Pop culture rules our classrooms. From bottle flipping to absurd dance moves, these viral sensations can become annoying and sometimes even distracting. Whether we like it or not, there will always be another video, meme, or toy ready to take over our classrooms. And you know what? It’s okay. These are opportunities for teachers to tap into our students’ pop culture and make learning applicable and meaningful to them!
Check out these 3 ways you can use pop culture to your advantage in your classroom!
1. Incorporate Pop Culture into Your Curriculum
Creating ways for students to incorporate current events and trends into the curriculum can enhance the art room experience. Some students will naturally do this on their own, but for those students who don’t, try incorporating creative outlets and choice so they can. An easy way to do this is by giving your students themes which will allow them to create work that is meaningful to them.
Some students might need an extra push, and it’s okay to create projects directly related to their pop culture. Do your students like Snapchat or Instagram? Build your curriculum to incorporate these ideas.
In addition, incorporating pop culture doesn’t have to be solely focused on projects. Simple one-day exploratory activities are a great option, too. For example, if your students are going to insist on flipping water bottles, try creating a color theory activity where two colors of liquid mix together when a bottle is flipped. Truly, if you can’t beat them, join them!
2. Classroom Announcements & Reminders
It’s amazing – no matter how often our students are reminded about deadlines and important announcements, they rarely remember! Teachers can repeat themselves until they are blue in the face, but there will always be a few students who just don’t seem to listen. A way to make sure your students don’t miss another important announcement is by creating a visual reminder directly related to pop culture. Take your students’ favorite meme or saying and use it to your advantage. It will become more memorable and will save you from repeating yourself.
3. Classroom Procedures
Do you have a classroom procedure in your room students always seem to forget? If so, try creating memes and visual aids to hang directly by the problem areas. For example, my students always have a hard time remembering to use the drying rack from the bottom up. Now, I have a reminder that uses a popular Drake song attached to the drying rack so students won’t forget.
Think about the areas in your classroom your students need to be reminded about. Maybe it’s how to put away brushes, where to put the paints, or how to wash their hands. Use a relevant meme or song lyric to help your students with these tricky procedures.
Incorporating pop culture into your classroom doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, most of us do it naturally. By doing so we are connecting more with our students, creating more meaningful experiences, and ultimately making the art room a more exciting, manageable place!
How do you use pop culture in the classroom?
How have you embraced the “if you can’t beat them, join them” mentality?
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
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