I know a local Social Studies teacher (she's my fiance's mom!) and she teaches a criminal justice class. She was talking about making her lesson plans and she was asking if she should use Criminal Minds or CSI in her class. I'm a huge Criminal Minds fan, but I asked her quite bluntly, "Are you just not wanting to do anything tomorrow in that class? Why show them a TV show?" She knows that I'm an aspiring teacher, so she told me that while a lot of teachers use movies and TV shows to kill time, that she just takes little bits and pieces from the shows to use as examples. She explained that she wants her students watching them outside of class so they understand the topics better, but that she tries to get them hooked by showing things that relate to class, but seem a lot cooler on TV. I thought this was a really good technique of getting students interested.
Here's a trailer for Criminal Minds if you're interested:
I also just got done with a court case, and I was telling her about it and showed her the results from the judge. She asked for a copy of the results so she could show her class. I thought it was cool that she could use an actual form that relates to her class and thought about using it too.
Obviously, there are different ways to get students involved in Language Arts classes too. There's a YouTube series called "Sassy Gay Friend" that CRACKS ME UP! (The Social Studies teacher mentioned above is the one that introduced me to them) But, it's obviously not suitable for high school students. However, it takes great texts and shows how the entire plot would change if the main female had a sassy gay friend. In an ideal world where no one could be offended, I would love to show my students these videos.
Here's the "Sassy Gay Friend" episode for Romeo and Juliet:
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