s The Diary of Adam and Eve or the gender roles in Hemmingway’s works, etc. If I accomplished something from this project it most definitely was a better awareness of the benefits of utilizing or integrating pop culture and mass media analysis into the classroom. I hope it has sparked interesting ideas in you as it has in me!

Duff A., Patricia. “Pop Culture and ESL students: Intertextuality, Identity, and Participation in Classroom Discussions”. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Newark: Mar 2002. Vol.45 Iss.6

In this article, Huffman observed a classroom in which the majority of the students were native language speakers. She tells us that once the teacher introduced popular culture into his discussions of literature, students reacted right away, all except non-native speakers whom did not relate to the subject matter as easily. Bringing pop culture into the classroom helped students develop a sense of identity which made class participation a more natural event. By talking about The Simpsons, the teacher could reach the students in a more effective level without disregarding traditional ways of reading a text and creating relevant and important links between the lit and pop culture.

Jerome, Evans. “From Sheryl Crow to Homer Simpson: Literature and Composition through Pop Culture” English Journal: High school edition. Urbana: Jan 2004. Vol. 93, Iss. 3; p. 32

In this article, Evans serves believes that popular culture gives access to literature for students and that it makes the learning experience more effective. He teaches American Literature and gives students opportunities to find in untraditional texts, recurring themes presente in Cannonical works to compare them as a whole.He believes this enhances critical thinking and at the same time helps them in their writing. By practicing with pop culture, they will be better prepared for the analysis of more challenging texts.

Keller Simon, Richard. “Much ado about ‘Friends’: What Pop Culture Offers Literature”. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Washington: Jun 16, 2000. Vol. 46, Iss. 41

In this article, Shakespeare is taught through the popular series “Friends”. Keller describes the multiple similarities betwen the NBC series and Shakespeare’s Much ado about Nothing. He also tells us that by bringing these two things together he can more effectively teach both and keep students’ interest in the challenging works of Shakespeare. He stresses that popular culture is a powerful device for teaching and should be part of every English classroom.

Weedman, Roslyn Z.“Mass Appeal: Pop Culture in the Composition Classroom.” English Journal: High school edition. Urbana: Nov 1988. Vol. 77, Iss. 7

In this article, Weedman tells us that we must first of all get a sense of what mass media and pop culture is before we bring it into the classroom. The article basically summarizes relevant works about the subject matter and points at where one can find this information. She also acknowledges the idea that of students can relate to pop culture more than they can to the Classics then it is worth bringing into the classroom. She concludes by stating that we should let students have their own authority and by integrating the un-traditional to the traditional we are able to give them their own voice, enhancing learning.

Witkin, Mitzi.“A Defense of Using Pop Media in the Middle-School Classroom.” English Journal: High School Edition. Urbana: Jan 1994. Vol. 83, Iss. 1

Witking gives us a historical account of how pop culture vame to be part of the curriculm, acknoledging that at first it was rejected by Purists. She tells us that the only difference between the pop culture and literature is its means of expression; both can be critically analyzed in much the same way. She concludes by stresing the benefits of bringing pop culture and mass media into the classroom.

“If you have nothing better to do at a party you can always try on a literary critical analysis of it, speak of its styles and genres, discriminate its significant nuances or formalize its sign-systems. Such a ‘text’ can prove quite as rich as one of the canonical works” Terry Eagleton

We are living in an age in which students no longer relate to reading and literature as prior generations did. As educators we have to always keep this in mind and think of alternate ways of getting our students interested without entirely disregarding reading. We have to also relate the material we give them to their lives and experiences because that is the only way that they will get hooked. I say this because I am a student as well and this has always worked for me as well as for the ESL students I have taught as a Teacher Assistant for Intermediate English 1 and 2. What has been effective in the past is giving them reading material and complimenting it with visual and audible supplements as well. Examples of these are movies, clips, songs, etc. To go more into specifics, in the short story section of the course, I assigned the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor for my students to make a character analysis of the 2 main characters, the grandmother and the assassin. In order to keep them interested in this kind of assignment I asked them to do the same thing with the movie “Monster” directed by Patty Jenkins in which they would be analyzing the main character, played by Charlize Theron. They were immediately more interested in the film then they were in the short story but they were also more aware of the similarities and contrasts between the characters under analysis which made them think critically and draw conclusions for the particular essay assigned. When we started discussing poetry I did the same thing. I asked them to read “Sex without Love” by Sharon Olds and I also asked them to listen to and read the lyrics of a song entitled “Tiny Vessels” by a popular American band called “Death Cab for Cutie”. They had already dwelt with this type of exercise so it was not hard for them to point out to interesting similarities between the two. Not only was I giving them traditional and untraditional texts to critically think about but I was also creating a discussion of popular themes found in both literature and pop media amongst their age group, such as drugs, sex, love and childhood traumas, etc, for them to write about.

