EDUC 435: Article Summaries & Facilitation Report
Article A “Dry Run" Facilitation
This week’s article focused on how popular culture can be a valuable asset to any classroom. Based on a series of studies and gathered data, this article states that the introduction of popular culture into the classroom can be extremely useful at increasing engagement and understanding of a variety of concepts amongst students (Parry, 2014). This increase in engagement and understanding is mainly due to the connectedness and relatability popular culture in the classroom provides students (Parry, 2014). According to Parry (2014), when educators embrace popular culture within the classroom, children connect themselves to the content being taught and “are able to articulate and develop key conceptual understandings” (p.14). Overall, this article expresses the importance of observation, discussion, and collaboration amongst students and their effects on media language learning, and critical literacy skills (Parry, 2014). When popular culture is integrated within the classroom, students are able to connect their personal lives with their academic careers, therefore increasing students’ motivation to participate and understand learning activities (Parry, 2014).
- Why do you think it is important for the integration of popular culture in the classroom to be embraced amongst educators?
- What are some ways you may introduce aspects of popular culture into your classroom as a future educator?
- Why do you think that students are able to better understand concepts when paired with aspects of popular culture?
To further expand on my knowledge regarding the topic of popular culture and educational progression, I watched a video created by BetterLesson featuring educator Genee’ Johnson. In the video, Johnson (2022) explained how the introduction of pop culture in the classroom can help kids find out what concepts they are interested in and what they relate to. Furthermore, this integration of popular culture can helps educators establish a healthy and positive relationship with their students, as getting to know what is popular for the students’ age group can make the students feel like they are seen and that their voices are heard (Johnson, 2022). Furthermore, Johnson (2022) elaborated that popular culture in the classroom as well as discussion and collaboration among peer groups can lead to great observation, understanding, and interpretations for concepts being taught.
1. What are some other reasons why the integration of popular culture within the classroom may create a positive learning environment?
2. Why do you think that students are able to better understand topics that they can relate to rather than ones they cannot?
Article B: Summary & Reflection
This week’s article focused on the use of graphic novels in secondary classrooms and school libraries. Pete did a fantastic job facilitating this week as he not only explained why the use of graphic novels in the classroom could be beneficial for students, but also determined a variety of factors that determine what makes a graphic novel a valuable asset to the learning environment. Furthermore, he included a variety of supplemental resources for us to expand our knowledge on the topic. These resources ranged from interviews from multiple educators, to online versions of popular graphic novels. The facilitation was done asynchronously which allowed for flexible times to view the discussion and give input. I think that this was an amazing way to go about this facilitation as many of us have jobs, kids, and other pre-commitments that fill up our schedule. Although the facilitation was done asynchronously, the discussion felt genuine and all responses sparked new insights to the topic being discussed. In my opinion, I believe that all of my group members participated and were heavily involved in the discussion, bringing up new questions and comments within every response. Pete also did an amazing job at keeping us on topic throughout the discussion, roping us back in to the next point in a flawless way. Overall, this week’s facilitation went even better than I expected and I’m very proud of my entire group.
Before this facilitation, I had previously no knowledge of the topic of graphic novels in the classroom. It had never been something that had crossed my mind. After this facilitation, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the topic that Article B entailed. As previously stated, Article B mainly focused on how valuable graphic novels can be very beneficial to students’ learning in secondary schools. Throughout our discussion this week one of my main takeaways were how proper graphic novels can help students, especially those with reading and/or learning disabilities, comprehend, analyze, and develop insights on what is being read (Gonzalez, 2016). My other main takeaway were the factors that make a graphic novel a viable option as an alternative to classic print-based literature in the classroom. According to Article B and what we discussed this week, these factors consist of an interesting front cover, easy-to-follow illustrations, readable text, colour palette, art style, context, and so much more (Griffith, 2010). Lastly, both the articles and our discussion touched on how it is the responsibility of educators to properly research graphic novels they are interested in introducing to the classroom as it takes certain criteria for a graphic novel to be considered real literature (Griffith, 2010).
