Turn Up That Radio, Teacher: Popular Cultural Pedagogy in New Century Urban Schools

This is a really interesting article on teachers using popular culture to reach students.  I think its an amazing representation of teachers working to teach their students and really engage them in the content, and the best part is there is research to back it up! 

According to the National Reading Conference on adolescent literacy,

there is a growing gap between the levels of literacy learned in schools and

the types of literacy skills demanded in an information age (Alvermann,

2001). This literacy gap, seen particularly in urban schools, carries serious

social and economic consequences (i.e., incarceration, unemployment,

etc.). School leaders have been besieged on all sides (parents, teachers,

district level administration, state and federal policy makers, and the

media) to improve the literacy performance of the most underachieving

schools and students. As school leaders consider different policy options,

they should not overlook a critical literacy resource in their midst—urban

youth engagement and familiarity with popular culture. In this article, we

draw from our experiences as teachers and educational researchers to

argue that school leaders can join teachers to incorporate popular culture

into the traditional curricula in ways that will increase the literacy development

of underperforming students.

In the field of education, there is no problem more serious than the failure

of urban students of color to acquire the literacy skills needed for academic

advancement, professional employment, and active citizenship—we

call these skills academic literacies.  The challenge confronting students of color

attempting to acquire academic, professional, and critical literacies is exacerbated

by the growing cultural disconnect between the teaching force

and the student population, which is changing rapidly, particularly in central

cities (Darling-Hammond, 2000). Teachers are at a loss to enact engaging

multicultural curricula with increasingly diverse student populations.

The result is a curriculum, taught under the guise of standards and rigor,

that lacks immediate relevance to students’ lives. The outcome is that

urban students of color are generally less motivated by this culturally

alienating curriculum and fail to achieve at comparable levels to their

peers in more affluent areas.

This conceptual piece examines the critical use of popular culture (i.e.,

film, music, style, sport, television, video games) to confront these looming

problems in the field of literacy education. Specifically, we consider the

teaching of popular culture to develop academic and critical literacies in

urban classrooms.

"Getting Triggy Wit It"

This is a great video fromWesterville South High School in Westerville, Ohio.  Parody of Gettin' Jiggy Wit It by Will Smith.

"Teach Me How To Factor"

Another video fromWesterville South High School in Westerville, Ohio.  Parody of Teach Me How To Dougie by Cali Swag District.

Full Article: Turn up that Radio, Teacher