This collection of essays grew out of the "Reading Stephen King Conference" held at the University of Maine in 1996. Stephen King's books have become a lightning rod for the tensions around issues of including "mass market" popular literature in middle and high school English classes and of who chooses what students read.…

Discusses two paperback books, "The Malacia Tapestry" and "The Shattered Chain," that are written with a junk-fiction formula yet have serious themes. Contends that teachers may find the books useful in motivating thoughtful nonreaders. (FL)

Traces the barrel in history through language, literature, poetry, music, art, and architecture. Includes examples and anecdotes of barrels in movies, television, and recreation. Illustrates the impact of the barrel on U.S. culture. Emphasizes that the importance of such an example of technology cannot be adequately measured. (DK)

Richard Gambino's "Blood of My Blood" was of help to a writing instructor coming to terms with the role that her Italian ethnicity played in her life and education. Gambino's understanding of the inner tensions experienced by an individual who must negotiate between two cultures has helped the instructor in teaching working-class and…

In the writing classroom, students and instructors alike must not only theorize experience but must also experience theory. This is no easy task, for despite cultural studies' emphasis on the "subjective side of social relations," contemporary theory is heavily directed toward signifying practices, and, as Lawrence Grossberg argues,…

Issues that concern a culture are frequently reflected in the myths or stories that it tells. Education of its children frequently has caused discussion and debate in American society on topics such as "keeping up" with the Russians or whether test scores are higher or lower than five or ten years ago. Since television has become an influential…

Study analyzed 60 years of motion pictures to construct a theory of curriculum in the movies. Hollywood's ideal teachers were those who shared character traits found consistently in the films, traits that cut across traditional film genres and persisted over time. Good teachers in the movies used a distinctive curricular approach. (SM)

In his films, Spike Lee proclaims the existence of a dynamic and multifaceted African-American society, but he consistently delimits a peripheral role for African-American women, subordinate to that of the African-American man. Lee's work will fall short of its potential until it reflects the inherent value of African-American women. (SLD)

Examines Houston Baker's argument for rap music's place in academe. Baker suggests rap as being one of the most creative and productive forms of cultural expression to come along in some time warranting the same kind of scholarly attention afforded the works of history's most noted philosophers and poets. (GLR)

Argues that art education does not meet its objective of creativity and instead is replicative rather than original. Contends educational journals such as "Instructor" and "Good Apple" reduce fine art to its antithesis, popular art. Concludes that art educators must work diligently to protect fine art from becoming "dumb…

Proposes a cultural model with alternative narratives for education that considers student and teacher diversity. The article highlights black culture, discussing why it is in the best interest of the global community to recreate the current mainstream narratives, thus helping teachers reclaim their own landscapes by employing alternative…

Discusses media literacy in Australia, where it is an integral component of school literacies from K-12. Discusses the teaching of analytic skills to develop strategies for thinking about the meanings media transmit and the meanings viewers construct for themselves. Describes classroom activities involving the studies of texts, audiences, media…

Reviews essays by Raymond Williams, which explain how, within the context of a 150-year literary history, rural stereotypes have been constructed and imbedded within a collective consciousness by a form of cultural colonization. Suggests that Williams' insights can help rural education researchers think outside the conventional wisdom that…

Using the methods of cultural criticism to analyze the images of Blacks prevalent in American popular culture, this book examines possible connections between the finite and often distorted range of depictions of Blacks, especially prevalent in the mass media, to the treatment that they receive in contemporary society. The book looks at the way…

Everyone sees through advertisements, yet no one is immune from their appeal. In a writing class the students were able to look at ads without being injured or seduced by them, but doubted that others could do the same. It is important to encourage students to discuss what they actually think about writings rather than what they are supposed to…