Pop Goes the Classroom and the League of Extraordinary Academics present How to Effectively Integrate Pop Culture into your classroom

1. How to Effectively Integrate
Pop Culture Into Your
Classroom

2. Outcomes
• Define Pop Culture and its Artifacts
• Understand the risks and benefits of pop culture integration
• Know the educational vocabulary and processes to advocate
for pop culture integration in the classroom
• Know the steps for analyzing artifacts for integration
• Use the steps for analyzing artifacts for integration
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3. Definitions
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4. “common culture, folk
culture, or mass culture”
OR
“the culture that is left over
once we’ve decided what
high culture is”

5. What is Pop Culture?

6. Pop Goes the Classroom defines
popular culture as the music,
literature and media that unite a
cohort in a common shared
experience and continue to define
them well into adulthood.

7. Pop Culture is the voice of a
generation!

8. Artifacts for Cross
Curricular Integration

9. Genres
• Contemporary Music
• Movies
• Television
• Video games
• Social Media
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10. Pop Culture Creates Context
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11. Making the PC Case
for NPC’s
Non Pop Culture Enthusiasts

12. Common Sense
Age
Appropriate
• Grade level
standards
Individually
Appropriate
• Suitable for
Student Prior
Knowledge
Culturally
Appropriate
• G or PG AND
Parental
Consent
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13. Know Your Stuff
1. Choose the Right Artifact
2. Know how it meets learning in
across MULTIPLE content areas
3. Show how it ties to traditionally
accepted teaching tools
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14. NPC Pushback
Many adults have preconceived ideas about what should and shouldn’t
be used asa teaching tool.
Know the research:
Henry Jenkins– USC/MIT
James PaulGee – ASU
PeterGuiterrez – School Library Journal
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15. Analyzing Pop Culture
Artifacts

16. 5 Step Analysis
1. What are the themes of the piece?
2. What is the historical context of the piece?
3. What is the contemporary context of the
piece?
4. What traditional learning tools have similar
themes?
5. How can the piece be used to connect to
content areas of the curriculum?
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17. Maus
Mausis agraphicnovel completed
in 1991byAmerican cartoonistArt
Spiegelman.It depictsSpiegelman
interviewing his fatherabouthis
experiences asaPolish
JewandHolocaustsurvivor.The
book
usespostmoderntechniques—
moststrikinglyin its depiction
ofraces ofhumansas different
kindsofanimals,with Jewsasmice,
Germans ascatsandnon-Jewish
Polesaspigs. Maushasbeen
described asmemoir,biography,
history,fiction,autobiography,or a
mix ofgenres. In 1992it becamethe
firstgraphicnovel towin aPulitzer
Prize.
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18. Themes
Presentation
Memory
Guilt
Racism
Language
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19. Historical Context
WWII
Nazi Germany
Holocaust
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20. Contemporary
Context
Published in the
80’s
First Graphic
Novel to Win a
Pulitzer
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21. Traditional
Learning Tools
Books
Diary of Anne Frank
Summer of my German
Soldier
Movies
Schindler’s List
Swing Kids
Music
Big Band
Jazz
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22. The LEGO Movie
The LEGO Movie is a 3D animated film which
follows lead character, Emmet a completely
ordinary LEGO mini-figure. Typical of LEGO
figures in his world, Emmet doesn’t have any
original thoughts- he reads the rule book and
follows directions. He likes the music he is told
to like and watches the television shows he is
told to watch. It is a world that is carefully
crafted by the evil tyrant, Lord Business.
He is able to keep the world this way by
eradicating the Master Builders who prized
creativity. Now Master Builders live in hiding
hopeful that one day the “Special” foretold in
prophecy will come and over throw Lord
Business.
When Emmet discovers the “Piece of
Resistance” from the prophecy, he is told he is
the “Special” and is asked to lead the fight
against Lord Business. However, many of the
Master Builders see only the ordinary in Emmet
and do not believe he can be the “Special”.
Emmet and a band of followers devise a plan to
overthrow the evil Lord Business going on an epic
journey.
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23. Themes
Conformity vs. Creativity
Creativity is highly prized by the hidden
Master Builders of the Lego World.
Following instructions is frowned upon.
Emmet beings the film in complete
conformity and slowly evolves his creative
side as his character has more
experiences. Emmet helps the Master
Builders understand that creativity
without rules can be a barrier to achieving
your goals. Together he and the Master
Builders find balance.
Perception vs. Reality
The Lego Figures appear happy in their
conformity. However, all is not what it
seems. We discover another world hidden
from the ordinary LEGO figures. A world
filled with master builders and creativity.
The Lego Movie is a play within a play and
when we zoom out we are able to see that
the LEGO world we’ve been viewing is in
the mind of a child.
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24. Historical
Context
The LEGO Movie is rich with historical
context. A significant character in the
LEGO Movie is Vitruvius. Marcus
Vitruvius Pollio was an engineer and
architect who wrote a 10-volume
encyclopedia on architecture in the
first century B.C. His work was so
influential that Leonardo da Vinci used
it 1500 years later to help design his
famous drawing of a man inside a
circle, the Vitruvian Man.
Cloud Cuckoo Land, is where the
Master Builders hide. It is a secret,
chaotic place where there are no
rules. That’s an unambiguous nod to
Aristophanes’ satirical play “The
Birds,” written about 2,400 years ago,
which included a chaotic realm called
Cloud Cuckoo Land. 24

25. Contemporary
Context
Our media is filled with Brand
integration these days. From
watching judges drink out of
Starbucks cups on The Voice
to elaborate, in script
promotion of products in
favorite series. The LEGO
Movie is basically a long form
commercial for LEGO, much
the same way that the original
Willie Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory was a
feature length commercial for
Wonka Candy. 25

26. Traditional
Learning Tools
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27. Pop Goes the
Conference
February 17, 2015
Phoenix, AZ
Registration
www.popgoestheclassroom.com

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