Running Head: POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP

Utilizing Pop Culture to Enhance Instruction of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap

Abigail Letts

LLED 8330e

University of Georgia
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 2

Introduction

This past school year, I dedicated the month of May to reading The Mousetrap with my

sixth grade students in Language Arts. The Mousetrap has been running continuously since

1952, with over 25,000 performances (Moss, 2012, p. 1). With its relatively antiquated language

and complex plot, I was concerned the unit would bore my students. I was pleasantly surprised

by my student’s reactions as we delved into the play. They were enthralled by the plot, and their

suspicions as to who the culprit was became a regular topic of conversations in the hallways and

bathrooms. They seemed satisfied with the experience at the end of the year, but when discussing

characters and events in the play, I noticed that their comprehension was weaker than I

anticipated. Oftentimes, I noticed that, while they had endless predictions and accusations, their

predictions were not evidence based. Although I utilized discussion questions, graphic

organizers, and plot charts to support comprehension in the “typical” ways that I do when

teaching literature, I started to wonder if my students weren’t connecting with the text because of

its antiquated, unfamiliar language usage and style.

As Goyen (2016) points out, my Generation Z students are “the first to have technology

freely available at a very young age, and therefore technology has strongly influenced [them],”

(p. 11). Even prior to exploring pop culture in the classroom through this course, I have always

relied on it as a tool to connect and engage my students to a given text. Alvermann (2011)

supports the incorporation of pop culture into a classroom, stating that “Just as the boundaries

between informal and formal learning around popular culture texts blur in a postmodern world,

so too, do the dividing lines between traditional and new literacies,” (p. 32). My students are

submersed in popular culture outside of the classroom. Through this mode of literacy, they are
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 3

producing, discussing, and processing the world around them. Popular culture is contributing to

the formation of student Discourse, and therefore shaping “social and natural” visions of the

world, (Alvermann, 2011, p. 11). As an educator, the incorporation of popular culture into my

classroom has always been successful. The course readings insist on incorporating such texts as

the lines between modern and traditional literacies continue to blur.

Theoretical Explanation

The meshing of high culture and low culture in an academic setting is one of the most

prevalent changes in education today. Alvermann (2012) explains that “For many years, the idea

of high culture was contrasted to low culture. In some circles, of society, low culture became a

synonym for popular culture.” However, since the 1940s, the lines between high and low culture

have begun to blur, leaving educators with the responsibility of incorporating both aspects into

curriculum. Alvermann supports the supports the incorporation of pop culture into curriculum

when she says that informal learning “co-exists with formal learning rather than being in

contradistinction to it,” (p. 3). Kontovourki (2014) also supports the coexistence of formal and

informal learning (or high and low culture) in her observations of Butterfly, ultimately pointing

out that “the ways school literacy at is intersection with pop culture exert power onto students’

bodies and produce norms and regularities that students take up, subvert, and/or resist.” (p. 11).

Students are immersed in pop culture in every aspect of their lives beyond the classroom, making

it necessary for these elements to become a part of their academic setting as well. Hagood,

Alvermann, & Heron-Hruby (2010) describe the utilitarian model as intending to “use pop

culture to orient students to schooled literacy practices. The purpose is to connect content often

seen as irrelevant to students to their personal lives.” (p. 28). Instruction from this model “seeks
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 4

to deepen students’ understandings of self and others through their analyses and probings of text,

questioning how texts are produced and consumed.” (p. 30). The purpose of my unit plan is to

take a text that is generally classified as high culture and infuse pop culture into it’s instruction.

My hope is to create an “educational experience that has potential for transfer from informal to

formal learning environments,” (Alvermann, 2011, p. 13) and that it will help my students to

comprehend and connect to the story on a deeper level by connecting the text with literacies they

are interested and familiar with. Notably, Alvermann points out that this co-existence of formal

learning and informal learning is most evident in “classrooms in which the intersection of

popular culture texts and traditional and new literacies has already taken place,” as opposed to

classrooms that “question the educational worth of popular culture texts,” (p. 14).

