- Read “Popular Culture Is Killing Writing” by Bronwyn T. Williams. Answer the following questions on OpenLab.
- What did you think of this text? Explain! Be honest! Did you find any parts interesting? Did you learn something new?
- What is it mostly about? Write a 2-3 sentence summary. Be specific. Refer to the text itself. Use quotes even!
- What is the genre of the text? What is the tone?
- Who do you think is the intended audience of the piece? Who is meant to read this text?
- What do you think is the purpose of this text? Why do you think the author wrote it?
- Some people argue that popular culture is killing writing, explain their argument.
- The author disagrees with the argument that popular culture is killing writing. What proof does the author provide that in fact, popular culture is not only killing writing but helps student writing. Provide 1-2 examples.
- Do you agree or disagree with the author’s argument? Explain! Maybe even use examples of your writing to support your argument.
- Think about WHAT you are going to include in your drafts. Begin your drafts. Start to PARAPHRASE, SUMMARIZE and QUOTE from your sources!
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I thought that this text was giving good information and was interesting. I learned that students have know how to analyze characters of books, movies or shows in popular culture. This article is about the misconception of “Popular culture” making students less capable of literacy writing. The text says “For more than a century, common sense has been telling us that popular culture is killing writing.” People believe that the entertainment that young people enjoy is not giving them any knowledge on how to read and write. I would consider the genre of this text to be a article that has a informative tone.
I believe that the intended audience for this text can be teachers who believe that students shouldn’t use their time to the activities they like to enjoy like video games or television. The intended audience can also be students that don’t know that popular culture can teach them about their writing, or the parents of these kids as well. The author wrote this piece of text to inform others and to try to break the myth of believing that popular culture brings the attention of many kids because it is easy to understand. In the text it explains that this is not true “One prevailing myth about popular culture is that it is easy or simple and that’s why young people like it…novel, the reality is that there is no medium or genre in which every work is a masterpiece, and no medium or genre that cannot carry substantial intellectual insights.” meaning that they still have to put in effort to take in what they are observing and what they are reading. Some argue that popular culture is killing writing which is false. This is false because even if it seems easy students still need to learn how to analyze the work that they are interested in. In the reading it states “The reason students read popular culture with facility and enthusiasm, including complex and sophisticated forms, is not a matter of simplicity, it’s a matter of practice. Learning how to navigate any genre takes time and practice to figure out how it works.” Which proves the claim that these students still like to engage in the popular culture but it requires them to have knowledge on reading complex forms of literacy. This supports the authors claim which I agree with. I have seen an example of this “Popular culture” being complex, not in only books like Harry Potter but in works we choose to read about. When I chose a topic to write about that was of my interest it required me to be a bigger thinker and read and analyze multiple sources that were related to my topic of interest.
In the text “Popular culture is killing writing” by Bronwyn T. Williams I did find some interesting things. One part I found interesting was when people say that, “consumers. Across the board, they are convinced that popular culture harms writing because it is too easy to under- stand and students learn nothing from it”. I found this part interesting because I feel like we do learn a lot from popular culture. This text is mostly about that many complain that popular culture is ruining the mind of young people learning to grow as readers and writers. According to the text, “Even though research contradicts these anecdotal experiences, these narratives persist for several reasons. For one thing, research on memory and narrative makes it clear that all of us are notori-ously bad at accurately remembering how we learned things, or how we struggled to learn things, when we were younger”. It goes on by saying how everyone has their own way to learn and popular culture is not what people think it is. I think the genre is a persuasive article because I feel the author is trying to persuade those who feel popular culture is impacting young people in a bad way and why the tone is trying to convince those who don’t agree. The intended audience would be maybe older people who did not grow up with popular culture and social media. The purpose of the text is to explain why popular culture is not killing writing but expanding what we learn. Which is why I feel the author wrote it for those who keep thinking it is just an easier way for young people to learn. Some people think that popular culture is killing writing because they think it is easier for us to use our computers and it causes us to take shortcuts and not learn anything. For example, “Students who read too many comics, watch too much
television, or play too many digital games, according to this narrative, will produce naı̈ve, emotional writing that is riddled with errors”. One example the author provides is, “Literacy rates continue to increase in the U.S., as do the number of words people read and write every year, thanks to the rise in online writing”. Another example is ,” The reason students read popular culture with facility and enthusiasm, including complex and
sophisticated forms, is not a matter of simplicity, it’s a matter of practice. Learning how to navigate any genre takes time and practice to figure out how it works”. I agree with the author’s statement because I feel we have learned a lot of skills from popular culture than we would just doing what we always do. It is not easier but helpful when we need it.
I found some stuff in Bronwyn T. Williams’ text “Popular culture is Killing Writing.” One element that was interesting is when someone said, “consumers.” They believe that popular culture hurts writing because it is too simple to understand and students learn nothing from it.” This section caught my interest because I believe we can learn a lot from popular culture. This text is mainly on how many people claim that popular culture is destroying the minds of young people who are learning to read and write. “Even though scientists don’t agree on these experiences,” the book says, “these non-factual ideas for a lot of reasons.” For one thing, memory and narrative study shows that we’re all recalling how we learned things or how we fight to acquire things when we were younger.”It goes on to state that everyone learns in their own way, and that popular culture is not what people believe it to be. I believe the genre is convincing because I believe the author is attempting to persuade those who believe popular culture has a negative impact on young people, and the tone is trying to persuade those who disagree. Older adults who did not grow up with popular culture and social media would be the target. The text’s goal is to show why popular culture isn’t hurting writing, but rather growing our knowledge. This is why I believe the author wrote it for people who continue to believe that it is simply a more helpful way for young people to learn.
the part that is interesting to me is when the author says “According to researchers on motivation, control over our activities and of the meaning we make of those activities usually increases our motivation to engage in such activities.” student were motivated by something is because they have control over and can set a time when they want to do it. in this text i think it is trying to show how student were not willing to do learn from writing but instead they were willing to spend most of their time reading or playing video games which is too easy and can lead their attention this does not lead them to learn new things. i would say the genre is article because it give many information from the bad perspective and the good perspective. the intended audience of this text would be student and parent because many parent think that popular culture is only for entertainment but what popular culture can teach us is many more that writing. it can make student to be more creative in certain way to show them to others. the purpose of this author is to show and explain that how popular culture does not kill writing which popular culture can have great impact for the future education. some people think that popular culture is killing writing which is not correct because they think popular culture is too entertaining that people will not willing to do more writing but what student is learning from popular culture is exploring their creativity. i agree with the author argument because i learn many skill form popular culture and i think that popular culture would not kill writing which will help student to write.