Staying the Course is a Journey

Volume 1: Post 4

 

Let’s Hop in the Boat named “The Pop Culture Communion”

Caution: [Grab your oars!]

LISA SCHELLENBERG NOVEMBER 18, 2020

 

“Popular culture is ‘the connections that form between individuals and objects’ (1)…who ‘experienced some kind of emotion, feeling, or information-sharing based on cultural interaction…[and] exists as the connections between people and cultural artifacts…” – Bob Batchelor (2013)

 

The first time I walked into a classroom with music playing was in Professor Frohlich’s Speech 1311 class. He would end up playing music as we entered each class. After everyone arrived, he would ask us questions which would connect the course content to the lyrics. After that course, TCC Geology Professor Fairbanks, and UNT Dr. Anderson-Lain would follow. Some professors started the class with news, TV, or movie clips like Professor Brewer, Dr. Lain, TA Munger, and more. Dr. Richardson illustrated examples of sports communication concepts through YouTube videos, music, full-length movies, and guest speakers. Have your teachers utilized fashion, technology, or other forms of popular culture in your classes? Popular culture #EnCourages “alternative narratives for our lives and relationships, explore new choices, and expand our thinking about diversity”.

 

Learning occurs in teaching environments where there is a narrative structure and cultural context. How do you express popular culture in your class or life? Your collective life is the “heart of the study of popular culture…[and] communities share their collectives lives through artifacts, icons, ideas, language, rituals, and symbols” which unite individuals. In my freshman year of high school my ritual was to go windsurfing. Then in my Sophomore year, I sailed in a sailing team competitively. No oars needed! I was trained to #StayTheCourse as we would sail to Catalina, Mexico, and Newport Beach.

 

I remember in Dr. Lain’s 2140 course how you could tell who a democrat was, who was a republican, and who was a liberal. Furthermore, you could tell which small groups worked well together and which struggled. The class provided time for students to share stories of how we feel, our experiences, our ideas, and what we think the answers are to his questions. The use of popular culture really made an impact on our teaching. What an #EnCouragement! The course was a difficult one for me to grasp since I had experience in a similar assignment in Professor Frohlich’s class and was confusing the two courses, to which Dr. Lain quickly inquired and corrected me.

 

My Spanish classes also helped me understand “the relationship between people, symbols, and culture”. We watched short videos on cultures of Latino countries and then we shared our individual culture by stating what is similar and what is different between the people and customs. This teaching style #EnCouragedMe to continue to attend the classes because it kept me engaged and it was quite interesting. How do you keep students engaged with pop culture? How do you keep yourself entertained with pop culture?

 

I enjoy music on an almost hourly basis. I wake up to Alexis playing The Lumineers or Lana Del Rey until I leave for work. In the car, I listen to KXT, and when I arrive to my office, I play iHeart Alternative Radio, one of my Spotify playlists, or KXT.

 

The first class I attended where I learned something about my identity was my British Literature course at TCC with Professor LeeAnn Olivier where I learned about Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. We watched the movie as homework which helped us learn popular culture and develop our own sense of identity as we learned what major event took us on a journey (mine was when I decided to attend college): called us on an adventure, cross the threshold, stubble upon a mentor, have a revelation, be transformed, have an atonement, then return. What major event did you get into a boat, go on a journey, and experience all of that? Did you receive #EnCouragement to #StayTheCourse? Did it cause you to #EnCourageOthers like it did me?

 

Boating and sailing in the open waters offer me a space of freedom, reach across time, self-reflect, and look at my life (past, current, and future stories). If I go with someone (which you would need to do in a sailboat) we end up sharing our viewpoint, stories, experiences, advice, thoughts, and “make them a part of our own stories”. Grab your oars and head out to the open water, especially during COVID. Play some music, let it #EnCourageU and #StayTheCourse!

 

Hammonds, K., & Anderson-Lain, K. (2016). A pedagogy of communion: Theorizing popular culture pedagogy. The Popular Culture Studies Journal, 4, 106-132.