When incorporating pop culture into literacy instruction, it is valuable to note that literacy

has redefined the concept of a text and literacy. Hagood, Alvermann, and Heron-Hruby (2010)

point out that “If young adult books, comics, movies, bands, rap lyrics, fan sites, clothing,

advertisements comprised of images alone, performances, conversations between new

anchors…are just a few examples of texts, broadly defined, is there anything left in every day

culture that isn’t a text?” (p. 15). A wide variety of pop culture “texts” can be utilized in my unit

plan to support my students. It is the role of the audience to negotiate “a producer’s assigned

meaning so that subsequent understanding is neither completely a producer’s assigned meaning

nor completely an audience’s accepted meaning,” (Hagood, Alvermann, & Heron-Hruby, 2010,

p. 15). Additionally, students are now being asked to be critically literate, and “understand the

socially constructed meaning embedded in texts as well as the political and economical contexts

in which texts are embedded,” (Morrell, 2002, p. 2). The lines are blurring regarding both the

definition of texts and meanings, which both demand attention when approaching instruction. It
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 5

is my hope to utilize this redefinition of text and new approach towards analysis and

understanding to create an engaging environment for my students. I hope to incorporate

multimodality to enhance the consumption of The Mousetrap, and add “depth and richness” to

this otherwise “one-sided text,” (Hagood, Alvermann, & Heron-Hruby, 2010, p. 19). Including

pop culture into this unit will help to solidify the development of an interpretive community

within my classroom. The ability to articulate and clarify an interpretation, as well as utilize

evidence for support is a key skill for a middle school student’s targeted development, as well as

their relationships with texts. Kontovourki supports this when she states “literacy education is

inextricably linked to identity work,” (p. 11). By establishing an interpretive community that

invites creativity, and allows students to connect with the play, but also to improve their abilities

to interpret and analyze a wide variety of literature and other texts.

Stepping back to examine these connections, I think it is important to emphasize that

popular culture texts are not valuable unless they are given value within a classroom. Goyen

(2016) shares that “Alexandre O. Philippe said ‘Pop culture is a universal language that manages

in all of its seemingly trivial glory to make us dream and smile, to connect us across racial,

political, and social divides. It is part of our fabric as human beings.’” (p. 5). If Pop culture texts

are categorized as meaningful, useful texts, they will prove to be worthy as such. Alvermann

(2011) reminds us that “literacy practices…that can be integrated into meaningful hybrid

curricula appear to stand a better chance of being considered educational worthy than practices

that lack this integrative element,” (p. 16). If we are able to generate literacy practices that

embrace the blurring between high and low culture, or traditional and nontraditional literacies,

we can create a classroom culture that embraces learning and a group of students who are able to

more effectively engage with curriculum.

POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 6

Unit Plan

After reading the course texts and considering how to best apply these strategies to The

Mousetrap, I generated five activities that could be used in conjunction with the unit. These

activities would go beyond a week long unit due to the time needed to complete each one. The

beauty of these activities is that they don’t have to be taught in a particular order, and can be

incorporated at any time while reading the play. They are simply intended to enhance the

methods of instruction previously used in hopes of creating an environment where my students

are more engaged and able to comprehend the plot more fully.

Many of these activities require the use of technology. I am fortunate to teach in a 1:1

classroom, where each of my students has access to their own Chromebook. Blikstad-Balas &

Davies (2017) support the use of technology in the classroom, suggesting that it “leads to the

development of 21st century skills that will prove vital to the future success of students, once out

in the workplace,” (p. 5). Additionally, it is valuable to keep Digiphrenia in mind when

incorporating technology into curriculum. Goyen (2016) points out that “we have created a world

where we strive to exist in more than one domain.” While this can seem like a negative, she

suggests that “we should ultimately use these communication tools to our benefit, and not to

succumb to be used by them. Today, there is evidence that suggests that the benefits of social

media incorporation and development in school settings outweigh the costs,” (p. 7). This

supports that, just as the incorporation of pop culture is vital to the health of one’s classroom, it

is also important to incorporate technology when possible. In the unit plan, I have noted the

predicted duration of that activity, as well as when I envision it occurring during the course of

the unit as a whole, the activity, a description, resources needed, as well as a connection to

