media and culture

Affluenza

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/

Do you have affluenza? This interesting site includes a quiz that can tell you if you have it. Looking critically at materialism and its development in U.S. society provides an excellent backdrop to a study of economic justice. A teacher's guide and resources give suggestions for student activities and possible treatment.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference

https://www.usccb.org/

This easy-to-navigate site has some excellent features, including daily Scripture readings, a list of bishops, movie reviews, statements and speeches, and a search function that looks in their files and the Internet. All departments have their own link with outlined resources. This is a good place for research involving the universal Church around the world, and for keeping current with the happenings of the Church on a national level.

Teaching Tolerance

https://www.tolerance.org/

The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to helping teachers foster equity, respect, and understanding in the classroom and beyond. This site outlines curriculum resources available to teachers and gives suggestions for classroom activities and recommended reading. The search feature is especially useful for students and teachers wanting current, relevant information on a variety of issues. There is also a guide for writing grant proposals; the Center offers funding to teachers who are implementing tolerance projects. The opportunity is given to subscribe to Teaching Tolerance magazine and purchasing high-quality, low-cost materials.

Teach with Movies

https://www.teachwithmovies.org/

This site provides a comprehensive resource of popular films that can be used in the classroom. The goal is to see inclusion of movies in the curriculum as a way of motivating students, of including parents in the process, and of relating learning to popular culture. Intentionally planning movies centered around a theme or concept will be made easier with this site's movie reviews, learning guides, and indexes. A very helpful tool for theology teachers and campus ministers is the Character Development Index. This lists movies under a variety of topics that are applicable to theology curriculum. Topics include self-esteem, redemption, honesty, justice, compassion, grieving, forgiving, trust, and peacemaking.

Belief Net

https://www.beliefnet.com/

This is a huge site! Multifaith and independent in nature, Belief Net has a mission to "help people meet their own religious, spiritual, and moral needs by providing information, inspiration, community, stimulation, and products." The site is easy to navigate and is divided into the categories of religion, spirituality, morality, inspiration, culture, news, teens, milestones, and family. Articles, Web site addresses, and multimedia opportunities abound on this very informative site that is suitable for both teachers and students!

Movie Theme Index

http://www.textweek.com/movies/themeindex.htm

This site from Jenee Woodard is an incredible resource for anyone interested in using movies in their ministry! The user can easily find a list of themes that correspond to biblical and theological topics with the scripture index, the movie concordance, and the art concordance. A search function also makes this a user-friendly site. Excellent!

In the Mix

http://www.pbs.org/inthemix/

This interactive site corresponds with the PBS television show, "In the Mix" and gives sound background and research on relevant topics such as alcohol, self-esteem, careers, depression, smoking, body image, sports, violence, teen immigrants, and gun control. The shows can be found in the drop-down menu. Excellent site for classroom use!

About Face

https://www.about-face.org/

About-Face is a media literacy organization focused on the impact the mass media have on the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of women and girls. By encouraging critical thinking about the media, and personal empowerment, About-Face works to engender positive body image in girls and women of all ages, sizes, races, and backgrounds. Not only does this site have numerous facts and statistics, it also includes a gallery of worst offenders for media images of women, complete with comments on each ad. One link suggests ways to contact the offending companies to complain; another makes an effort to highlight companies that do a good job of advertising without demeaning or objectifying women. This is an awesome resource for teachers, students, and parents!

Center for Media Literacy

https://www.medialit.org/

The Center for Media Literacy, a nonprofit agency out of Los Angeles, encourages the use of critical-thinking skills in accessing, analyzing, evaluating, and creating media. This site has incredible resources for teacher and student use. The "learn" link includes articles on the connections between media and violence and values. The links included on the site are some of the best out there.

Center for Parent/Youth Understanding

http://www.cpyu.org

The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, a national and global network of those interested in research on adolescence and the youth culture, sponsors this excellent Web site. Social issues, trends, and needs of young people are dynamic--demanding constant research and review, and so this site attempts to follow, analyze, and share the essence of their culture with the users and subscribers to the site. Excellent resource articles and book reviews are provided on the home page. A subscription to the site gives one an incredible amount of information and analysis on youth culture.

Interview with God

https://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup-frame.html

In a beautifully designed flash presentation, questions are posed to God. The responses will touch you and give you pause to ponder. A wonderful experience to share with colleagues and young people.

Writing the Journey

https://www.writingthejourney.com/index.htm

Journaling is a great way to bring the mind, heart, and hands together. This Web site features some great resources and an online workshop that could be used by students who are journaling in classes. Teachers can also easily adapt ideas from this site for their journaling assignments.

Flag Day History

http://www.usflag.org/flag.day.html

This link gives a history of the celebration of Flay Day.

Films on Peace

http://www.natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives/042602/042602v.htm

This link, provided by the National Catholic Reporter, contains a list of peace films that recount the efforts of individuals and groups who believe that conflicts can be settled bloodlessly through moral force, truth force, resistance force, education force and spiritual force. These films are an excellent educational tool and are available on VHS.