I have a question and I'm not sure who to ask, so I
thought I would look here for advice.
I'm a first year teacher, and I did a lesson on Andy
Warhol this week with a group of third graders. We
read the book "A Visit to Uncle Andy's" by James
Warhola and I showed them a couple of images of Andy
Warhol, the Campbell's soup cans and the Marilyn and
Elvis prints. In our discussion we talked about the
meaning of the term "pop culture" and I thought that
next week we would do a project where they did a
Marilyn type print (there is a lesson plan at the site
for the Warhol museum that suggests using a
transparency and letting them do some underpainting in
the same way that Warhol would have painted the canvas
and then screenprinted the image on top).
So here is the crux of my dilemma: when we talked
about pop culture I asked them for suggestions as to
who they thought Andy Warhol would paint now if he
were still alive and I thought I would make
transparencies of images of THEIR pop culture icons
for the lesson next week. On the upside, they totally
got it and came up with some great suggestions: Chris
Rock, Raven, Drake Bell, etc. but they also suggested
some people that aren't exactly role models - like 50
cent. (just FYI: 50 cent is a controversial rapper
with raunchy lyrics and was the star of the film "get
rich or die tryin'" for which some billboards were
banned.)
So, while I'm mindful of the fact that neither Elvis
nor Marilyn Monroe were exactly stellar role models in
their time, my question is do I censor the project by
elimating these celebrities of questionable character
, or do I roll with it and appreciate the fact they
got the point and DID choose what they consider to be
their pop culture icons whether I approve of them or
not.
Keep in mind this is elementary level - 3rd grade in a
public school.
I look forward to hearing all of your opinions.
Thanks!
chris massingill
in Central Arkansas
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