Pop Culture

Gaetan Pappalardo wrote an article on using pop culture to inspire elementary students.  She writes about how she let one of her students write a story with Transformers in the story.  She wrote how the student was so excited that he could write a story with his favorite characters.  She goes on to write about how this particular student must have been told no when he previously asked if he could write about transformers.  Saying that he could not use Transformers in the story woul deflate his enthusiasm about the writing assignment.  Teachers need to get students interested in learning any way they can.  Allowing students to have input on some their assignments can really engage them in the subject matter.  This idea is great for students of all ages.  I try to engage students in the assignments any way I can.  In one assignment I use Neil Young’s song Southern Man and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s song Sweet Home Alabama.  These songs offer differ viewpoints on the South.  Although the songs are  very old students know Sweet Home Alabama (this could be due to Guitar Hero).  This gets students engaged in a writing assignment in history class.  Teachers should keep students interests in mind when creating assignments.