Using Popular Culture Texts and Multi-Modal Literacy to Teach Strategic Reading
1. POPULAR CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Honor Moorman
Using Popular Culture Texts and Multi-Modal
Literacy to Teach Strategic Reading
As a teacher, I live for the "light bulb" moments - those I quickly realized, however, that the value of using popular
moments when the synapses firing in a student's brain are music went far beyond that of a "hook" or "attention grabber."
visible as a flash of recognition in his or her eyes. Hungry for Analyzing and discussing thematic connections between the
those moments, I also love the challenge of reaching, song lyrics and the literary works deepened the conversation
stretching, searching for ways to explain things to students and brought new perspectives and insights to both texts.
that will cause their "light bulbs" to turn on. Over time I've Additionally, once I opened the classroom discourse to
discovered that I get the best results when I create an analogy nonprint media by introducing songs, students began to bring
or choose an example that is relevant to students' lives. in their own examples of music, TV shows, movies, and other
So when I want to light up the classroom, I make connections pop culture texts that they felt related to the curriculum. Thus,
- and invite students to make connections - to popular culture. I modeled and supported students in making text-to-text
connections across diverse media and various types of texts.
Incorporating Popular Culture Texts
Another tried-and-true approach to using pop culture texts in
the language arts classroom is to draw on them for student-
Like many teachers, I initially used popular culture "as a 'hook'
friendly examples of poetic devices and other literary
or 'attention grabber' in the classroom to draw students into
techniques. For example, in "Feeling the Rhythm of the
the traditional elements of the English curriculum" (Callahan
Critically Conscious Mind" AnJeanette Alexander-Smith
and Low, 2004, p. 56). I began by inviting students to analyze
(2004) describes using hip-hop music to introduce the concept
and discuss song lyrics in conjunction with the works of
of tone, and other teachers have used television shows, such as
literature we were studying in our twelfth-grade English class.
South Park, and movies, such as Shrek, to help students
For example, we listened to Dan Fogelberg's "Leader of the
understand satire (Hunt & Hunt, 2004; Wright, 2002-2007).
Band" (1981) with James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a
Susan Carmichael outlines a lesson called "Stairway to
Young Man (1964), The Cure's "Killing an Arab" (1980) with
Heaven: Examining Metaphor in Popular Music" in which
Albert Camus' The Stranger (1942), and Talking Heads'
students find metaphors in popular music lyrics and then
"Psycho Killer" (1977), with Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and
illustrate and explain them to their classmates (2002-2007).
Punishment (1866). (For additional pairings of music and
(Additional lesson plans of this nature are available on the
literature, visit the SIBL Library, a searchable database of
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum website at
"Songs Inspired by Literature" on the Artists for Literacy
http://www.rockhall.com/ programs/plans.asp.)
website, http://artistsforliteracy.org/display/famous.php.)
Inviting students to bring their own pop culture texts into the
classroom is a way of "letting students know that what they
Honor Moorman is a National Board Certified teacher with eight think and know is important" (Shaw, 2004, p. 88). Given
years of experience teaching ninth and twelfth-grade English at the adolescents' lifelong engagements with television, movies,
International School of the Americas in San Antonio, Texas. She is music, the Internet, video games, and so on, secondary
currently working as a secondary literacy specialist for the North East students' experiences with pop culture texts far exceed their
Independent School District, and she has presented workshops at
experiences with traditional print texts, and they have much
numerous venues including TCTELA and NCTE. Honor is also a
more pop culture knowledge than they do other kinds of
teacher consultant with the San Antonio Writing Project, the newsletter
editor for the San Antonio Area Council of Teachers of English, and
knowledge. Therefore, by incorporating pop culture texts into
the associate editor for Voices from the Middle. She has published the curriculum, we can help them connect the new to the
two articles in English Journal, "Teaching with Passion, Learning by known. Showing students how the reading, writing, and
Choice" (March 2007) and "Backing into Ekphrasis: Reading and thinking skills of the language arts curriculum translate across
Writing Poetry about Visual Art" (September 2006). various media piques their interest, heightens their engagement,
and deepens their learning.
