Popular Culture in the Classroom?

Should we use popular culture in the classroom - why or why not?

For students to connect to what they are learning and engage in learning they need to be interested in the subject. So if it is relevant or can be made relevant I think that yes we should use popular culture in the classroom. Unfortunately my knowledge about what the students listen too or think is popular is limited and I would need to educate myself or have the students educate me before I could use it in the classroom. I find that students who say they don't remember information that has been taught, have no problem giving me a blow by blow account of the games they play on the computer or stats for sports players, or all the words of the songs they like. If teachers can tap and make what they are interested in relevant to the classroom - make learning meaningful - we should. This does mean throw out the curriculum - it means extend it. Of course we need to preview what we show the students and have a purpose behind it - to educate.

After - Katy Perry and Sesame Street
I still think using popular culture in the classroom can be educational and engaging - again what is the purpose for bringing it in, and yes we should teach students to think about what they see and read. The purpose behind the media - if it is a commercial - discuss the techniques of advertising, if it is a newspaper article discuss the reporters bias, the readers bias, etc. Teachable moments. They are exposed to a lot of information, our job is to educate them to think about the information. Even our textbooks are biased, from the writers point of view, websites are biased, we bring our life experiences into what we do. We need to teach the skills of being critical thinkers.