Final Essay

Teaching Literary Elements through Reality Television

In high school composition classrooms, there is a constant battle for instructors to raise the student’s interest in learning. In order for students to truly comprehend the multiple areas of literature, they must be able to connect to the numerous aspects where the genre relates to their personal lives. This can be done by incorporating innovative methods and utilizing them to illustrate how literary concepts are applicable to everyday life. Reality television is a part of our current culture that you, as teachers, should use as a resource to: enhance and unite the composition classroom, provide a framework for classroom assignments, and create inventive activities that illustrate literary genres by associating entertainment with learning.

How Reality Television is Applicable to Composition
Reality television is “a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors” (Wikipedia). Some form or variety of reality television has existed since television’s pioneering days, but the main time period of popularity has occurred since 2000. The first instance of filming ordinary people occurred in the 1950’s show An American Family (Hubbard). Ever since, the demand for reality television has increasingly grown.
The application of reality television to high school composition classes would work particularly well because young adults are the target audiences. According to an experiment conducted by Steven Reiss, “people who liked two or more reality television shows on our list tended to be more motivated by social life, less motivated by honor, more concerned with order, and more motivated by romance” (Reiss). The typical high school students are infatuated with their social life, and for the majority it is their main appeal of attending school. Because of this, students are in class gossiping or passing notes instead of gaining knowledge. If we find a way to channel this social aspect of their lives into lessons then it will sharpen their focus on the lecture at hand. While the romance aspect that Reiss described could be satisfied through novels, most students are interested in instant gratification. Through incorporating reality television in the classroom the teacher can teach students how to recognize the romance genre and therefore they will notice and appreciate it when reading texts.
With today’s technology, including access to youtube videos and network websites, reality television shows can be accessed extremely easily. Since a class period does not allow adequate amount of time to watch a full episode and have discussion, teachers can download a clip from youtube that is central to the lesson. With the insanely high popularity of reality television, there is a large chance that students may have already seen the show and watch it for personal enjoyment, so it would be fairly easy to incorporate into the classroom. However, there are students who have strong oppositions against watching reality television, which could be a problem. The use of reality television as a resource will only last approximately two months and if a vote is held on whether the class would like to learn traditionally (book) or innovatively (reality television) the results will handle this confrontation. Students that despise reality television can use this in their writing and interpretations as an inspiration. Since the consensus of high school English courses is normally negative because of boredom, students will be refreshed to mix things up.
Reality television in the classroom should be done at the first of the year. The project will work best at this time because it illustrates the genres of literature that students will be engaging with throughout the year such as characterization and plot. The examples can constantly be used as a reference for these terms throughout the year. For example, if a student is having trouble finding the climax in a story, the teacher can say “The climax in the American Idol clips that we watched occurred right before Ryan Seacrest announced the winner, and the director used music to emphasize the anticipation. Is there any place in the story that made you want to read faster to find out what happened? What did the author do that mirrors the music the director utilized to raise anticipation?” Therefore, the reality television project should be done at the beginning of the year to incorporate fun with basic concepts to ensure that it sticks in the student’s memory. Then they will have an example at hand for each literary genre that appears in future texts.

Using Reality Television to Enhance and Unite the Classroom
One of the main objectives of a composition teacher is to provide an environment where students can feel free to express their opinions and students can connect through learning. The Cultural Politics of “Wife Swap”: Taste, Lifestyle Media, and the American Family is an article that discusses how an individual’s culture can be exhibited through reality television (Matheson). Some English teachers select texts for the course that reveal a character’s personal struggle with being accepted in a certain culture. Novels such as Anne Frank not only teach literary elements but also incorporate learning a different culture’s struggles. By viewing the holocaust through a character’s eyes, we learn to view people as individuals and therefore teach students to be more culturally competent. Tolerance of other cultures is imperative for high school students to learn because in the real world they will be forced to interact with people who have very different backgrounds. According to the article by Matheson, people can access and experience different cultures through the characters experience on the show. By watching real people from different cultures on television it will become easier for the student to connect with people from different cultures in the classroom. Since there are multiple races, religions, and politic differences in each student, the exposure to different cultures will allow them to accept others in the classroom. When pupils feel that their ideas won’t be rejected or ridiculed by their peers, they will be more likely to offer their opinions during class.
With increased cultural acceptance from reality television, the discussions in class will be more intelligent and appropriate. If everyone is contributing to class discussion then it is obvious that the class will connect and learn more from each other. They can split into groups according to who their favorite character is, who is the most annoying character, etc. and work together to prove their position. Gareth Kay “think[s] the popularity of reality TV, and hence the rush to supply this type of programming, points to the changing nature of the human psych” (Kay). People are more interested than ever to watch ordinary people live their lives. It provides a plot that is entertaining but stimulating as well. Reality television is not difficult to interpret or follow; students have “untapped experience decoding media messages” (Chadha). It is a skill that comes naturally to them from the amount of exposure they experience from watching television. Therefore, students will feel at ease answering questions because there is less anxiety about giving the wrong answer. While this adds to the discussion itself, it also contributes to the student’s self-esteem because they feel that their opinion is correct and matters. By uniting the classroom at the beginning of the year with reality television, it will be less difficult for them to engage when the discussions take a more difficult turn to novels.