English in Texas | Volume 37.1 | Spring/Summer 2007 | A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts 25
2. Drawing on students' home and community resources, which meaning, Harste, Woodward, and Burke (1984) call for
include their knowledge of popular culture, is also an educators to abandon the "verbocentric" view of literacy and
important aspect of a culturally relevant pedagogy. Bringing adopt a semiotic one (p. 168). From a semiotic perspective, all
popular culture into the classroom can help bridge the gap creative disciplines-art, writing, photography, filmmaking,
between home and school literacies. Donna Alvermann and dance, drama, and so on-share a common underlying process
Shelley Xu (2003) advocate "using children's popular culture in which a message is expressed, conveyed, and understood
interests to teach reading and language arts concepts and through one or more sign systems-images, words, actions,
skills" explaining that "because popular culture texts are part symbols, artifacts, and so forth.
of students' everyday literacies, they hold powerful and
personal meanings for students" (pp. 148, 150). Connie Zitlow
Harry Noden's Image Grammar (1999) offers a writing
(2004) notes that the "familiar worlds of our students,
pedagogy based on the similarities between the visual and the
constructed with both print and nonprint media, include many
verbal arts in terms of the correlations between what artists
elements that can be tools for learning and objects of extended
and writers do to create meaning. The other side of this
inquiry" (p. 96). Likewise, Tonya Perry (2004) points out that
analogy is the correlation between what viewers and readers
popular culture can be used to enhance students' learning in
do to make meaning from an image or print text. As John
the English classroom (p. 95).
Golden (2001) asserts, "the skills [students] use to decode the visual
image are the same skills they use for a written text" (p. xiii).
Building on Visual Literacy Therefore, visual, multimedia, and pop culture texts can be
used to scaffold students' growth as readers of traditional print
text. Jerome Evans (2004) suggests that "[a]rtifacts of pop
Using pop culture texts in the classroom is an important way
culture serve as advanced organizers for students, who can
to integrate visual and multimedia texts into the curriculum.
then connect new material . . . to their own experiences" and
Alvermann and Xu (2003) assert that "[b]ecause many popular
"[s]tudents can more readily practice critical-thinking skills. . .
culture texts make use of multimedia, they can be helpful in
with familiar material, and they will be better equipped to
extending school literacy teaching and learning beyond
tackle literature new to them and discover ideas they have
traditional print-based materials" (p. 152). Matt Copeland and
never thought of before" (pp. 33, 37).
Chris Goering (2003) emphasize that it is important to include
new forms of literacy in the classroom in order to "better
prepare students for the skills life demands" (p. 441). In Reading in the Dark, Golden (2001) advocates using film
Certainly, the increasingly visual nature of our culture clips to "practice the reading and analytical skills that we want
demands that we incorporate visual, media, and multimodal our students to have and then turn to the written text" (p. xiv;
literacy into the language arts curriculum. italics in original). Golden (2001) explains:
In 1996, NCTE offered the following rationale for the addition Its visual nature often makes film more accessible than
of "viewing" and "visually representing" to the English print for students. When film and literature are used
Language Arts standards: together in the classroom, student can transfer techniques
they use as active viewers (which often come more naturally)
to their experiences with literature. This enhances their skills
To participate in a global society, we continue to extend
as active readers and enables them to respond to a variety
our ways of communicating. Viewing and visually
of media with more depth (p. xiii).
representing . . . are a part of our growing consciousness
of how people gather and share information. Teachers and
students need to expand their appreciation of the power of Golden recommends using film clips to teach predicting,
print and nonprint texts. Teachers should guide students responding to text, and questioning the text, as well as
in constructing meaning through creating and viewing analyzing character, setting, point of view, symbolism, and
nonprint texts (NCTE Board of Directors). irony. Using this approach with his students, Golden (2001)
observed that "the watching and analyzing of movies seemed to
greatly affect their ability to read and critique literature" (p.xiv).
Similarly, in "The Third Eye," Ali Eken (2002) argues that
given the pervasiveness of various kinds of media-including
film, television, and music-and the need for students to be able Scaffolding Reading Comprehension
to interpret and decode them, educators should reconsider their
definitions of literacy to include nontraditional forms of
Another way of capitalizing on students' pop culture interests
"reading" (p. 221). And Elliot Eisner (2003) concurs, stating
and visual literacy skills that I have found effective is the use
that literacy "can be thought of, not as limited to what the
of visual and multimedia texts to scaffold instruction in
tongue can articulate, but what the mind can grasp" (p. 342).
reading comprehension. Working with adolescent readers,
Observing how children use multimodal literacies to make
I have consistently observed that drawing analogies between
26 English in Texas | Volume 37.1 | Spring/Summer 2007 | A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts
3. the reading strategies proficient readers use and the viewing Establishing a Purpose/Selecting a Text
strategies viewers use boosts students' confidence and builds
their competence as strategic readers. This pairing of popular
In order to establish or identify a purpose for reading, we must
culture with more traditional literacy instruction provides a
make an appropriate match between the type of text we will be
"meeting place where students and teachers can share their
reading and what we need or want to get out of it. Proficient
expertise" (Callahan & Low, 2004, p. 52).
