MEET DUDE 11

Source: Own photo

Meet Dude 11, an eleven-year-old boy in Year 6. Does he think he’s cool? You betcha! He speaks with me about all the things that interest him out of school – what he’s reading, watching and playing. He is confident, animated and passionate. This is HIS world and HE’S the expert and he loves to tell me all about it!!

I started with a list of questions (See added page) but very quickly the formality of the interview disappeared. As Dude 11 realised that I was genuinely interested in hearing and learning about the things that he likes to read, watch and do, the ‘interview’ relaxed and Dude 11 was more than happy to share his world with me. I loved it too!! Yes I asked him questions, but the questions arose naturally from the conversation that ensued. Here’s what I learned…

Dude 11 loves to read more than anything else. He comes from a family who love to read. Mum and Dad are both avid readers. He is obsessed with fantasy novels, particularly those with a medieval flavour and a mix of Greek/Roman mythology and historical fiction. The books he reads are found in the Young Adult section of the BCC (Brisbane City Council) libraries. He states, “I buy my own books or I go to the BCC libraries because I notice you don’t seem to have the books that I read in this library” (Dude 11, 2014). Ouch!! This poses a dilemma for the primary school library in trying to meet the needs of parental and school expectations of what is appropriate reading material. He is a massive fan of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series and Christopher Paolini’s The Inheritance Cycle (Titles we do have in the school library) but he has gone further afield into epic fantasy novels by David and Leigh Eddings and The Skystone series by Jack Whyte. Dude 11 has an ebook reader and reads both books and ebooks. However he loves the feel of a real book best!

Make no mistake, Dude 11 is not a book nerd. His family restricts television, computer and tablet time during the week to 30 minutes a day but it is unlimited on the weekend. His use of these devices is only allowed in the family room where his parents are supervising and/or involved in what he is doing. He loves movies, especially those that are based on the books that he has read because “you have the basic layout of the movie in your head before you watch it”(Dude 11,2014). He goes to the movies or he has the DVDs at home. He loves to play computer games such as Minecraft, Age of Empires and Age of Mythology with a Titan’s expansion pack. He has online game accounts with Poptropica, Club Penguin and Lego but rarely plays multiplayer versions of these games because he is not allowed to.

Television is not big in his life at the moment preferring to use You Tube to watch the things that he wants to learn about or to extend his passions. Dude 11 insists that “You Tube is the best for learning how to do and make stuff” (2014). 

Source: paulsoaresjr available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B36Ehzf2cxE

He’s not into social media and acknowledges that he is legally underage and that his parents wouldn’t allow it anyway. If he wants to talk with his friends he phones them on the landline. He doesn’t have a mobile but expects he will once he starts high school next year.

Dude 11 says, “If I’m not reading I’m building with Lego. It’s the second most important thing that he loves to do. He uses his Lego account to keep up to date with what’s new and to play games online. I asked him about his favourite music or artist that he follows and he admitted that he is not really into music.

This interview has created a wow moment for me. Why?

Well, I have truly seen the significance of getting to know your students and value their world outside of school. I have missed opportunities to ‘make learning connections with children’s experiences’ (McLean, 2013, p.7). Dude 11 and others have reading interests that I have missed the opportunity to truly cater for. This is not my world but it is a rich and relevant world for Dude 11. Duncan-Andrade asserts that our students are reading popular culture texts that are academically challenging and we are not giving them enough credit for it (2004). We need to get to know what our students are engaging with if we are to fully understand their knowledge of the world and their capabilities. Dude 11 is more than the trouble-maker who often doesn’t borrow and appears disinterested in books. Far from it! As Petrone (2013) points out, in taking the time to get to know Dude 11, I have come to know this student in a way that I had not previously imagined. I now know that he is the holder of legitimate knowledge and skills that I can use to build upon and develop.

References

Duncan-Andrade, Jeffrey. M. R. (2004). Your Best Friend or Worst Enemy: Youth Popular Culture, Pedagogy and Curriculum in Urban Classrooms. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 26(4), 313-337

Petrone, R. (2013). Linking Contemporary Research on Youth, Literacy, and Popular Culture with Literacy Teacher Education. Journal of Literacy Research, 45(3), 240-266

         

McLean, Karen. (2013) Towards a Model for 21^st Century Literacy Learning in the Early Years. Primary English Teaching Association Australia. PETAA Paper. 191; 1-8

         

HELP! I'M OUT OF TOUCH!

