Courses: Media and Politics, Political Communication, Political Rhetoric, Media Effects. Objective: By taking part in a classroom activity, students will explore how cognitive frames and media frames play a role in learning from political debates.

High school social studies teachers are always struggling to "cover the content" while addressing an ever-expanding set of additional demands. The Common Core expects literacy instruction to be incorporated into social studies. NCSS's new C3 Framework emphasizes teaching students to ask questions, evaluate sources, and communicate…

Social studies teachers are tasked with aiding their students' abilities to engage in public debate and make politically sound decisions. One way the authors have found to help facilitate this is to draw connections between content knowledge and current political conversations through the use of clips from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." While…

This article aims to share with teacher-educators a pedagogical proposal which we have applied in the past year. This investigation analyzes issues linked to critical pedagogy using movies connected to educational themes and readings based on critical pedagogy. We have used this study to generate class discussions in order to analyze educational…

William Shakespeare has influenced most, if not all, Western playwrights. His techniques, themes, characters, and plots are contained in much of what is produced today, from television to Broadway. This teacher's guide provides summaries of the plays "The Merchant of Venice" and "Othello," essays, and corresponding student…

Explores how teachers can help their students look for meaning in the visual media. Presents the theory that students object to looking for meaning in certain forms of visual media, because they dislike having their world complicated with unnecessary interpretive searching. Discusses the results of several class exercises adapted from David…

Uses the following National Council of Teachers of English Guidelines to show that media literacy works in the classroom and to show it works when incorporated into the conventional English classroom: (1) students need to construct meaning through different media; (2) students need to analyze their transactions with media texts; and (3) students…

Undergraduate students often memorize a keyword or definition for an exam without a deeper understanding or the ability to apply the meaning of the concept. While using examples during a lecture may help, the combination of movies and verbal review has been shown to be a valuable instructional tool, increasing recall (Elischberger & Roebers, 2001)…

Identifies basic concepts and skills of critical television viewing. Advertisers' and programers' appeals are discussed, and possible critical viewing activities for the elementary school classroom are suggested. (10 references) (MES)

A film appreciation exercise for use in the foreign language class is outlined. The questions involve analysis of viewer reactions, film characteristics, visual and aural production specifications, and other technical aspects of the film. (MSE)

This classroom guide and "Better Viewing" guide accompany a 28-minute videotape on television literacy called "Master Control." The classroom guide explains the purpose behind the video, pointing out that "Master Control" is not about doing away with TV, but about a youngster's getting the most out of his or her TV…

In 1870, after the successful publication of "War and Peace," Leo Tolstoy began imagining a story about a high-born society woman, "Anna Karenina," who destroys her life by having an adulterous affair. By presenting his adulteress as a sympathetic character, Tolstoy aimed to expose injustices in such Russian institutions as…

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…

Pacey, a likable and literate eighth-grader, saw school as "a place that kills your reading." With this alarming condemnation in mind, the author uses literacy narrative--a short, concise, digital video in which students meld still images, motion, print text, and soundtrack (both narration and music) in communicating ideas/insights/discoveries…

Students in a "Literature and Ideas" introductory literature course at the University of Pittsburgh gathered a wide variety of interviews, articles, and other texts that circulated around the film "Dangerous Liaisons" to build a shared text on the popular reception of the film. One student, in particular, made sense of the work…