Teachers are coming to understand the value of using a student's interests, habits, and questions as a starting point for instruction. In this article, Skinner introduces "Teenage Addiction," a voluntary seventh-grade after-school writing/popular culture club that helped students view popular culture through a critical lens and then write about…

The experience of television viewing should be part of the literacy curriculum, enabling students to explore and reflect on their interests as critical participants in their cultural environment. (SK)

Explores an episode of the television sitcom "ALF" to illustrate how teachers can help students become critical consumers of television by teaching students about the medium of television using self-reflexive television texts. (SR)

Contends that the concept of description educators present in their art criticism models differs from the concept of description in ordinary language; instead, it is a technical concept borrowed from the literature of aesthetics. Delineates differences between each concept, describes how the confusion arose, and discusses implications for art…

This chapter describes the use of popular film and semiotics for the development of critical media literacy in a graduate-level education course entitled "Pop Culture as Pedagogy: The Role of Entertainment Media in Teaching for Critical Consciousness and Critical Media Literacy." The course focused on analysis of different forms of pop culture,…

Students' understanding of history may be shaped less by their social studies teachers than by the powerfully ubiquitous, historically themed media images they passively consume outside of school. In this article, the author describes two strategies conducted during a classroom-based action research study designed to explore how historically…

In this dissertation I investigated how teachers interpreted intercultural differences and tensions embodied in fictional short stories and films. Participants in the study were 14 English teachers from China, South Korea, and the United States. My key research questions were: How are cultural differences understood and articulated by teachers…

More than two decades ago, a well-known study pointed out that despite the marked increase in images of women in secondary history textbooks, the narrative emphasis on political, diplomatic, and military history had not changed. While this study raised awareness of gender balance in the social studies curriculum, little attention has been paid to…

Argues that a study of adaptation affects the view of Douglas Sirk as a creator of social critique. Proposes interventions into adaptation studies and critical response to Sirk by attending to multiple activations of "All That Heaven Allows." Demonstrates the importance of the archaeology of film studies criticism to an understanding of…

Argues that teachers who use film in the English classroom need to be aware of its conventions and apply these conventions to critical analysis. Discusses camera angles, distance, composition, lighting, camera movements, editing, and sound. (SR)

"The Laramie Project" is a play based on a collection of interviews with the community members of Laramie, Wyoming, where Mathew Shepard, a 21-year-old university student, was murdered. The idea for the play originated with a theatre group, The Tectonic Theater Project, which devoted 2 years to this project, conducting over 200 interviews. This…

Contends that play scripts are written to be performed and that a critical response to a play should reflect the fact that the script is a blueprint for a live happening. Proposes that students need to study a play both in the theatre and as written text. Explores aspects of Shakespeare's plays as performed theatrical works. (PM)

Discusses the value to film studies of a 1971 publication, "The World Viewed," a serious study of film which was not well received by the field and whose usefulness is still almost unknown. Finds that the author, Stanley Cavell, endeavors to find words of a common language and that his writings exemplify the importance of intuition and…

Argues that a postmodern theory of identity (i.e., the subject as coherent, integrated, discoverable self is a fiction of modernity) links Martin Scorsese's major films. Examines "Taxi Driver,""Raging Bull," and "King of Comedy." Concludes that these films articulate a major cultural shift and chronicle a…

Investigates critical pedagogy by focusing on an empirically-based evaluation of the difficulties surrounding its potential realization. Discusses student response to different pedagogical approaches and institutional context. Examines whether it is possible for management teachers to implement a critical pedagogy to greater extent and potential…