Description
Book SynopsisPopular representations of teachers and teaching are easy to take for granted precisely because they are so accessible and pervasive. Our lives are intertextual in the way lived experiences overlap with the stories of others presented to us through mass media. It is this set of connected narratives that we bring into classrooms and into discussions of educational policy. In this day and time—with public education under siege by forces eager to deprofessionalize teaching and transfer public funds to benefit private enterprises—we ignore the dominant discourse about education and the patterns of representation that typify educator characters at our peril. This edited volume offers a fresh take on educator characters in popular culture and also includes important essays about media texts that have not been addressed adequately in the literature previously. The 15 chapters cover diverse forms from literary classics to iconic teacher movies to popular television to rock ‘n’ roll. Topics explored include pedagogy through the lenses of gender, sexuality, race, disability, politics, narrative archetypes, curriculum, teaching strategies, and liberatory praxis. The various perspectives represented in this volume come from scholars and practitioners of education at all levels of schooling. This book is especially timely in an era when public education in the United States is under assault from conservative political forces and undervalued by the general public. Contributors are: Steve Benton, Naeemah Clark, Kristy Liles Crawley, Elizabeth Currin, Mary M. Dalton, Jill Ewing Flynn, Chad E. Harris, Gary Kenton, Mark A. Lewis, Ian Parker Renga, Stephanie Schroeder, Roslin Smith, Jeff Spanke, and Andrew Wirth.
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements List of Figures 1 A Loyalty Test for the American Educator, from Ichabod Crane to Erin Gruwell Steve Benton 2 Schooling the State: Teachers and Democratic Dispositions on The West Wing Stephanie Schroeder 3 Rethinking Student-Teacher Relationship Intimacy as Attachment Andrew Wirth 4 Mr. Miller Goes to War: Saving Private Ryan and the Children Left Behind Jeff Spanke 5 In Loco Parentis Redux: Bob and Linda Belcher at Wagstaff School Elizabeth Currin 6 What’s a Nice White Lady to Do?: A Critical Literacy Lens on Teaching and Learning in Pop Culture Portrayals Jill Ewing Flynn 7 The Dis-Education of Rock ‘n’ Roll Gary Kenton 8 Promoted to Control?: School Office Culture in HBO’s Vice Principals Chad E. Harris 9 The Insecure Teacher: How Issa Rae Has Normalized the Black Woman to Create TV Magic Naeemah Clark 10 Contrasting the Archetypal Sage with the Mentor Coach in Young Adult Literature: Insights for Teacher Reflection Ian Parker Renga and Mark A. Lewis 11 Saved by the Belles: Gender Roles in the Quintessential Teen Comedy Elizabeth Currin and Stephanie Schroeder 12 “Good” Teacher on Her Own Terms: Miss Shaw in ABC’s The Wonder Years Chad E. Harris 13 Liberatory Pedagogy in Action: The Embodied Performance of Community College Instructors in Film and Television Kristy Liles Crawley 14 Q the Teacher. TV Lessons from the 24th Century: You Do Not have to Be an Omniscient Teacher, But It Helps Roslin Smith 15 Speechless to Speechless: Nontraditional Teacher Characters in Recent Sitcoms Mary M. Dalton Film Sources Television Sources
