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…

This paper discusses the relationship of reading and television and describes a "critical viewing skills" program ("Spudbuster") for combatting the effects of prolonged TV watching. The paper enumerates helpful suggestions for both parents and teachers to ensure that children's television watching is not excessive and that what…

This book is a guide for encouraging critical television viewing skills in children, allowing them to make up their own minds about the power and influence of television. The introduction addresses the importance of television in North America and compares viewing patterns with those in other countries. The text throughout is accompanied by…

The use of film to supplement course material can be an excellent way to stimulate critical thinking. Film can be a particularly useful tool in the interpersonal communication course since students are able to observe both the verbal and nonverbal behaviors of the characters. However, discussion prior to and following the film is important, so…

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 for the use of film in composition classes. Provides a system of inquiry for students that is both dialogic and generative, one that enables them to critique movies and see them not as a repository of ideologies and values but as an apparatus for producing meaning. (TB)

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…

Discusses the reaction of feminist students at Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) to a photograph, "Heaven and Hell" (A. Serrano), on the cover of the book "Arresting Images: Impolitic Art and Uncivil Actions" (S. Dubin). Their position that the photograph promotes violence toward women is one interpretation; another is that it…

This review of communication research on television viewing by intellectually gifted children examines the number of hours such children spend watching television, types of programing they watch, their capacity to process and comprehend program content, appropriate child role models in television programing, and mediation of television viewing by…

Two groups of gifted students in grades 5-8 were taught critical television viewing skills and video production, and a no-treatment group received only video production instruction. Students without critical viewing instruction performed just as well on a posttest of program content analysis but not as well on television form. (Author/JDD)

Five principles of media literacy help parents base their criticism of television on reason: people are smarter than televisions; the television world is not real; television teaches that some people are more important than others; television keeps repeating the same things; and someone always wants to make money with television. (SM)

In this article, the author deals with a screenplay adaptation assignment that he gave to his students. The purpose is to make readers out of some students who don't like to read, and to teach them something about film as an art form. He starts with a film entitled, "Ernest Hemingway's Soldier's Home." He used it because of the technical…

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…

This study used self-report and observational methods to examine associations between depressive symptoms and patterns of emotional experience and expression during late adolescence. Fifty-one male and 49 female first and second year college students completed questionnaires on emotion experience and were videotaped while completing a frustrating…

This student workbook provides information about mass media and invites students to consider and respond to that information. Students are encouraged to use reading, writing, researching, critical thinking, interpreting, and debating skills in their responses. The book is organized into 8 chapters: (1) "The World of Media"; (2) "Television: Is…