In my future classroom, I would be open to having graphic novels for students to read as opposed to classic print-based text. As a student who never really enjoyed reading myself, I feel like graphic novels can be a great way to introduce children to the joy of reading.
Article C: Summary & Reflection
This week’s article focused on how pop culture texts like movies, television shows music, video games, and internet can help ELL students learn more efficiently. Although the article was mainly focused on pop culture’s influence on ELL students in the classroom, Emma did a phenomenal job at navigating the discussion towards a broader topic of how pop culture can influence all students’ learning, especially those from different cultures or heritage. Providing us with a variety of supplementary resources such as Ted Talks, informational videos, and examples of pop culture texts being integrated in the classroom, I felt like I had a much better understanding of this topic by the end of the week. I found that both this week’s facilitation and last week’s facilitation shared a lot of similar themes, ideas, and questions amongst our group; which makes a lot of sense since a good portion of each discussion revolved around being open-minded to integrating pop culture in the classroom and determining what aspects of doing so is the teacher’s responsibility. Just like last week, I thought that this facilitation went very well and that everyone on our group was very engaged in the discussion. One thing in particular that I really appreciated about Emma’s facilitation was how she left us with a final question that was extremely thought provoking and required quite a bit of thinking and analyzing what we had learned throughout the facilitation. It was so well done!
Based off of what I learned in last week’s facilitation, I went into this discussion with a very open mind regarding integrating pop culture into the classroom and how it can be beneficial for students. Just like Emma stated early on in her facilitation, this week’s article was a study that showed results in favour of utilizing pop culture texts in the classroom. According to Page (2012), the research conducted in the study found “that students at times used popular culture texts within the context of the six elements of literacy to mediate their own understanding of the curriculum content topic” (p.158). I completely agree with this article as a couple of my other education courses this semester have brought up the topic of how students tend to be more engaged in lessons when it includes something they can relate to (e.g. pop culture).
The biggest takeaway that I got from this week’s facilitation was not only how pop culture text can be extremely useful in enriching students’ learning, but also how the representation of diversity plays a vital role as well. In the video presented by PBS News Hour that Emma shared with us, the overall message was how representation of different people, cultures, and religions on screen have a significant impact on how people see themselves (Elbaba, 2019). When there is proper representation on screen in various medias of pop culture, it can help inspire others (Elbaba, 2019). A great example of this topic was brought up by Myah throughout this discussion when she mentioned the reactions of young girls when seeing the new Little Mermaid trailer having a black woman portray the role of Ariel. It inspired these young girls and they were so happy to see a Disney princess that looked like them. It was so heartwarming.
Overall, I think that this week’s facilitation was incredible and extremely informative and I definitely believe that pop culture texts can be extremely useful in the classroom for all students, especially ELL students. However, I do also believe that educators should have a responsibility to ensure that all pop culture texts should be diverse and inclusive to relate to students from all walks of life. In my future classroom, I will continue to be open minded about including different forms of pop culture texts within my lessons as I think it is a valuable asset and can help integrate different learning strategies into the classroom.
Article D: Summary & Reflection
This week’s article focused on the uses of online affinity spaces and how they can be beneficial to the classroom. During the beginning of this week’s facilitation, Myah did a great job at leading us through how different books can be incorporated in the classroom. Right off the hop she gave a great example of how the novel series The Hunger Games inspired a young boy named Jack to become more interested in the novel series and later become a creative storyteller and designer. From there, Myah guided us through what affinity spaces were, and although it started off with a misunderstanding of the concept, Myah was quick to correct herself and supplied us with a supplementary resource utilized to extend our knowledge on the topic. It was very interesting to find out how students are able to further their interest and learning with others through bonding over common ground in these affinity spaces. I also found it very impactful learning how affinity spaces can not only be a place to share common interests, but also a place for combating discrimination and building community. As Curwood (2013) states in Article D, “while online affinity spaces focus on a specific topic, discussion boards offer an opportunity to build online friendships and social capital through off-topic exchanges” (p.422). It was really interesting to learn about this week’s topic, as I had no prior knowledge of this concept.