Google image from STEPHANO, HELP ME! - Amnesia Fan-Art (PewDiePie)by SuperSmash3DS

It’s been years since I idolised a popular band (Sherbet, Bay City Rollers, ABBA…), read children’s fiction (The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie) or rushed to see the latest popular teen or children’s movie (Grease, Saturday Night Fever, E.T.). HELP! This list is embarrassing! Video was barely a household item! The amount and variety of popular culture texts that today’s youth consume and participate in is immense and growing all the time.

Robert Petrone’s article, “Linking Contemporary Research on Youth, Literacy, and Popular Culture With Literacy Teacher Education”, challenges us as educators to embrace the popular culture of the students we teach if education is to be relevant in their lives (2013).

In general, this scholarship notes that the ubiquitous nature of popular culture in our 21st-century world, especially in relation to young people, makes it an essential context to take into consideration when attempting to understand young people’s literacy development, the various ways literacy functions in their lives, and their identities in contemporary society (p. 241).

Petrone adds that the continually evolving digital technologies, corporate influence and the influence of media and social media extends and changes our perceptions of popular culture. This is what is shaping and giving meaning to the lives of our students. To really transform the educational experiences of our students we need to utilise the popular culture that they are a part of, building on what they know and what they do in that popular culture space.

HELP!

By now I’m thinking what does this mean for me? How am I going to be able to truly connect with the Prep to Year 7 students that I teach? How will this fit with an already overcrowded curriculum? What is the real value of the popular culture that my students engage with out of school to their education and to what I am teaching? Petrone states that young people's literacy and learning practices intersect with popular cultures across many areas of youth experiences such as the classroom, videos, video games, film-making, sport, television and so on. This affords many opportunities in the classroom to engage with students’ literacy practices in a relevant and engaging way.

Petrone proposes 3 springboards or concepts that need to be considered when literacy education acknowledges the literacy practices of today’s youth and the popular culture they are immersed in. I will use Petrone’s exact phrasing of these concepts and then briefly explain what he means.

1.     Adopt an ethnographic stance toward popular culture to reframe youth and ascertain funds of knowledge (p. 247).

It is essential to get to know your students and what they are interested in. Spend time with them to learn what they do and what elements of popular culture they use to communicate? By taking the youth’s engagement with popular culture seriously, you will open up ways for him/her to engage and connect with literacy education. This enables the teacher to facilitate learning experiences that make strategic connections between what the students bring with them to school and the academic curricula. This views the student’s knowledge and skills as an asset not a deficit.

2.     Bridging popular culture funds of knowledge with academic literacies (p. 250)
     This is how educators use what they know of a student’s popular culture practices and knowledge to make connections with curriculum. For example making use of popular song lyrics to learn about use of descriptive literacy techniques. This is particularly important for students who are disengaged or struggling with the regular curriculum as it bridges the gap between their real life literacy practices and school literacy.

3.  Using popular culture to facilitate critical media literacy and sociopolitical critique and action (p. 253). Youth use and are being used by popular culture, it shapes their understandings of the world and enables them to shape the world. Popular culture influences a young person sociopolitical critique and action and shapes ideas of race, gender, class, consumerism, patriotism and so forth. For these reasons it is important to undertake a form of critical media literacy to support students' ability to critically understand all texts. Popular culture texts are a springboard to facilitate the students' interrogation of the world at large. Media and popular culture texts can be used as the means for students to become voices and agents of critique' dissent and subsequently social action and transformation.


I recommend reading this article as it highlights the importance of popular culture as it provides the context for students as they navigate their world, form identities and develop literacy. It provides educators with a pathway to develop literacies that are respectful of and responsive to the rich literate and cultural lives of contemporary youth. 
I need to understand how students make meaning in their lives through popular culture and then align pedagogical approaches into the classroom to build on these understandings.

Petrone, Robert. (2013). Linking Contemporary Research on Youth, Literacy, and Popular Culture With Literacy Teacher Education. Journal of Literacy Research, 45(3), 240-266.

Available Online at: http://jlr.sagepub.com/content/45/3/240