Spark Summit 2024

We call pieces of literature “classics” when the impact of a story speaks to multiple generations. Unfortunately, as the years increase between the classics we loved when we were young and the students we are teaching now, it can become increasingly difficult to get our students engaged in reading older literature. One way to bridge this era gap is the application of pop culture in the classroom. Pop culture is the media that our students are consuming at a given moment, whether it be through TV, film, music, or social media. These modern mediums capture historical and social moments as they are happening. Like classic pieces of literature, pop culture pieces speak to our human experience and can help us show how the innate human experience crosses decades and generations through the stories we love. We show how teachers can do this using examples such as: - You've Got Mail & Dracula as epistolary texts - American Born Chinese & Frankenstein as frame story - Rosaline & Romeo & Juliet as narrative point of view - Fire Island, Bride & Prejudice, & Pride & Prejudice as classic adaptations