Outcomes of Popular Culture Survey

In order to look into the views on the use of popular culture within the classroom other than my own, I chose to interview a parent of a 7 and an 8 year old as it is more than likely that their children are constantly being exposed to this within the classroom. I hoped that her current opinion would therefore help to inform my own opinion from a position other than a teacher and so help to develop my practice within schools.

From speaking to this particular parent, it was clear to see that she was able to appreciate their use within the classroom. She admitted that there were some initial worries based around the large use of internet based resources and she was concerned that this could perhaps be inappropriate and unnecessary, however she was surprised to see that when her children were using the internet within their own home they were immediately going on websites that supported their education, which demonstrated to her that they were clearly engaged with what they were learning about in school.

I decided to ask if she remembered any particular instances in which her children had used popular culture within their lesson, and I was interested to hear about one topic based on toys and how they have changed over time that had captured her daughters interest. She went on to explain how her daughter constantly raved about how much she was enjoying literacy and history, and how this was evident in her work when they were able to see some of it at a parents evening. This therefore supports the opinion that I had already in place supported by the work of Marsh and Millard (2005) that ‘popular culture can be used to motivate children’.

On the other hand, the mother also explained that she had some concerns when asked about the use of popular culture within literacy as she feels there should be a clear focus on the written methods and that the use of resources such as new technologies should be used only occasionally so that they have a balance of all areas. However she did then go on to explain that she was not very well informed as to how popular culture is being used within lessons, especially literacy, and therefore she would be open to changing that opinion.

This has therefore highlighted to me that as a teacher it is vital that parents are informed in what their children are using, how often they use it, and how they use it as I am sure that this is often a concern for parents, and therefore I will consider this in my future practice. 

References:

Marsh, J (2005) Popular Culture, New Media and Digital Literacy in Early Childhood Oxon: RoutledgeFalmer