course texts.
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP
Lesson Plans
Duration Activity Description
1 day. Creating Music helps students
I envision playlists to connect academic with internet Heron-Hruby describe
this portray key experiences to their
activity events personal lives (Hagood,
occurring Alvermann, & Heron-
after Hruby, 2010, p. 39), and
reading therefore helps with
the play in comprehension and
it’s understanding. My vision
entirety. for this activity is that it
would be completed at
the end of the play. Just
as movies are
accompanied by a
soundtrack, students will
have the opportunity to
create a soundtrack for
The Mousetrap. This
activity will require
students to list major
events in the play and
consider which of these
events they feel are worth
featuring in their
soundtrack. Once they
have chosen those events,
they will utilize a music
library such as Spotify to
chose a song that
exemplifies the moment.
In their writer’s
notebook, they can create
a chart for each song
with four boxes. Box one
can describe the event,
7
Resources Connection to course
texts
Computer Hagood, Alvermann, &
access, the benefit of random
writing access instruction,
notebooks which involves
“providing students with
multiple multimodal
representations of a
concept- in the form of
explanations, analogies,
and other dimensions of
critical thinking- so that
the students revisit the
concept from a variety
of vantage points.” (p.
54). The creation of
playlists in this activity
and use of multimodal
texts allows students to
relate events in the play
to songs that they can
easily connect to and
enjoy listening to.
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP
box two will list the
song, box three will list
meaningful lyrics from
the song, and box four
will describe the
connection between the
song and the event in the
play. Students will
complete a chart for each
event/song that they
choose. (chart modified
from Hagood,
Alvermann, & Heron-
Hruby, 2010, p. 40-41).
2 days. Casting As a way to help Computers
I envision The visualize and more with internet
this Moustrap: deeply relate to the
activity The Movie characters in the play,
occurring students will spend a few
after Act days casting current
1, when all actors and actresses for
of the the roles. In groups of
characters two to three, students
have been will be asked to create a
introduced visual presentation
, and (preferably powerpoint or
students prezi) casting an actor for
have had each role. Each slide
time to get should include the name
a grasp of of the actor, a picture,
their roles they have played,
individual and an explanation as to
personaliti why these roles have
es. prepared them for the
role in The Mousetrap.
Students will have one
full day in class to
prepare, and the second
day will be used to finish
8
This activity requires
students to critically
access analyze a variety of
sources (Hagood,
Alvermann, & Heron-
Hruby, 2010, p. 49).
Hagood, Alvermann,
and Heron-Hruby
emphasize that
interpretation is “the act
of searching for
understanding, a
reconciling of what
seems obvious and
transparent to a reader at
a given point in time
and what the reader
perceives to be still
unknown.” (p. 50).
Alvermann (2012) also
points out that “popular
culture texts are neither
inscribed with meaning
guaranteed once and for
all to reflect a
producer’s intentions,
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 9

presentations, and then nor are they owned

share with the class. solely by creative and
subversive audiences,”
(p. 3). Both of these
statements support that
student’s interpretations
of a particular character
(or any portion of a text)
should not be devalued,
but instead embraced.
Interpretations can be
more readily made with
the support of a popular
culture text such as a
film or television show.
3-4 days Stop Students will utilize stop Stop Motion Goyen (2016) suggests
This could Motion motion animation software, that “engaging students
happen Animation software to recreate a computers into learning activities
throughout major scene in The with internet that are multimodal in
the Mousetrap. I originally access, nature can give the
reading of envisioned this activity Legos, craft students options and the
the play, using the scene of Mrs. supplies power to utilize the most
or at the Boyle’s death. However, familiar resources,
end. it could be done with any contexts, and mediums,”
of the pivotal “moments” (p. 9). In this case,
in the play. Students will students are using
be allowed to work in familiar tools such as
groups of 2-3, and will be Legos, as well as a
required to plan what software program which
scene/moment they lends an additional
would like to recreate. familiar medium will
Students will be provided help to create a more
with Legos for their active engagement. I
scenes, but have the could easily just ask the
option of utilizing their students to draw a map
own materials to create of the stage, or reenact a
the scene. Students will specific pivotal moment.
be given 2-3 days to However, utilizing these
work, and we will put the familiar tools will help
scenes in order for a my students to connect
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP
“viewing party” on the
last day. (Idea modified
from Christiane Wood’s
Twitter account, post
from May 11, 2017).
1 day Rap Students will step into
This could Battles the shoes of a character
happen at Between of their choice, and instrumental
any point Characters prepare for a stand off
while with another suspect.
reading Rather than simply
the play. explaining why they are
innocent, students will
create a rap,
incorporating an
accusation of the other
character as well as a text
based alibi. (Idea
modified from
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=gcrQvoCzs8
0)
10
more closely with the
play.
Paper, Hagood, Alvermann,
pencil, and Heron-Hruby
suggest that “in order to
music for teach, you must go
rap if backstage and find out
needed students’ feelings and
interests, being mindful
that learning should be
connected to their social
experiences. We live in
a media driven world
where entertainers have
a significant influence
on the cultural identities,
norms, and beliefs of
many adolescents,” (p.
39). My students
connect and engage with
rap music constantly. It
is my thought that a way
to help them more
deeply understand a
character and their
motivations would be to
do so through a medium
by which they regularly
interact with.
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 11

