Rationale for Teaching Pop Culture/Music

In schools today there tends to be increasingly high standards and added stress to teachers and students to improve test scores. While I agree and understand there needs to be expectations, I ask what exactly are our expectations of schools, teachers and students and how do numbers on paper (e.g. test scores) meet our expectations? If we "go back to the basics" I think we'd realize that the overarching goal for schools should be to equip students with skills, as Cameron Whites states it, to "prepare students for active participation" in society.

I propose that one way to do this is to integrate pop culture into the classroom. My goal as an educator would be to create long lasting learning experiences. I believe a way to achieve this goal is to create content that is applicable to a student's every day life (which creates meaning) and to get the students actively engaged in the learning process.

First and foremost, the student needs to want to be there and want to learn. If you create a learning environment where it is the youth participators who own the space and have a voice the door will open for active participation. Next an educator needs to be creative in finding a way to present content in such a way that the students can relate to and apply to their experiences. In doing this you're able to bring the content to life and make it meaningful.

While I'm not a formal educator I have had some experience in teaching community religious education classes at my church with kids aged 10-16. As I was preparing for this experience I remember thinking to myself, wow - I don't really remember much from the religion classes I took as a kid. I wanted the youth I was working with to have a different experience. So often kids attend these classes because their parents make them, I wanted our group to be there because they wanted to be not because they were forced. The next obstacle I wanted to overcome was making it a meaningful, active experience for the youth. While I knew there was a specific curriculum I was required to teach and content I was required to cover, I felt in order to create life long learning and knowledge I needed to find a way to relate the material to the youth's lives.

After the first year I knew I accomplished my goals when I had the highest attendance rate out of the classes and all of my youth requested to be in my class the following year! My greatest teaching memory with this group of youth was during their final year. That year was about self reflection and finding their faith. This year more than any I felt like I needed to get creative in finding a way to make the content applicable. One way I did this was by having them journal about the passages we were reading and link the messages to experiences they were having. As we were approaching the end of the year I asked them to pick out a song that identified them in their journey of faith. They each picked a song, wrote about how it identified them and shared it with the group. I think this activity was as fun for me as it was for them. This was a creative, expressive way for them to self reflect and share a piece of their journey with their classmates. On our last day of class I made each of them a Cd with everyone's song on it. They were able to take a piece of each other with them as they moved on and continued to grow. As I see these young adults today they often reflect on our experiences and share with me how it impacted their life.

As I reflect on this experience I am reminded of the value of bringing pop culture and music into the classroom. Where some may devalue this style, I think my example is evidence of the power it can bring. Pop music is embedded in our culture, society and history. Utilizing this approach can bring what may appear to youth as dull content to life.

Anyone can increase test scores with enough studying and practice. The real question on educators' minds should be how do we create meaningful and life long learning experiences? We can accomplish this task by refocusing our attention on the process of learning rather than the regurgitation of information. As Graff pointed out, we need "young people to join...That's more important than the particulars of what they learn." By building bridges between the content we're attempting to teach and the young people's lives, we're inviting the youth to join us.