Using this book in class could be an interesting experience depending on the age of the students you might be teaching. It might be difficult to have younger students such as 6 or 7th graders but if you used the book with older students like 8th grade or high school could be a great addition to a social studies class. When students try to be like certain celebrities such as “The Situation” from Jersey Shore, it is a bad idea because students then believe they should be rude and treat women poorly. If they idolize an athlete, they may like how that athlete plays but they need to understand they shouldn’t idolize what that athlete does in their private life. This book can be used to teach students that the people we learn about in history classes were often celebrities in their own time and you must recognize that while learning about them. For modern day celebrities it is important for students to see the impact activities can have in both positive and negative ways. One way to do this is to assign students different celebrities where they can research the positives and negatives their celebrity has done. Some celebrities use their fame for good and others do not. If students see this, they can see how much celebrities affect them on a day to day basis.
As a result of the industry, can we ignore celebrity?
I don’t believe we can ignore celebrity. Celebrity runs over into what we eat, what clothes we wear, what television we watch, what music we listen to, and more. With so many parts of our lives being influenced, I believe it is impossible to get away from celebrity completely. While we must teach our kids there are positives and negatives to celebrity, it is important to realize that almost all our students are going to be impacted by it in some way or another. Teachers can try to stay away from it but we need to realize our students are going to be impacted by it.
Well said, Emily Anne! I especially liked your idea of bringing celebrities down to earth to students. I think a lesson plan, such as the one you mentioned above, could prove very beneficial to students because it would make them realize that celebrities, despite all that is surreal about their lives, are real people, who make real mistakes. This makes me sometimes wonder if we'll ever hold celebrities to a higher standard, because as Reese Witherspoon recently said at the MTV Movie Awards, "you don't have to have a sex tape to make it in Hollywood." As one of the classier ladies of Hollywood, I admired her frankness, because after all, it does seem ever since Paris's sex tape "leaked", that actress after actress is exposing themselves over the web and then coincidentally striking it big, i.e. Vanessa Hudgens, Kim Kardashian, and Blake Lively. What I want most for my students is just what you said EA, for them to understand how celebrities influence all of us, both negatively and positively.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have said it better! I agree with both of you that helping students gain an analytical/critical perspective on celebrity is the main issue. Learning about celebrities in history is cool too and can give them great insight into societal mores and values at the time. My thoughts on Kim, Blake, and Vanessa probably should be saved for another venue! :)
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