readers do this quite instinctively and subconsciously, picking
up or abandoning a text for a variety of complex motives based
Best practice in the teaching of reading includes explicit on sophisticated analysis of each reading situation. A useful
instruction in the use of metacognitive comprehension pop culture analogy for this reading behavior is surfing the
strategies. In order to make the invisible processes of reading Internet or channel surfing while watching TV. Take channel
and thinking while reading visible for students, we must not surfing for example. Most people make split-second decisions
only model "what good readers do" when we read, we must about whether or not to stop and watch each program as it
also articulate and explain the strategies we are using to make flashes by on the screen. These decisions are at least partly
the text make sense. And because teaching reading based on the viewer's judgments about the genre of each
comprehension involves making something invisible visible, television show and whether or not that genre fits the viewer's
we naturally tend to use visual aids, such as graphic organizers, mood, needs, or purposes at that time.
as well as metaphors and analogies, to help students
understand the abstract concepts involved in the reading
To facilitate students' thinking about how selecting a text is
process in a concrete way. To help students become more
similar to the channel surfing they do naturally at home, have
strategic readers, Ellin Keene (2006) advocates guiding them
them participate in the following activity. First, give students
to "scrutinize their own reading process," to think about what
about three minutes to brainstorm as many different television
they do when they read. Students can also gain insights into
shows as they can. Have students write the title of each show
the meaning-making process by scrutinizing their viewing
on a different sticky note or small slip of paper. Encourage
strategies, thinking about what they do when they view and
them to think of as many different kinds of shows as possible.
make sense of images and multimedia texts.
Next, have students work in small groups to sort and classify
their television shows by genre. Have students create a three-
By first introducing a comprehension strategy using a visual column chart with the following column headings: TV genres,
media, we can encourage students to think critically about their examples, reasons for watching (see Table 2). Students discuss
viewing strategies, and then build on their strengths and why people choose to watch each type of TV show as they fill
experiences as viewers to help them transfer those strategies in their charts with the genres and examples they have
to print texts. In addition to creating an anchor chart listing the brainstormed. Guide students to move beyond the generic "to
strategies good readers use, a second column can be added be informed" or "to be entertained" descriptions of purpose, to
listing the analogous viewing strategies we use when "reading" express more specific reasons a viewer might choose to tune
pop culture texts (see Table 1). The idea is to start with the into each type of show. Also, encourage them to think of
strengths and skills students bring to the classroom-from their multiple purposes for watching each genre.
experiences "reading" television, movies, the Internet, comic
books, and so on-to deepen their understanding of the literate
After students have completed their charts in small groups,
practices good readers use through analogies to the visual literacy
invite them to share some of their thinking with the whole
practices the students are familiar with, and to help them transfer
class. Introduce the topic of channel surfing into the
this metacognitive awareness to their reading of written texts.
discussion. Ask students to consider the following questions:
Channel surfing while
Establishing a purpose • How do you decide whether to stop and watch something or
watching TV
keep flipping the channels? (Encourage students to move
beyond superficial responses and think more deeply about
Previewing the text Watching a movie preview their own motives and decision-making process.)
Following hyperlinks on the • How are you able to determine what kind of show it is so
Making connections
internet quickly? (This relates to previewing the text and accessing
background knowledge about the show in particular or the
Visualizing and making Reading comic books/ conventions of that genre in general.)
inferences graphic novels
• Based on a given purpose (give examples), what kind of TV
Table 1. Analogous reading comprehension strategies and pop culture
show would you choose?
