Pop Culture Classroom

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Pop Culture Classroom is a nonprofit organization based in Denver, Colorado that teaches literacy and the arts through alternative approaches to learn and increase character development. The organization creates educational programs for underserved youth, schools, and communities using comic books, graphic novels, and related media to inspire passion for reading, art, and learning.

Contents

Overview and history

Pop Culture Classroom, originally established as Comic Book Classroom in 2010 by Charlie LaGreca, Frank Romero, David Vinson, and Kevin Vison, is an organization dedicated to enhancing students' learning through the use of comic books. [1] [2] In the same years, the founders launched the Denver Comic Con, later renamed the Denver Pop Culture Con.

The Classroom program debuted the first version of its “Storytelling Through Comics” curriculum to local area schools in the fall of 2011. “Storytelling Through Comics” is a free graphic literature creation program used by schools, teachers, and community organizations. The program currently offers students an educational experience that includes instruction in reading and vocabulary, writing stories, and eventually the creation of the students’ own comics. Completed entries are then published in a class collection.[ citation needed ]

With the help of hundreds of volunteers and donations, the Classroom launched the Denver Comic Con event on Father’s Day weekend, June 15, 2012. [3]

In 2014, the Board of Directors removed both co-founders Charlie LaGreca and Frank Romero, [4] then voted to change the name to Pop Culture Classroom (PCC). [5] The name change reflects the board's broader vision for the organization to go beyond comic books. [6]

In 2019, Pop Culture Classroom launched Reno Pop Culture Con in Reno, Nevada. [7]

In 2020, Denver Pop Culture Con and Reno Pop Culture Con were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [8]

In March 2021, Fan Expo HQ acquired Denver Pop Culture Con from Pop Culture Classroom. [9] Pop Culture Classroom will remain a part of the event as its featured charity and by providing educational program. [10]

Need

The need for literacy education in Colorado inspired the Classroom program. High percentages of elementary and middle school-aged children in Colorado do not have or cannot afford after-school care. [11] Additionally, several studies show that children who receive arts education often outperform children who do not in most educational areas. [12]

Curriculum

Pop Culture Classroom’s “Storytelling Through Comics” curriculum is designed to educate 11 to 14 year-old students (grades 5-8) about literacy and the arts. The common core curriculum enhances students’ writing and reading abilities and artistic skills through an interactive educational experience focused around comic books and graphic novels. It can be offered as an after-school course, a stand-alone unit, or as a complement to an existing language arts curriculum in a classroom.

The six-week program is broken out into a series of distinct lesson modules:

Programming

Programming is conducted by volunteers, many of whom are trained art educators or comic industry professionals. [13] In addition to actively teaching in classrooms and after-school programs, volunteers provide administrative support, curriculum/assessment development, comic and literature reviews, outreach, website development, fundraising, and event planning.[ citation needed ]

Influence

Since the first Pop Culture Classroom program was conducted at Force Elementary School (Denver Public Schools) in the spring of 2010, Pop Culture Classroom has impacted over 400 students in the Denver metro region. The organization has conducted programs at over a dozen elementary and middle schools in the Denver area as well as community organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver and the WOW! Children's Museum of Lafayette, Colorado.[ citation needed ]

Support

Supplementary support for Pop Culture Classroom’s educational programming is provided by the Stan Lee Foundation and the national non-for-profit organization Generation Schools. In 2013, actor William Shatner appeared in the Pop Culture Classroom's "Corral" at Denver Comic Con to read Maurice Sendak's children's book Where The Wild Things Are in support of Pop Culture Classroom. [14]

Related Research Articles

Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and analyze media messages as well as create, reflect and take action, using the power of information and communication to make a difference in the world. Media literacy applies to different types of media and is seen as important skills for work, life, and citizenship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Experiential education</span> Philosophy of education

Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. This concept is distinct from experiential learning, however experiential learning is a subfield and operates under the methodologies associated with experiential education. The Association for Experiential Education regards experiential education as "a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities". The Journal of Experiential Education publishes peer-reviewed empirical and theoretical academic research within the field.

Digital storytelling is a short form of digital media production that allows everyday people to create and share their stories online. The method is frequently used in schools, museums, libraries, social work and health settings, and communities. They are thought to have educational, democratizing and even therapeutic effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music education</span> Field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music

Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original research on ways of teaching and learning music. Music education scholars publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, and teach undergraduate and graduate education students at university education or music schools, who are training to become music teachers.

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Accelerated Reader (AR) is an educational program created by Renaissance Learning. It is designed to monitor and manage students' independent reading practice and comprehension in both English and Spanish. The program assesses students' performance through quizzes and tests based on the books they have read. As the students read and take quizzes, they are awarded points. AR monitors students' progress and establishes personalised reading goals according to their reading levels.

Frederick Luis Aldama is an American author, editor, and academic. He is the Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and founder and director of the Latinx Pop Lab at the University of Texas, Austin. At UT Austin is also affiliate faculty in Latino Media Arts & Studies and LGBTQ Studies. He continues to hold the title Distinguished University Professor as adjunct professor at The Ohio State University. He teaches courses on Latinx pop culture, especially focused on the areas of comics, TV, film, animation, and video games in the departments of English and Radio-Television-Film at UT Austin. At the Ohio State University he was Distinguished University Professor, Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor of English, University Distinguished Scholar, and Alumni Distinguished Teacher as well as recipient of the Rodica C. Botoman Award for Distinguished Teaching and Mentoring and the Susan M. Hartmann Mentoring and Leadership Award. He was also founder and director of the award-winning LASER/Latinx Space for Enrichment Research and founder and co-director of the Humanities & Cognitive Sciences High School Summer Institute. In has been inducted into the National Academy of Teachers, National Cartoonist Society, the Texas Institute of Letters, the Ohio State University's Office of Diversity & Inclusion Hall of Fame, and as board of directors for The Academy of American Poets. He sits on the boards for American Library Association Graphic Novel and Comics Round Table, BreakBread Literacy Project, and Ad Astra Media. He is founder and director of UT Austin's BIPOC POP: Comics, Gaming & Animation Arts Expo & Symposium as well as Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Latinx Pop Magazine.

Bibliotherapy is a creative arts therapy that involves storytelling or the reading of specific texts. It uses an individual's relationship to the content of books and poetry and other written words as therapy. Bibliotherapy partially overlaps with, and is often combined with, writing therapy.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literacy in the United States</span>

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The use of comics in education is based on the concept of creating engagement and motivation for students.

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The Create a Comic Project (CCP) is a youth literacy program and webcomic created by John Baird. The program uses comics, many taken from the Internet, to encourage children to write their own narratives. The program began in November 2006 at the main branch of the New Haven Free Public Library as an after-school program. The project has since worked with several other groups, including the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Braddock Carnegie Library, and the Pittsburgh YMCA. Baird has presented the results of his work on the project at several conventions and conferences, including South by Southwest Interactive and SXSWedu. The project has been praised for its work in engaging children in learning by Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson, Professor Mirta Ojito of Columbia University, and Arne Duncan, the US Secretary of Education.

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References

  1. "Pow! Comic Book Classroom project takes on illiteracy in metro schools". Denver Post. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  2. "Our History". Pop Culture Classroom. Archived from the original on 2014-12-22. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
  3. Wenzel, John. "Denver Comic Con goes beyond most sci-fi and fantasy festivals". Denver Post.
  4. "DENVER COMIC CON: CONVENTION HEADS RESPOND TO CO-FOUNDER CHARLIE LA GRECA'S ALLEGATIONS". Westword. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  5. "Education Wrap-Up: Denver Comic Con 2014! (Part 1)". Pop Culture Classroom. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
  6. "Pop Culture Classroom - What we're about!". Pop Culture Classroom. Retrieved 2015-05-26.
  7. "New Pop Culture Convention Coming To Reno". PR Newswire. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  8. "Denver's Pop Culture Con Canceled For 2020". Denver CBS4. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  9. Salkowitz, Rob. "Comic Con-Solidation: Fan Expo HQ Adds Huge Denver Show To Its Portfolio". Forbes. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  10. "Denver Pop Culture Con Changes its Name to FAN EXPO Denver". 303 Magazine. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  11. "Need For After-School". Afterschoolallstars.org. After-School All Stars. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  12. "Champions of Change: The Impact on the Art of Learning" (PDF). The Arts Education Partnership. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  13. "Our Team". Pop Culture Classroom. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  14. "Denver Comic Con 2013: Hey Kids, Come See William Shatner Read 'Where The Wild Things Are'". MTV Geek. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-16.