Pop Culture in Literacy

Many parents and teachers try to keep their children shielded from popular culture and the stories and characters that are prevalent in the media to try to protect them from negative signs and messages. Children often continue to gravitate toward these characters and topics even more when they are hidden from them. Incorporating popular culture and themes that children are interested in into the classroom is not always a bad thing. Using stories and movies that children are familiar with outside of school can be greatly beneficial because it will draw kids in to the lesson and what they are supposed to be practicing. If you give a child a book about Transformers or Disney princesses rather than some generic animal, they are often more likely to be interested in reading or doing math problems with those characters. Using things that children like to get them interested in learning is a great tool to use. Although, it is important to teach them the downfalls of their favorite popular media stories as well. Many characters and movies that are popular with children teach them to live up to stereotypes and negative messages. Teachers and parents must make sure that these ideas are addressed so that the children will recognize them and know to not follow them. As long as the children can see these downfalls in their favorite movies and TV shows, it can be greatly beneficial to use these topics in positive learning.