2-3 days, Fan Fiction Just as Agatha Christi Computer Hagood, Alvermann,
completed short created a number of with internet and Heron Hruby
at any stories stories following her access, remind us that “fan
point following a classic detective, Hercule writing fictions depend for their
while specific Pirot, students will have notebooks, effectiveness on young
reading character the opportunity to create copies of people’s creativity in
the play or a “fan fiction” mystery The cutting, remixing, and
at the end about a chosen character. Mousetrap pasting original texts,”
The story will allow (p. 23). Fan fiction also
students to develop a forces students to “have
deeper understanding of audiences in mind when
a specific character, as they create stories that
well as apply various challenge dominant
elements of mysteries representations of
taught throughout the gender, ethnicity, and
unit. Students will have sexuality in the
2-3 days to write their media…This critical
story, will post it on a component can focus
class blog, and, in whole-group discussions
standard fan fiction during a lesson on
fashion, will have the critical media literacy,”
opportunity to receive (p. 44). Writing Fan
critiques from their fiction allows students
classmates. the opportunity to
develop a deeper
understanding of their
chosen character, while
also practicing writing
to their audience.

Rubrics

Playlist

Objective Unsatisfactory Needs Improvement Exceeds Points

Expectations Earned
Creativity Song selections Song selections are Song selections are ___/10
appear random intentionally thought intentionally
or not fully out, but may not thought out. Songs
thought out. apply directly to the are unique, and
Creative text in a way that is connections to the
connections to clear. text are thoughtful.
the text are
lacking.
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 12

Connection to The A connection to Songs appear to Songs apply to ___/10

Mousetrap The Mousetrap apply to The event in The
is not apparent. Mousetrap, but the Mousetrap in a
connection is not clear, thoughtful
fully made. manner. Each song
Description is is accompanied by
lacking detail or a thorough,
explanation. distinctive
description.
Organization Playlist is not Playlist follows the Playlist is ___/5
organized. Chart chart, but may lack organized in a
provided in an intentional order, distinctive, obvious
class is not or distinctive manner. The chart
utilized. organization. provided in class is
utilized and fully
completed.
Grammar/Mechanics Multiple Several grammatical Few to no errors in ___/5
grammatical errors. Errors do not grammar and
errors which interfere with the mechanics. Errors
interfere with purpose of the do not interfere
the purpose of assignment. with purpose of the
the assignment. assignment.
Total ___/30

Casting The Mousetrap: The Movie

Objective Unsatisfactory Needs Exceeds Points Earned

Improvement Expectations
Creativity Casting choices Casting is Casting is ___/10
seem random unique, but unique, clearly
and lack lacks creative orthought out, and
intentional critical thinking.
shows creative,
thought or critical
explanation. thinking.
Connection to The Few to no actors Most actors are Each actor is ___/10
Mousetrap are paired with a paired with a paired with a
clear, text based clear, text based clear, text based
explanation that explanation that explanation that
connects them connects them connects them
to the play. to the play. to the play.
Organization Presentation is Presentation is Presentation is ___/5
not organized. It fairly organized, organized, easy
is difficult to but is difficult to read, and
read and not to read or not visually
visually visually appealing.
appealing. appealing.
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 13

Grammar/Mechanics Multiple Several Few to no ___/5

grammatical grammatical errors in
errors which errors. Errors do grammar and
interfere with not interfere mechanics.
the purpose of with the Errors do not
the assignment. purpose of the interfere with
assignment. purpose of the
assignment.
Total ___/30

Stop Motion Animation

Objective Unsatisfactory Needs Exceeds Points Earned

Improvement Expectations
Creativity Scene is not Scene is well Scene is ___/10
well planned or planned and exceptionally
executed. executed. Set well planned
Important design could and executed.
details and use more Set design is
interpretations details, and the well planned,
are lacking. scene lacks and the scene
certain details offers a unique
included in the interpretation of
script. the script.
Connection to The A connection to Script is Clear ___/10
Mousetrap the play is not followed in a connection to
apparent. general sense, the play is made
Important but lacks by
details are left specific details incorporation of
out, parts of the from the plot. specific details
scene do not from the script.
follow the
script.
Organization The scene is not The scene is The scene is ___/5
well executed. well executed executed in a
Important but has certain fluid, timely
events are timing issues. manner. The
mixed up or Important scene follows
excluded. details are the original
excluded, or the script in terms
timing of of timing and
certain events execution.
are mixed up.
Grammar/Mechanics Multiple Several Few to no ___/5
grammatical grammatical errors in
errors which errors. Errors do grammar and
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 14

interfere with not interfere mechanics.