How Reality Television Can Provide a Framework for Text
If teachers are having difficulties incorporating reality television into their lesson plans or if the students refuse to participate, there are other ways teachers can spice up assignments based on reality television. For example, a group of students can select a main character out of a novel and must “be” that character in a reality television show. The teacher can create a fake application to the reality show that requires the student to generate a biography of the character that includes why he/she would be a perfect candidate for the show. This involves understanding the character’s motives and personality which requires perception into the chosen character. The different groups will provide a skit where they interact with each other on a reality show such as The Real World, Survivor, or Maury. Teachers will grade students on the accuracy in which their character is portrayed. This activity provides students with a different mode of understanding characterization. As described in a blog posting by a current teacher, username: “thehurt”, who implemented the assignment in her classroom, it had positive effects on her students. Some advantages she witnessed were “students are learning about all the characters better than they did last year, they don’t have to sit quietly and listen to me talk at them, they are engaged in the school project to the degree that they actually talk about it outside of class, and their understanding is much deeper than I would have imagined---they see the connections between stories and characters and even connections to their own lives. And I didn’t ‘teach’ them any of it” (thehurt). This teacher’s positive experience with utilizing aspects of reality television proves that assignments that have increased interaction and participation truly have a positive impact on student’s learning. When an assignment holds a pupil’s interest to the point to where they are discussing it outside of class, then the assignment becomes an activity. Once it becomes an activity, the students are no longer going through the motions just to obtain a grade; instead, they are enjoying the learning that is occurring.

Applying Reality Television to Literary Genres
An article states, “As a mainstream genre, reality TV draws upon classic literary themes that will be pleasing to the audience. A literature class can explore these themes” (Rockler-Gladen); by exploring literary themes through reality television, students are learning how to connect aspects of their culture to literature. If the themes are taught effectively and appropriately then they can address the needs of composition students.
Students must first comprehend that reality television is an example of an open narrative, “meaning that each episode deals with an underlying conflict that does not get resolved until the final episode” (Chadha). This is illustrated in shows such as American Idol where audiences watch week after week to see the last man standing, which is the main plot of the show. There are also remaining sub-plots which “grab and hold the interest of the audience to stay tuned every week” (Chadha) and are displayed through competitions, conflicts, and private confessionals.
Characterization is a major element that can be learned through reality television and ties into the purpose for each person in the reality show. For example, in The Real World, there are a couple of stock characters that they provide each season to increase the connection with the audience. In most seasons there is a member of a racial minority, an individual who is part of the GLBT community, and an attractive male and female they hope will blossom a romance. An example of characterization can be found through Taylor Hicks from American Idol who plays the character role of “The Underdog Hero”. When students are able to identify characterization through reality television characters they then have the tools to apply those same skills to texts. Students can also connect the character’s private confessionals to assist them with characterization. Through confessionals the character is providing an insight to their private feelings which is mirrored in novels because the reader is inside the character’s head.
Chadha insists in his article that literary tools can be used to explain reality television as well as texts. Freytag’s Triangle is a literary technique used to illustrate that every story has a beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, and an ending, and combining all the elements together forms the plot. By teaching this technique through reality shows students will be able to easily identify these elements. Just like novels, reality television shows must have these elements in order to give complete and full coverage. Chadha states that if students were taught “with a medium they watch everyday, they would be able to make connections, analyze, and interpret text written centuries ago” (Chadha).
Another useful element that can be accomplished through reality television is plot development. Because of the student’s abundant experience watching television and understanding the multiple plots, they should be able to recognize the plot in a reality show fairly easily: “in order to facilitate students’ ability to transfer this knowledge to written text, teachers may use Freytag’s Triangle and ask them to plot the points of a television show on the triangle. Then, students could read a similar version of text and re-plot the points and compare the similarities and differences between the plot of a television show and the plot of a written text” (Chadha). This is a worthwhile exercise because it connects reality television and text directly together. By analyzing reality show plots, characterization, and narrative students create a structural framework that allows them to critically analyze printed texts.