In this manner I became very interested in Popular Culture as text and as a means to teach literature and hence, write about it. As I saw that my students actually enjoyed watching these films and drew important and relevant conclusions between the reading assignments and the visual and/or audible supplements, I realized that it is to our benefit as educators and to theirs as students to mix these two genres together.

A theme that I would like to work with throughout this project is that of the way in which high stream popular culture and mass media in all its shapes and forms, influences they way we think, act, and envision ourselves as men and women in today’s hectic world; the point being for students to practice their questioning and analytical skills through writing, mostly. All these popular cultural devices will be considered text and will be critiqued as such. The ultimate goal will be for students to be able to put into writing (using critical and analytical skills such as argumentation and comparison and contrast), the conclusions they draw from what they are working with at the moment and strongly support their point of view using relevant facts as well as their own thoughts and opinions.

“If you have nothing better to do at a party you can always try on a literary critical analysis of it, speak of its styles and genres, discriminate its significant nuances or formalize its sign-systems. Such a ‘text’ can prove quite as rich as one of the canonical works” Terry Eagleton

The first article dealing with the subject matter is entitled: Pop Culture and ESL students: Intertextuality, Identity, and Participation in Classroom Discussions by Patricia A. Duff. She conducted a study in which she observed 2 tenth grade ESL classes in Canada. One class had more ESL students than native speakers while the other one had more Natives than ESL students all mostly from the East side of the globe. The article describes her findings in the second class. She starts by discussing that she began to notice how pop culture influenced children’s lives with her twin nieces. She mentioned pop symbols such as Blue from Blue’s Clues, Madeline, Arthur and even ‘Pepito’. This is when she started to get interested in the subject matter and began researching on it. She began by describing a normal class day in which the teacher was talking about an article about graffiti in school bathrooms. Soon, students began to participate mentioning an episode from The Simpsons, NBC series, Ally McBeal and Entertainment Tonight, amongst others. She noticed that discussing current events and mixing it with popular culture helped students feel interested in the subject matter as well as made them feel confident in participating. All except the ESL students who were not as aware of American Pop Culture and therefore didn’t have the necessary information to be able to participate, hence the rarely spoke in class: “While Mr. Jones and the local students move together their non academic and academic texts, and responded enthusiastically to one another’s contributions, the ESL students almost never spoke because of the rich intertextuality and hybridity of the discourse, the speed of turn-taking and topic nomination, and their lack of required cultural schemata and confidence in speaking.”(484) She also mentions that bringing pop culture into the class room helps students have a sense of identity which they easily and comfortably disclose and share with peers and the teacher as well. Duff admits that these pop culture models help shape who these teenagers are and what they relate to. She states that: “Excerpts to pop culture like this provided connections to the contemporary cultural worlds of students and […] enabled students to prolong and provoke discussions and forestall the return to potentially less engaging lesson content.”(484), hence interesting them more in the class and as consequence, enhancing learning, She goes on to say that: “Discursive practices such as these, engaged and often delighted the local students and Mr. Jones, allowing them to display and construct their identities, knowledge, interests, past experiences, sense of humor and socio-cultural affiliations.”(484) Even though the article indirectly argues that this would work best with students from the same socio-cultural background, it is evident that incorporating pop culture into today’s classroom interests students much more than merely sticking with traditional academic texts and subjects. Being Puerto Rico so heavily ‘Americanized’ using a technique such as the one Duff describes would easily work since most, if not all students would identify with American pop culture immediately and be able to participate easily, hence creating motivation between them which is one of the ingredients that education nowadays is missing the most especially in literature classes in which most students do not like to read and simply don’t.

My students love Friends […]Many of them talk about the major characters as if they were close personal friends. [They] are more apprehensive about Shakespeare, concerned as they are abut the language they must master, the characters to keep straight[…] what they most want to talk about and understand is the television program, while what I want to talk about is and have them understand is Shakespeare. We meet in the middle.[…]By bringing the two stories together, and treating them as comparable forms, I can more effectively teach both. (B6)

As can be seen, he teaches the series in order to be able to interest students in what is traditionally considered part of the Canon. Students evidently have the skills for analyzing such works but are simply more interested in modern versions of the Classics which they can relate to more. He is proud of his work and tells us that: “I’ve won a victory: I have shown them that literary criticism is not simply a skill that allows them to get good grades in English courses, and that the great tradition of literature is alive and well, and worth knowing.”(B6) This should definitely be the ultimate goal for all literature professors, at least those who truly care for what they are bringing to their students’ lives.

