Using Popular Culture To Reach and Teach Our Students

From my earliest days as a classroom teacher, I tried to use elements of popular culture to reach and to teach my students. I admit to not being very good at it at the beginning, but over time I learned how to stay in tune with my students by staying in tune with what they were interested in. I used popular music, sports, movies, books to help me. Today, it is so much easier because we can use Google to help us gather information and then figure out how to capture the moment and teach essential skills using those interests. It doesn't matter what the tool is that we use. The important thing is figuring out how to use that stimulus to induce the learning of basic skills.