This research investigated the impact popular novels have on knowledge about and attitudes towards Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), compared to that of traditional college textbooks. Study 1 found that participants in the novel condition chose fewer correct and fewer incorrect responses to questions about ASD. Participants did not differ in their…

Current K-12 and undergraduate students have grown up with constant exposure to visual popular culture (e.g., movies, TV programs, graphic novels, etc.). Because youth find pop culture references in the classroom to be engaging, many science and engineering instructors have shown that examples found in visual pop culture can be used to teach…

This paper focuses on an advanced Spanish literature seminar I taught at Kansas State University dedicated entirely to Cervantes's "Don Quijote de la Mancha." In an effort to appeal to twenty-first-century students in rural Kansas, I designed my seminar to explore traditional questions of authorship, translation and reading, metafiction,…

This paper captures the design of a comprehensive curriculum incorporating the four skills based exclusively on the use of parallel audio-visual and written texts. We discuss the use of authentic materials to teach English to Indian undergraduates aged 18 to 20 years. Specifically, we talk about the use of parallel reading (screen-play) and…

The article debuts and explains "PIM" pedagogy, a construct for teaching comics at the secondary- and post-secondary levels and for deep reading/studying comics. The PIM model for considering comics is actually based in major precepts of education studies, namely constructivist foundations of learning, and loosely unifies constructs…

It began with a trip to the cinema to see Cameron Diaz in her new comedy, "Bad Teacher." It was a bad choice. Not a great flick, but as a parody of bad employees, in terms of things that can get one fired--drugs, alcohol , cheating, foul language, inappropriate sexual behavior--Diaz slams pedal to the metal. She nips out of airline booze bottles…

Adopting the multiliteracy concept and embracing the challenge of developing meaningful and captivating classes for Portuguese as Foreign Language in Brazil, this paper proposes an approach which includes the use of different technologies to learn and teach Portuguese, the reading of graphic novel adaptations of Brazilian literature classics and…

"New Orleans voodoo," also called "créole voodoo," is an amalgamation of an honoring of the spirits of the dead, a respect for the elderly and the spiritual life, African knowledge of herbs and charms, and European elements of Catholicism. It is a religion of ancestor worship that is unknown to us, and that we are not…

Teaching literature from a psychological perspective provides a basis for the study and analysis of human motivation and behavior, as psychology and literature make mutual contributions to the study of both disciplines. Melancholia is a recurring theme in the novels of Dick Francis, and the first-person accounts of despair and depression are…

The carnivalization of American culture has become ubiquitous as we advance into the 21st century, but what happens when the transgressive text is introduced into the more intimate space of the college classroom, when the outrageous "outside" is brought "inside?" More specifically still, what processes and responses typically…

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…

Considers an approach to teaching classical mythology that focuses on the myth as a form of metaphor that communicates a universal truth through the themes and characters of the story. Applies this approach to the story of Pygmalion and Galatea and highlights both early and modern versions of the myth. (CMK)

Advocates the effective use of videotapes of classic novels in the English classroom to stimulate interest, motivate learning, and enrich curriculum. Since only a limited number of full-length novels can be read in a survey course, some can be viewed instead, and the number of novels studied can be increased in this way. (NKA)

This issue of "Classroom Notes Plus" contains descriptions of original, unpublished teaching practices, and of adapted ideas. Under the "Ideas from the Classroom" section, the August 2003 issue (v21 n1) contains the following materials: Reading Poetry with Wright's "Black Boy" (David Fuder); Finding Poetry Lost in Translation (James Penha); "Lord…