Today's students tweet, text, and navigate apps up to 12 hours each day, but they may not know how to effectively analyze a TV show or website. Award-winning author Renee Hobbs demonstrates how to incorporate media literacy into the secondary classroom, providing the tools teachers need to: (1) Effectively foster students' critical thinking,…

This book offers ideas that secondary teachers, university content faculty, and teacher educators can use to challenge traditional literacy practices and demonstrate creative, innovative ways of incorporating new literacies into the classroom, all within a strong theoretical framework. Teachers are trying to catch up to the new challenges of the…

Shows how adolescent femininity is constructed in 34 adolescent romance novels written from 1942-1982. Most feature the "good girl" characterized by filial obedience and adherence to male-dominated romantic conduct, although sixties and seventies novels showed strain in gender relations. Narrative versions of femininity are fictional…

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

Rap, a popular music that emerged in the United States during the 1980s and 90s, is described as a creation of young African American culture. It belongs to a centuries old legacy of using language creatively in everyday life. The roots of the music are seen as part of the African-American oral and musical traditions that encompass the hidden…

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)

Designed to combine with studies in various disciplines, such as history, costume, language, dance, music, and social studies, the 10 plays in this book are drawn from the fount of American folklore and popular culture. They range from European, African, and Asian folktales recast in New World settings to the mythology associated with real-life…

Describes the criteria a high school music teacher used to select music for a new non-traditional class titled "Pop Band." Lists criteria that each song must have: playability, special feature, popular appeal, variety, artist's qualification, and appropriateness. Students took an active role in the decision-making process. (GG)

Discusses a case study of how experienced social studies teachers convey the concepts that comprise the curriculum. Reports that researchers observed 3 teachers for 20 hours each. Describes a preference among the teachers for anthropomorphic, familial, and popular culture references. Explains that visual representations were used only as passing…

This teacher's guide accompanies the four videos ("Born to Trouble: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"; "The Shock of the Nude: Manet's Olympia"; "Hollywood Censored: Movies, Morality and the Production Code"; and "The Devil's Music: 1920s Jazz") of the PBS "Culture Shock" series. The guide suggests that the videos could be used in the…

This teaching guide reflects the belief that popular music is an effective tool for teachers to use in presenting social studies lessons to students. Titles of songs representative of popular music from 1955 to 1982 are listed by subject matter and suggest a possible lesson to be used in teaching that particular issue. Subject areas listed…

Based on Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that some fictional literary characters become so famous that they enter popular culture in other forms (movies, games, toys); and that working on a product such as a game often demands collaborative effort. The main activity of the…

Suggests an alternative approach for a popular culture course--an exploration of the culture of the students' parents, or "unpopular" culture. Possible activities for a unit include: interviews (on entertainment preferences, for example), observations (dress codes for social gatherings, parental food and drink habits, etc.), or an attic…

Discusses fictional media portrayals of crimefighting, such as Superman and Dick Tracy programs, that often constitute civil rights violations. Describes a learning activity that calls upon students to observe and log such portrayals and evaluate them critically. Suggests sources of program materials and lists other activities on the topic. (SG)

Examines the images of war represented by popular recordings. Divides the century into four periods based on wars: 1914-38, 1939-63, 1964-89, and 1990-91. Reports that the popular image of the United States at war as represented in music has been positive for all periods except Vietnam, although each period had its share of protest. Lists…