"Popular and Visual Culture in the Composition Classroom."
Presented by Jonathan Silverman and Dean Radar
Jonathan Silverman and Dean Radar discuss popular culture and visual culture in the composition classroom. For most instructors, teaching composition is about getting students not only to write effectively but also to comprehend communication effectively. Popular culture and visual texts are excellent ways to get students to comprehend the persuasive communication with which they engage on a regular basis. One reason they suggest this approach is to achieve something of a fresh start for students. Most students come to composition classes from high school experiences with literature, of which many students are just plain tired. Another concern is the difficulty found in personal essays that many students are reluctant to delve into great detail about their individual lives in their writing. Focusing on everyday texts from the popular culture that surrounds students is a good way to take a new perspective on achieving the same goal of developing good readers and writers.
Students can approach texts they may not have dealt with before. Students look at art, music, movies, television shows, advertisements, and other popular culture texts. Many students are quite familiar with these texts and have already made judgments about them. Now, students have the opportunity to write about those texts in a more focused way.
Some particular activities that go beyond passive viewing or listening in the classroom can be helpful in getting students to really read these popular culture texts. One technique is to slow down the process of examination. Students need to understand the purpose for viewing before taking in the texts. Instructors should spend time detailing the differences between reading or viewing a text for entertainment versus for information. Another technique is to break up the text rather than play the whole thing. Instead of watching an entire film, instructors should divide the screening into smaller chunks to allow multiple discussions of the material. This shows students a series of smaller, connected items that work together to create the whole. One more technique is to ask students to read the classroom space to understand what messages are conveyed by the setting in which they find themselves. Another version of this exercise is to read two contrasting faculty members' offices, looking for the communication values and arguments in the décor and arrangement found. Taking students out of the classroom to read things around campus and the surrounding communities are also excellent ideas.