Five teachers respond to the title question, providing literary analysis of the cult film and explanations for its appeal. (RL)

Students use analyzing themes in song lyrics, rhetorical devices in essays and advertisements, and psychology in contemporary film, to improve their skills in critical thinking and writing. Popular culture is deduced to have an important place in English curricula.

A whimsical personal narrative that explores the image educators have of prime time television and its effect on the author. (CRH)

Students' out-of-school literacy practices can complement in-school speaking and writing, if the teacher knows how to instill them. A professor analyzes how one student writes an essay and a rap on the same subject and recommends bringing hip-hop culture into the classroom to help students become academically successful.

Examines a very successful popular magazine published between 1899 and 1950 that was devoted to "correct" English usage. Argues that its fundamental aim was to help its readers to know how to conduct themselves in proper (i.e., elite) society. Its longtime editor defended her prescriptive view of English usage and offered many…

Argues that using parallels between popular culture and the classics in literature brings greater understanding and appreciation of literature to students. (RL)

Warns that schools must make sure that students are aware of the relationship between reality and image, particularly the image presented by television. (JL)

Reports on a class activity in which students wrote letters to leaders and personalities in the fields of art, literature, and politics to solicit bits of their "trash" for a student art show. (RL)

Cites episodes from "The Bill Cosby Show,""Family Ties," and "Hill Street Blues" to suggest the humanizing potential of television. (EL)

Discusses the ways that middle school English teachers can use popular teen culture within the context of general English instruction. Suggests bringing television, film, comics, advice columns, and teen magazines into the English classroom. (HB)

Proposes a study of "Citizen Kane" in high school using a somewhat simplified version of post-modern literary critical theory. Chooses this film because of its familiarity and accessibility and because the ambiguity and indeterminacy of its text allow room for exploration by students. (NKA)

Describes the wide variety of personal statements and "mini-poems" on personalized license plates. Suggests that having students collect such statements might be a way of teaching them about the creative potential of language. (EL)

Two educators express their opinions on the relative merits of a traditional English curriculum v one that includes popular culture. (RL)

Argues that the role of English teachers has been expanded and "decentered" at the same time. Maintains that English teachers' practices should be based not only on the book of traditional literacy but also on ones combined with video, audio, and graphics whose text is linked by multiple paths. (SR)

Examines several novels, short stories, and movies in a mini-course on the image of rural America in popular culture to determine if the idyllic picture of country life sometimes favored in the media leads to a mythologizing of country life. (NKA)