the purpose of with the Errors do not
the assignment. purpose of the interfere with
assignment. purpose of the
assignment.
Total___/30

Rap Battle

Objective Unsatisfactory Needs Exceeds Points Earned

Improvement Expectations
Creativity Rap lacks Rap utilizes Rap strongly ___/10
details and details embodies the
characteristics surrounding the character and
from the play. play and the details
Details from the character, but regarding the
rap are does not fully play.
irrelevant to the personify the
character or character.
script.
Connection to The Rap is not Rap is Rap is ___/10
Mousetrap relevant to the developed using developed using
script or the text based text based
characters. evidence. evidence. The
Details are not text is
referenced referenced
throughout the specifically
rap. throughout the
rap.
Organization Delivery of Delivery of Ideas are ___/5
ideas are not ideas is mostly delivered in a
methodical and methodical, but methodical way
lack direction. certain aspects that creates a
of the rap lack clear, concise
direction. message.
Grammar/Mechanics Multiple Several Few to no ___/5
grammatical grammatical errors in
errors which errors. Errors do grammar and
interfere with not interfere mechanics.
the purpose of with the Errors do not
the assignment. purpose of the interfere with
assignment. purpose of the
assignment.
Total ___/30
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 15

Fan Fiction
Objective Unsatisfactory Needs Exceeds Points Earned
Improvement Expectations
Creativity Assignment Assignment Assignment ___/10
does not show a shows an offers a unique
thorough understanding take on a
understanding of a character specific
of the mystery and the genre, character and
genre or a but lacks a the mystery
specific unique genre. A
character. Ideas presentation of thorough
shared lack the concept. understanding
unique, critical of both aspects
thinking. is represented.
Connection to The Character does Character in fan Character in fan ___/10
Mousetrap not relate to fiction is clearly fiction is clearly
character from correlated with correlated with
the original character from character from
script. Details original scene, original scene.
from the play however details Student uses
are not utilized from original details from
or built upon. script are original script
lacking. to support their
writing
Organization Story is not Story is mostly Story is clear, ___/5
clear, concise, clear, concise, concise, and
nor easy to and easy to easy to follow.
follow. Story follow. Story Story
does not mostly incorporates
incorporate incorporates aspects of the
aspects of the aspects of the mystery genre.
mystery genre. mystery genre.
Grammar/Mechanics Multiple Several Few to no ___/5
grammatical grammatical errors in
errors which errors. Errors do grammar and
interfere with not interfere mechanics.
the purpose of with the Errors do not
the assignment. purpose of the interfere with
assignment. purpose of the
assignment.
Total ___/30
POP CULTURE AND THE MOUSETRAP 16

References

Alvermann, D.E. (2011) Popular culture and literacy practices. In M.L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, E.
B. Moje, & P. P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research: Volume IV, pp. 541-560.
New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Alvermann, D. E. (2012). Is there a place for popular culture in curriculum and classroom
instruction? [The point position.] In A.J. Eakle (Ed.), Curriculum and Instruction (Volume 2, pp.
214-220, 227-228). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Avalon, W. (2014). SNOW WHITE vs ELSA: Princess Rap Battle (Whitney Avalon ft. Katja
Glieson). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcrQvoCzs80

Blikstad-Balas, M. & Davies, C. (2017). Assessing the educational value of one-to-one devices:
Have we been asking the right questions? Oxford Review of Education. University of Oslo,
Norway: Routledge.

Hagood, M., Alvermann, D.E, & Hruby, A. (2010). Bring it to class: Unpacking pop culture in
literacy learning (The Practitioner's Bookshelf). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Goyen, C. (2016). Does pop culture and literacy influence an international students' motivation
to learn or achieve academic success within the US higher education system?

Kontovourki, S. (2014). Backstage performances: A third grader’s embodiments of pop culture

and literacy in a public school classroom. Literacy, 48, 4-13.

Morrell, E. (2002). Toward a critical pedagogy of popular culture: Literacy development among
urban youth. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,46(1), 72-77.

Moss, S. (2012). The Mousetrap at 60: why is this the world's longest-running play? Retrieved
June 16, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/nov/20/mousetrap-60-years-
agatha-christie

Wood, C. (2017, May 11). Stop motion animation [Twitter moment]. Retreived from
https://twitter.com/christianewood?lang=en