A chapter written by Department of Communication Assistant Professor Roslin Smith has been placed in “Screen Lessons: What We Learned Have Learned from Teachers on Television and in the Movies,” an unprecedented volume of 30 essays written by teachers and students about the teacher characters who have inspired them.
The title of Ms. Smith’s chapter is “Class Wars: How to use your Jedi Master.” The essay collection, edited by Mary M. Dalton and Laura R. Linder, is part of the Counterpoints series by Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
Drawing on film and television texts, the authors explore screen lessons from a variety of perspectives.
Arranged in topical categories, the contributors examine the "good" teacher; the "bad" teacher; gender, sexuality and teaching; race and ethnicity in the classroom and lessons on social class.
From such familiar texts as the Harry Potter series and “School of Rock” to classics like “Blackboard Jungle” and “Golden Girls” to unexpected narratives such as the Van Halen music video "Hot for Teacher" and Linda Ellerbee's “Nick News,” the essays are both provocative and instructive.
Subject areas that could utilize this book include education and popular culture, cultural foundations, popular culture studies, in addition to other media studies and television genre classes.