viewing strategies
English in Texas | Volume 37.1 | Spring/Summer 2007 | A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts 27
4. TV Genres Examples Reasons for Watching
Scrubs, Friends, That 70's Show, Saturday Night Live,
Comedy Entertainment: to laugh and relax; to forget your worries
Seinfeld
Grey's Anatomy, The Gilmore Girls, The Sopranos, Law Entertainment: to see what happens next; to get caught up
Drama and Order, Smallville, One Tree Hill, House, Heroes, CSI, in the story; to find out what's happening in the life of
Desperate House Wives, 24 your favorite character
Dateline, 60 Minutes, Today, Anderson Cooper 360, Good Information: to keep up with the latest news, trends,
News
Morning America, Sports-Center, Entertainment Tonight human interest stories, sports reports, and celebrity gossip
The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, Sponge Bob Entertainment: for fun; to relax; also for the satirical
Cartoons
Square Pants, Aqua Teen Hunger Force humor and commentary on society
Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100, Jeopardy, Are You Smarter Entertainment: for excitement; to see if the contestant will
Game Shows
Than a 5th Grader? win; to play along
Cribs, The Bachelor, Survivor, MTV Real World, My Super Entertainment: to see how your favorite contestant is
Reality TV Sweet Sixteen, American Idol, Project Runway, Bounty doing; to keep up with the latest drama; to see how other
Hunter, What Not to Wear people live
The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View, Dr. Phil, Live with Information & Entertainment: to learn about a subject that
Talk Shows Regis and Kelly, Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show interests you; to see how movie stars will respond to inter-
with David Letterman view questions
Table 2. Purposes for watching various kinds of television shows
• How would your purpose for watching affect how you previewing a written text (see Table 3). Have students preview
watched that show? (Think of several people all choosing the a selection in their literature and/or content area textbook
same show, but each for a different reason.) while completing this step of the activity.
Finally, relate the conversation back to the reading of print Referring back to the similarities evident on the T-chart,
text. Ask students to reflect on how their approach to a given facilitate a class discussion about how previewing a written
reading situation affects their reading. text, whether fiction or nonfiction, can improve our
understanding and/or enjoyment of it in some of the same
ways watching a movie preview can. Encourage students to
Previewing the Text
comment on how their reading experiences, as well as movie-
watching experiences, have been affected by previewing or
As part of a class discussion about the goals and benefits of not previewing the text first. Using examples of movies
previewing a text, a natural connection to popular culture is students have seen, extend the discussion the ways in which
the movie preview. Ask students whether they would be movie previews can sometimes lead us to have expectations
willing to pay to see a movie without knowing anything about that are not fulfilled when we watch the entire movie. For
it. Most will say, "no." The purpose of this lesson is to example, a few years ago I selected The Family Stone as a film
convince them that there are similar reasons to previewing a to watch with two female friends, thinking it would be a
written text. To establish a common point of reference, start romantic comedy we would all enjoy. An hour and a half later,
by showing a movie preview to the class (available from as I wiped the tears from my face, I realized that I was not
websites such as movies.com). This activity works best if the only saddened by the tragic events happening on the screen, I
preview is for a movie the students have not seen. Ask students was also shocked and disappointed by the difference between
to "think-ink-pair-share" what they have learned about the my expectations based on the preview and the actual movie.
movie based on the preview. In other words, have students Ask students to comment on why this happens and how this
consider the question individually, record their thinking, share relates to previewing a written text. Be sure to have students
their ideas in pairs, and finally discuss their responses as a consider how a movie preview is carefully constructed as a
whole class. Answers will likely include information such as marketing ploy, as well as how editors and authors select the
the title, actors, genre, and so on. List these on the left side of text features such as headings, bold-faced words, and
a T-chart and invite students to fill in the right side of the illustrations that our eyes are drawn to when we preview a
T-chart with the analogous information to be learned from written text.
28 English in Texas | Volume 37.1 | Spring/Summer 2007 | A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts
5. original article they read. This helps students articulate the
Watching a Movie Preview Previewing a Written Text various kinds of connections they might make while reading a
traditional print text and analyze the various effects those
connections can have on their comprehension. Point out that
the connections available to us on the Internet are limited to
Title Title the hyperlinks provided by the webpage author(s). On the
other hand, when we read a print text and make our own
connections, those connections are limited only by the range
Actors/director Author of our own background knowledge and prior experiences.
For the second part of the activity, provide students with a
Genre Genre short print text to read. Instruct students to insert their own
"hyperlinks" when they come across a word or phrase that
prompts them to make a connection. This can be done
Setting Setting electronically using the "Insert Hyperlink" feature in Word or
with paper and pencil simply by annotating to indicate
imaginary hyperlinks. Have students compare the different
Characters (fiction), people kinds of connections they made, as well as the different words
Characters and phrases that prompted those connections in order to raise
(nonfiction)
their metacognitive awareness of how making connections
contributes to individual differences in comprehension and
Premise (fiction), subject
Plot premise interpretation.
matter (nonfiction)
Selected scenes-highlighted Selected scenes - illustra- Visualizing and Making Inferences
moments tions, etc.