Innovative Assignments that Relate Literary Genres to Reality Television
One assignment, called “Body Biographies” involves choosing a character to analyze from a reality television show. The body biography itself is a large human-shaped cut out of a body that the student fills in with characteristics that exemplify the character. For example, if a character on a reality show is aggressive and gets into fights the student could make the body’s hands bloody or have steam coming out of their ears. A written paper would be required to ensure that the teacher fully understands the meaning behind each symbol.
Another assignment that could be done is mini clip charades. This assignment integrates characterization, setting, iconography, props, and style by requiring a student to silently perform a mini-clip from a reality show being discussed while the rest of the students attempt to guess the correct show. After the show is confirmed, students can discuss as a class what elements were hard to understand and what elements gave the mystery away.
My favorite assignment to incorporate reality television into the classroom is to allow the students to write their own reality show. In groups, pupils will create their main plot and the sub-plots that also occur. They will specify who the characters are, what they do, what they are like, etc. This assignment promotes higher order thinking and positive interdependence and independence (Chadha).
A smaller activity that could get the students involved in classroom discussion would be a Socratic seminar. Basically, this is requiring the students to think of four questions they can bring to the discussion for the next class period. This forces deep critical analysis because students will not want to be embarrassed in front of the class with ignorant questions and it allows the teacher to follow the progress of the class.
In order to keep up with the children of today’s society, teachers must learn to integrate things that interest students into our lesson plans. “Popular culture in the classroom isn’t an opportunity for your students to escape. It’s an opportunity for teachers to demonstrate how educational concepts apply to every facet of their lives, including their popular culture” (Rockler-Gladen), meaning that in order for the information to stick in the child’s mind we must find a way to connect it to their lives. Reality television can be very useful in doing this because it encourages participation and respect in the classroom, allows teachers to examine different assignments for texts, and teaches literary genres through innovative activities. If we as teachers can apply society with literary concepts, then students will be more likely to remember them and will therefore increase their future critical analysis of written texts.
Works Cited

Chadha, Tina, Darby Desmond, Diameshia Hill, Ashley Jones, and Courtney Shepard. "Teaching Genre through Reality Television." Media Teacher. 16 Apr. 2009 .
Hubbard, Laura, and Kathryn Mathers. "Surviving American Empire in Africa: The anthropology of reality television." International Journal of Cultural Studies 7 (2004): 441-59. Academic Search. EBSCOhost. Texas Tech University Library, Lubbock. 16 Apr. 2009 .
Kay, Gareth. "What Reality TV Can Teach Brands." Brandweek 46 (2005): 22-22. Computer Source. EBSCOhost. Texas Tech University Library, Lubbock. 16 Apr. 2009 .
Matheson, Sarah A. "The Cultural Politics of Wife Swap: Taste, Lifestyle Media, and the American Family." Film & History 37 (2008): 33-46. Academic Search. EBSCOhost. Texas Tech University Library, Lubbock. 16 Apr. 2009 .
"Reality television." Wikipedia. 15 Apr. 2009. 16 Apr. 2009 .
Reiss, Steven, and James Wiltz. "Why People Watch Reality TV." Media Psychology 6 (2004): 363-78. Academic Search. EBSCOhost. Texas Tech University Library, Lubbock. 16 Apr. 2009 .
Rocker-Gladen, Naomi. "Reality TV as a Teacher Resource." 22 Dec. 2006. Suite101.com. Texas Tech University Library, Lubbock. 14 Apr. 2009 .
Thehurt. "Reality Television...in the Classroom?" Weblog post. Ed.u.ma.ca.tion: (n.) reflections on teaching, learning, and technology. 11 Dec. 2008. 16 Apr. 2009 .