Describes four ways (and several class activities) to make the meanings of media texts more visible to students while teaching the basics of critical theory. Analyzes (1) codes and conventions of language; (2) personal pleasure, understandings, and experience; (3) cultural, ideological meanings; and (4) commercial overtones and economic…

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)

An attempt is made to show how at-risk students can increase their literacy skills through reading film as text by connecting classical Greek and Elizabethan theater to contemporary film. Films that feature violence are utilized by students to increase their literacy skills and also reach a critical awareness of the impact of violence in our…

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)

Lists 101 ways to use television, radio, film, and other media-related processes and products in the English classroom. (JL)

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

Summarizes sources on popular culture which can be used in designing a composition course centered around a mass culture theme. (MM)

Notes that the primary goal for teaching literature is to encourage students to see themselves as having a voice in the question of what constitutes literary merit by defining reasonable parameters by which to judge a creative work. Discusses how the author uses comic books in most of his composition classes and all of his literature classes. (SG)

Describes how a nine-week mini-course in science fiction and fantasy stimulated students to think critically and creatively and to make connections across disciplines. Notes that the mini-course was replaced by a required survey of the British classics, sacrificing critical literacy for cultural literacy. (RS)

Focuses on American Indian and Afro-American oral tradition to explore the substance and potential pedagogic value of American oral literature. Stresses the literary value of modern folk literature, including popular songs and rhetoric. (Author/JB)

Argues that educators must acknowledge that television has the power to elicit student empathy and that students want to understand television's power to move them. Describes three kinds of television analysis: individual detailed logs of text; group dialogue about television programing; and researched essays documenting and interpreting details…

Presents three assignment sequences--covering both canonical and noncanonical stories, mini-anthologies, and novels--that encourage secondary school students to think critically about the concept of literature. Notes that students can learn to analyze literature critically by comparing both canonical and noncanonical texts. (MM)

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)