One of the main questions Myah brought up this week was if Canada should prioritize more affinity group opportunities in diverse classrooms. I do believe that online affinity groups are extremely useful tools to ensure a sense of community amongst all students. For a country as multicultural as Canada, it is important for students to feel a sense of belonging and bond over common ground with others. I think that this is specially relevant in rural classroom where there is not as much diversity between students as there usually is in urban schools. I have a little cousin who is black, and growing up in a predominately white school she has unfortunately experienced some racially fuelled bullying incidents. I know that having a safe space to bond and communicate with other who may look like her or have shared experiences would have helped her through elementary school tremendously. Not only can these affinity spaces be a source of community amongst students, but can also be a source of expanding their knowledge as “we know that young children are curious about their racial, ethnic, and cultural identity”(PBS, n.d. p.1). Affinity spaces would definitely be something I would prioritize in my future classroom regarding students’ social and community well-being at school.
Overall, this week’s discussion facilitated by Myah was very well done and informative. Not only did it make for great discussion amongst everyone in our group, but it also taught me a lot of new information!
Article E Facilitation Report
Article E Facilitation Report: Popular Culture and Literacy
Sierrah Bennett
EDUC 435: Literacy, Language and Culture Anuradha Sengupta
October 10th, 2022
This week's facilitation looked at Colin Scheyen's (2014) article Abo-Digitalism: Youth Identity, Critical Pedagogy, and Popular Media. The overall outline of this article focused on the use of popular culture in society, specifically how it can impact Aboriginal youth's identity through Indigenous representation in music, television, and films, and how concepts as such can have an impact in the classroom. For this week's facilitation, I presented an asynchronous discussion through D2L to explore topics of Indigenous and African-American socio-political issue awareness in mainstream media through hip-hop, media representation and cultural appropriation of Indigenous peoples, and the reclaiming of cultural identity Indigenous people may experience through different forms of pop culture.
As someone who has no Indigenous background or is not a part of any racial or cultural minority groups, my prior knowledge of this concept was extremely minimal. This lack of background information made facilitating this topic very interesting, as I was also learning while leading the discussion. I've always been very interested in social studies and sociology, so researching and discussing a topic that heavily involved both disciplines made this week's facilitation very compelling. Our group, consisting of Peter, Emma, Myah, and I, had profound and reflective discussions on articles and videos presented during the facilitation and contributed to each other's thoughts and questions throughout the facilitation's entirety.
To start the conversation, I planted the seed for my peers to consider how hip-hop and pop culture can allow Indigenous and African-American people to utilize their voices and artistic expression to create a more accurate representation of their cultural identity and issues in mainstream media. As a start to this conversation, I included a couple of politically fuelled music videos for hip-hop songs. The first one had Childish Gambino's 2018 hit This is America, a piece focused on daily hardships black people face in the U.S.A., including gun violence, police brutality, and racism. After viewing this video, Peter made a great point about how videos such as This is America can catalyze societal and political change through their raw and "provocative" representation of African-American issues. The second video I decided to include to strike a conversation at the beginning of the facilitation was the song Powerless by Canadian hip-hop artist Classified. Like This is America, the piece Powerless focuses on various political and social issues. Instead of focusing on African-American people in the U.S.A, it focuses on the problems, hardships, and identities of Indigenous peoples of Canada. After viewing the music video for Powerless, Myah brought up some critical Indigenous issues, precisely that of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and gave a very impactful example of one of the cases she learned about in high school; the story of Helen Betty Osbourne. Myah then gave a brief overview of the case, explaining to the group that Helen Betty Osbourne was an Indigenous woman who four men murdered. Still, only two went to jail due to the racism and injustice targeted toward Indigenous peoples in their community. Emma also contributed some great insight to the discussion by stating, "so many of these issues are kept in the shadows where nobody knows about it or in many cases chooses to acknowledge it," and how statement pieces such as Powerless can be extremely useful at expressing issues such as Residential Schools, intergenerational trauma, and MMIW in mainstream media. Seeing the depth of this conversation sparked by these videos was very impactful. Everyone in the group was very engaged and did a phenomenal job contributing their thoughts to the topic.