Students often have trouble conceptualizing and enacting the
strategies of visualizing and making inferences. The pop
A few key lines of dialogue Headings, pull quotes, etc. culture connection I recommend for teaching these strategies
involves the use of comic books or graphic novels. First,
model for students how to read and think aloud while making
Table 3. T-chart with "information to be learned from . . ."
meaning from a page of a comic book or graphic novel.
Explain to students that the white space between frames is
Making Connections called the gutter, and emphasize what you are visualizing and
inferring to fill in the gaps. Then have students read with a
partner, taking turns thinking aloud as they visualize and infer
To help students think about the thinking involved in making
to create a movie in their mind. As an extension, students can
connections while they read, the Internet provides a useful
draw or write descriptions of what they visualize and infer is
metaphor. Making connections while we read a traditional
happening in between frames. Debrief the exercise in a whole
print text is somewhat like to following hyperlinks when we
class discussion and continue to reinforce students' use of
read on the Internet. Guiding students to explore this idea
visualizing and making inferences in future reading situations.
further begins with acquiring Internet access for students in
the class. If there are not enough computers for each student to
have one, this activity can also be done in pairs. Have students Helping Students Develop Multi-Modal Literacy
choose a news article or other nonfiction article from a typical
multi-purpose website such as Yahoo! or MSN, and warn them
Using pop culture texts in reading comprehension instruction
that they will need to surf the web much more slowly than
raises student engagement, builds on their expertise with visual
usual because they will be recording each step along the way.
media, and empowers students to be more strategic readers of
Instruct students to create a three-column chart where they can
all texts - written, visual, and multimedia. Ideally, when pop
record each hyperlink they choose to follow, why they are
culture texts and visual/multimedia are included in the
choosing to click on that link, and information about the
language arts classroom, students' interests, experiences, and
webpage it takes them to next.
literacies are validated and valued. This practice has the
potential to decenter the traditional authority of the teacher
In a whole-class debrief of this activity, ask students to reflect and the literary canon, making the learning environment more
on how making connections by following various hyperlinks student-centered and the curriculum more culturally relevant.
did or did not enhance or enrich their understanding of the However, teachers must be mindful of how the various texts
English in Texas | Volume 37.1 | Spring/Summer 2007 | A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts 29
6. are positioned in the curriculum. If pop culture texts are only Dostoevsky, F. (1981). Crime and punishment (C. Gardner,
ever used to introduce a concept before moving on to the "real" Trans.). New York: Bantam. (Original work published
literature, the desired impact on student engagement and 1866). Eisner, E. W. (2003). The arts and the creation
empowerment will be less likely. When integrating pop culture of mind. Language Arts, 80(5), 340-344.
texts, they should be aesthetically appreciated and critically Eken, A. N. (2002). The third eye. Journal of Adolescent and
analyzed alongside the more traditional texts with equal Adult Literacy, 46(3), 220-229.
respect and attention.
Evans, J. (2004). From Sheryl Crow to Homer Simpson: Literature
and composition through pop culture. English Journal,
Linda Adler-Kassner (1998-2007) defines multi-modal literacy 93(3), 32-38.
as "metacognitive strategies for developing literacy practices
that can be carried across multiple sites/texts/media, rather Fogelberg, D. (1990). Leader of the band. On The innocent age
than a set of practices tied to specific sites". The lessons [CD]. United States: Sony. (1981).
described above address multi-modal literacy by 1) facilitating
Golden, J. (2001). Reading in the dark: Using film as a tool in
students' critical thinking about their "reading" of pop culture
the English classroom. Urbana, IL: National Council
media, 2) helping students articulate the meaning-making of Teachers of English.
process and develop greater confidence in their own meaning-
making abilities, 3) giving students a vocabulary for the Harste, J. C., Woodward, V. A., & Burke, C. L. (1984). Language
thinking strategies they already use when "reading" television stories and literacy lessons. Portsmouth, NH:
shows, movies, the Internet, comic books, and so on, Heinemann.
4) drawing analogies between viewing strategies and reading
Hunt, T. J., & Hunt, B. (2004). Popular culture: Building
comprehensions strategies, 5) giving students insights into the
connections with our students. English Journal, 93(3), 80-83.
reading process and effective use of comprehension strategies,
and 6) supporting the transfer of students' metacognitive Joyce, J. (1993). A portrait of the artist as a young man. New
strategies from visual to print texts. As a result, students find York: Penguin. (Original work published 1964).
these lessons engaging, enjoyable, and enlightening.
Keene, E. O. (2006, June 1-2). What's essential: Comprehension
instruction for all literacy learners. Presented at
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30 English in Texas | Volume 37.1 | Spring/Summer 2007 | A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts