Pop Culture Media as Curricular Text

Designing an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Seminar Using Abbott Elementary

Bibliographic Data

ID22044648
AuthorsSara Jones (0000-0003-4789-4948, Illinois State University, corresponding author), Kountiala J Some (0009-0003-3424-0432, Illinois State University)
Year2024
Volume14
Issue11
Pages1241
Publication date2024-11-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducation Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/educsci14111241
OpenAlexW4404296413
LanguageEN
References cited18

Abbott Elementary, the Emmy-award winning mockumentary-style comedy television show, chronicles the day-to-day efforts of a group of teachers in a Philadelphia public elementary school who, despite the odds stacked against them, are determined to help their students succeed. With humor and heart, the show also uncovers some of the larger policy issues at play in U.S. urban public education, such as teacher shortages, school funding, and school choice. This essay describes the development of an interdisciplinary Honors seminar for undergraduate students at a large, public university in the Midwest U.S. that used episodes of Abbott Elementary as a central curricular text to support students in analyzing current policy issues in urban education. Drawing on Giroux’s concept of media as public pedagogy, this essay details how the course design employed a critical intersectional multiculturalism cultural studies approach to create opportunities for students to engage in a multiperspectival analysis, including (1) an understanding of political culture, (2) textual analysis, and (3) audience reception. Implications and recommendations are made for selecting and integrating popular culture media as curricular text in interdisciplinary coursework

Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Sociology · Digital Storytelling and Education · Literacy, Media, and Education · Psychology

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