For the Culture: Using Pop Culture to Foster SEL and Engagement

Introduction

Pop Culture was first mentioned in the 19th century to describe the increase in purchase of “Penny Dreadfuls,” penny fiction novels, to a newly literate population of Great Britain. These novels were directed toward younger consumers and were see as, “Britain's first taste of mass-produced popular culture for the young” (Summerscale, 2016). As the literate population increased so did consumerism and a market for cheap entertainment that could be easily circulated. In the 1830’s, to meet these new demands, those penny fiction novels started to be massed produced reaching populations far and wide.

Nearly 190 years later, on April 28, 2019 the box-office returns of Avengers: Endgame grossed a record 357.1 million dollars domestically and over 1.22 billion dollars worldwide. That weekend the movie was shown in 4,662 theaters spanning 71 countries, both records for a cinematic release. 46.6% of those attending the movie were under the age of 25 (Eggertsen, 2019). From penny novels to the Avengers Franchise, this is what pop culture has turned into. Pop culture has become a force on a worldwide scale. It has become a common bond that connects people of different beliefs, backgrounds, and cultures, providing people from all walks of life something to converse about, debate, and reflect on (Tuzel & Hobbs, 2017). It is what students are consuming in various ways at an exponential rate via cinema, Netflix, Xbox, and various forms of social media. This student held knowledge of popular culture is making their big world smaller and providing new outlets for students to share, interact, and be influenced by people not only in their neighborhood, but around the world. Teachers, in-turn, should leverage that knowledge to help teach students and provide a safe social-emotional learning (SEL) environment for them to grow.

The first official definition of pop culture is from the 1854 Oxford English Dictionary (OED). A rather derogatory definition, it states: “Culture based on the tastes of ordinary people rather than an educated elite” (Pop Culture, 2021). Alvermann and Xu (2003) state that trying to provide a complete definition of pop culture is, “like nailing gelatin to a wall,” (p. 146). The reason the definition is so hard to nail down (pardon the pun) is because pop culture is constantly changing. Beach & O’Brien (2008) define pop culture as whatever is popular at the current time: this would include popular music, television shows, slang, novels, movies, graphic novels, and the Internet. Fiske (1989) saw pop culture as nearly anything consumed or experienced in our daily lives such as a billboard, a school, or even a marketplace). For our purpose, pop culture will be viewed as reflecting the customs, traditions, and tastes of the general population.

For teachers, pop culture should be viewed as a way to support and extend their learning environments while helping build positive relationships within the classroom and developing social-emotional learning practices. The author believes that when shared within a group of critical friends who own varied perspectives and experiences, creative spaces for learning of all kinds are opened and activity can abound. Creating those spaces for learning takes time, effort and understanding. However, the key to starting the creation of those spaces is embedded in pop culture. Pop culture can help teachers learn how to merge students primary and secondary discourses helping them with self and social awareness (Baker, 2010; Gee, 2001). It can help teachers focus their content lessons to build positive student-teacher relationships that can lead to better student self-management and responsible decision making (Aiken et al., 2016). Furthermore, utilizing pop culture in the classroom can provide SEL practices to deepen literacy learning and the overall classroom experience for both the students and teacher (Visco, 2020).