He concludes his article by stressing that popular culture should not be alienated from the curriculum but rather taken advantage of as well as taken seriously since it indeed is a powerful teaching device: “Popular Culture can be the salvation rather than the nemesis of traditional humanities disciplines, particularly English. We need more, not less, of such materials in our classrooms”(B6). I most definitely agree with this notion and have also brough popular culture into my teaching with positive results. I noticed that students were much more attentive and reflective when analyzing a movie as text rather than reading a classic. I am not in any way disregarding the value of these works for they are the foundation for the analysis we do today but I am, as Keller is, acknowledging the diamond in the rough that can be found through critical observation and critique of popular culture forms of 21^st century society for us as educators an for our students as well.

Jerome Evans, in his essay From Sheryl Crow to Homer Simpson: Literature and Composition through Pop Culture, starts out discussing films and states that: “References to the films serve two purposes: to give the reader a way into reasonably difficult ideas and to examine elements of the contemporary American zeitgeist to see how cultural artifacts reflect essential ideas and concepts.”(32) He goes on to argument that: “Popular culture has an important place in the English classroom-as an object worthy of study and as a means for students to access and study literature successfully.”(32) He quotes a study and acknowledges that the study of popular cultural in a literature or composition classroom is helpful since it directs the student in moving from and idea or concept to an interpretation which enhances their writing ability, He teaches recurring themes in American Literature and then goes on to offer students the opportunity to search and evaluate for these same themes in songs by popular culture icons such as Sheryl Crow. This introductory discussion leads to more relevant and essential topics such as gender roles and/or gender equity. This kind of activity most definitely trains them when it comes to academic writing: “By showing the connection between a selected theme and specific lines in the song lyrics, they engage in critical thinking about literature (I tell them this later in the course) in much the same way they will when using quoted passages to support their assertions in academic writing about the literature we study.”(33) When the time comes for the students to use these skills acquired through the analysis of musical lyrics in order to decipher more challenging literary texts, they are better prepared to face the challenge. He tells us that: “Artifacts of pop culture serve as advanced organizers for students, who can then connect new material (prominent and persistent themes in American literature) to their own experiences with literature (song lyrics).”(33) As is evident, they are not only analyzing the songs as lyrics but as also as literary text. In terms of essay writing, which is usually a crucial part of any literature course, not to mention composition, Evans tells states that: “[they] gain a perspective about essay writing that seems quite new to them-writers do not compose essays to torture high school students; rather, writers compose essays to examine the world around them and try to make some sense of it”(34). In terms of purpose, this is truly important. Student need to know what the purpose of essay reading and writing is in order to feel a use for it and if they understand that it is a way to express their own thoughts about the world around them it can make a difference in their enthusiasm towards writing and thinking critically. From these models students can brainstorm on different ways to present their arguments and ideas in a way that their own personal voice can be heard. He goes on to assert that:

Through reading essays about popular culture, the students examine the contemporary world in which they live, including secondary “messages” from media, the “hidden” agendas of politicians and marketers, and the conveniences and complications advancing technologies offer. With these ideas in mind, the students are more ready to write convincingly about issues or concerns they see in the culture around them. (35)

The article concludes with Evans stressing the benefits of incorporating popular culture to the English curriculum:

Artifacts of popular culture can serve as advanced organizers with which students can synthesize ideas new to them. Students can more readily practice critical-thinking skills- supporting assertions with specific evidence-by showing how selected lyrics develop a theme in a song they know than they can in a novel or poem they are reading for the first time. Let them practice critical- thinking skills with familiar material, and they will be better equipped to tackle literature new to them and discover ideas they have never thought of before. (37)

As stated before, he is in no way disregarding the value of literature but recommending to link what students like and can relate to the most to what they enjoy the least in order for them to make these connections themselves and use the same skills they use in the analysis of popular culture with more challenging academic assignments involving literature and composition.

In Mass Appeal: Pop Culture in the Composition Classroom, Roslyn Weedman starts out by telling us that in order to teach a course on mass media one must know about the subject matter and she then begins to summarize certain pertinent articles which can be helpful for educators. She empowers the student by stating that: “Students are invested on this authority by virtue of their constant exposure and participation in the popular culture—-a lifetime of expertise awaiting validation.”(96) Educators sometimes have the false notion that we are the experts on the subject matter at hand. When dealing with mass media and popular culture, students are the ones who are usually more in contact with this global phenomenon in an everyday basis. Not only does she admit that students are experts in this area, whether they know it or not, but she also affirms that popular culture helps them “create new expectations for their behavior and life styles.”(97) As did the other educators mentioned in prior articles, she also believes that there is a value and importance in this area of study for students: “If students looking at commercial television, films, and popular literature begin to see similar themes and stories, a study of these formulas themselves is valuable.”(97) Even though her article focuses more on mass media than on pop culture, it is still relevant in the sense that these two are linked together and can be equally observed and analyzed in a classroom. She concludes the article by telling us that we should motivate students into using their own authority in the classroom and mass media/pop culture is a way to help them do this. She then goes on argues that as educators we should most definitely bring a theoretical interest into composition courses to enhance student motivation and participation. Why npt build on what they already know and start from there?