Visual literacy—the ability to interpret and create visual images—is an important 21st century skill. Kids are exposed to imagery from the internet, video games, television, film, and advertisements every day, and it is important that they are able to think critically...

In the 1930’s, when American comics first made the jump from newspaper strips to comic books, they were a smash success with young readers.  The synthesis of images and text in a juxtaposed narrative was accessible, engaging, and entertaining. However, early comics...

    Teaching math is an art. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I’ve been doing it for 31 years, and I’m here to tell you that if you’re in front of a classroom in the old-fashioned way, the “sage on the stage” as it were, you’d better have a rhythm like a...

By bringing pop culture into our classrooms as educators, we’re all trying to do the same thing - increase student engagement. But there’s another “e” that we need to be worried about as well: empowerment. Those are the two hills that STEM teachers face daily -...

Representation matters! It’s more than just a hashtag—it’s a fact. When children (and adults) fail to see characters who remind them of themselves represented in the media they consume, they often feel unimportant or invisible, a phenomenon sociologists have termed...

If you haven’t already figured it out, this blog is a place for teachers to explore new and innovative ideas about teaching with texts that they might, otherwise, not consider “academic” in a traditional sense. In particular, we talk a lot about teaching with comics...

At Denver Comic Con 2018, we premiered the first issue of our new comic book, which features short stories geared toward children 6 and up! The Greatest Team Ever is about a group of young friends who figure out how to face their real-life problems by imagining...

One of the highlights of attending the educational panels at C2E2 this year was watching my friend Adam interview famed horror author, R.L. Stine. The interview, some of which you can watch here, showed Mr. Stine to be humble, funny, and genuinely endearing. It also...

What’s your favorite Harry Potter book? Do you remember what it felt like when you first read it? Well, at Denver Comic Con this year, Scholastic is hoping to help you feel that magic and excitement all over again, right in our Pop Culture Classroom Kids’...

Join Corellian Droidworks in the Pop Culture Classsroom Kids’ Laboratory this year to learn what goes into creating these real-life technologies from a galaxy far, far away!  What’s Corellian Droidworks? A local Star Wars fan club, it was started by small group of...

Another exciting feature of our 2018 Pop Culture Classroom Kids’ Laboratory are our fun-filled Activity Areas, the STEAM Lab and the Crafts and Experiments Zone. We are so excited to bring these areas back into action for Denver Comic Con attendees in 2018! Be sure to...

The Pop Culture Classroom Kids’ Lab at Denver Comic Con is beyond excited to host another year of wonderful panels all weekend long! This year’s panel lineup is jam-packed with all sorts of amazing content, and we look forward to experiencing it with you during DCC...

We at Pop Culture Classroom are excited to announce the winners of our Kids’ Comics Contest 2018!  Every year, we host a Comics Contest to highlight the talent and work of young artists in the area. Their work is reviewed based on art and storytelling by a panel of...

The PCC Kids’ Lab is back in action and bigger than ever! Each day of Denver Comic Con, we’ll be offering fans of all ages the chance to take part in a nonstop slate of fun, interactive and engaging activities right on the show floor. For 2018, we’re so excited to...

The Pop Culture Classroom Kids’ Laboratory is back in action for Denver Comic Con 2018! Don’t know what the PCC Kids’ Lab is? It’s only 9,000 square feet of pop culture-based educational fun for kids and teens – not to mention the most fun you’ll have all summer long!...

There’s never been a stronger demand for diverse characters than now, and the comic book industry seems to be listening and responding in kind, giving readers the chance to see themselves and their personal experiences reflected in the pages of their favorite (or...

Are you new to using pop culture in education? Or are you well-versed in the pairing, looking to brush up your skills? Either way, we invite you to attend Educator’s Day at Denver Comic Con 2018.  This year, Educator’s Day is the first day of the con, Friday, June...

We’re excited to be offering ED 589 for another year at Denver Comic Con! If you haven’t heard about it previously, ED 589 is a course offered exclusively at Denver Comic Con in partnership with Adams State University. The course is Enhancing Education Through Pop...

To start in a seemingly off-topic place: I like to tell my students that we study Shakespeare in an adapted format more often than we study Shakespeare in his original, intended medium. Shakespeare intended his plays to be performed and experienced primarily as a...

My earliest memories of holding a pencil were as a 4-year-old, drawing the same stick figure character on recycled computer paper from my dad’s office (probably with proprietary company secrets on them). I was drawing different things in boxes (which I later found out...

All educators need to be teachers of reading, no matter their class level or subject area. As comics, graphic novels, and superhero movies become increasingly more popular, they become an easy way to engage students in the classroom. However, using comics is not just...

The term “strong female character” gets tossed around so often, but many representations of women in media aren't necessarily all that progressive or empowering. Women aren’t as frequently represented as men, either: Looking at statistics from the past few years, only...

Beginning in April, Pop Culture Classroom is offering a variety of pop culture themed workshops, designed for a number of age groups (and even a few directed at adults). And speaking of adults, this is one just for you!  If you’re interested in designing your own...

I am sure that most of you by now have heard the term “autism awareness” and you probably know that there is a national autism awareness month every April. It was so declared by the Autism Society in April of 1970 and its intent was to educate the public about Autism...

Beginning this month, Pop Culture Classroom is offering FREE drop-in times in our new classroom! These drop-ins are a time for students, ages 8-18, to come over to Pop Culture Classroom, hang out and create with our resources. We want to provide students with a safe...

As educators begin to embrace comic books, graphic novels and other aspects of pop-culture as teaching tools, we often get the question about whether any of these materials are useful for teaching STEM. The answer is YES! This is number 3, in our articles featuring...