After we wrapped up our conversation about how hip-hop and pop culture can shine a spotlight on socio-political issues, we discussed Indigenous representation in the media. It was effortless to transition to this topic during the facilitation, as Peter provided some thought-provoking statements surrounding the concept of how he, as a “GenX 80s kid”, has seen the growth of the representation of racial or cultural minorities in the media and that changes as such take time to occur. From there, I guided the conversation toward the history of cultural appropriation of Indigenous culture and provided the example of The Sugarhill Gang's 1981 hit Apache. I also included the link to an interview-style video asking Indigenous peoples to react to Indigenous representation in music, television, and film. I thought this video was essential to include, as it amplified the voices of Indigenous peoples and their thoughts and opinions on the topic.
For the last main topic we discussed during this facilitation, we focused on how many people perceive Indigenous culture as static and primitive. In reality, it is incredibly dynamic and progressive. To further explain this concept, I included an article by Canadian Indigenous hip-hop artist Lindsay Knight, outlining how Indigenous peoples' traditions, culture, and history can be intertwined with different forms of artistic expression to decolonize and regain a personal sense of Indigenous identity (Knight, 2015). Peter had some tremendous comprehensive and analytical thoughts on this article as he stated that "it's really important to let cultures do their own speaking so they can get their message across the way they want it." I completely agree with him. Learning this concept through aboriginal voices was indeed an experience for me, and I now feel more educated on these matters from a more clear-sighted point of view.
Overall, I think that this week's facilitation went terrific. There was a lot of discussion from each group member, which always led to new thoughts and outlooks on the topics being considered. Although I barely knew anything about this concept before reading Scheyen's article and leading this facilitation, I now feel like I have a good grasp on the notion of Indigenous representation in pop culture and its effects on Indigenous identity. I believe this knowledge can be highly beneficial in the classroom when discussing the reality of Indigenous peoples within the nation or when working to inspire Indigenous students. Popular culture is a great way to make hard-to-learn concepts a little easier and make quiet voices a little louder.
Questions:
Do you think that both pieces (This is America and Powerless) adequately represented African-American and Indigenous peoples, their cultures, and issues?
Do you see similar issues that both cultural groups face despite the songs focusing on different countries? Why do you think there are quite a few similarities?
Besides bringing socio-political issues to light, what other aspects can hip-hop and pop culture help with in mainstream media?
Do you think that the media representation of Indigenous peoples has improved?
Are there any songs, films, or TV shows you know of that accurately represent Indigenous peoples, their culture, and their traditions? Do you think that there is still a lot of room for improvement?
How do you think that hip-hop and music videos such as Powerless should be incorporated into classroom lessons? When do you think songs and videos as such can be beneficial to students' learning?
Do you think there is proper Indigenous representation in school curriculums? Or do you think that the curriculum mainly focuses on the history of Indigenous peoples rather than their culture and identity? Why so?
Do you think that expressing Indigenous identity, traditions, culture, and heritage through hip-hop and other music can inspire Indigenous students to connect or reconnect with their culture? Why or why not?
References
Apache (Jump On It). (2015). YouTube. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://youtu.be/YKhi9ITkRgA.
Knight, L. (2015, March 31). Rhyming out the future: Reclaiming identity through indigenous hip hop. Decolonization. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from
https://decolonization.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/rhyming-out-the-future-reclaiming-ide ntity-through-indigenous-hip-hop/
Powerless. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://youtu.be/9W69e9jDRq0. REACT. (2019). Indigenous People React To Indigenous Representation In Film And Tv
(Pocahontas, The Lone Ranger). YouTube. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from
https://youtu.be/7ZkyL5pn74E.
Scheyen, C. (2014). Abo-Digitalism.Taboo: The Journal of Culture & Education,14(1), 90-100.
https://doi: 10.31390/taboo.14.1.09
This Is America. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from
https://youtu.be/VYOjWnS4cMY .