Monday, Nov. 23, 2009 Reaching millennial students: K-STATE
ENGLISH PROFESSOR USES EXAMPLES FROM POPULAR CULTURE TO MAKE
MILLENNIAL STUDENTS MORE PERSUASIVE WRITERS, BETTER CRITICAL
THINKERS MANHATTAN -- Students in a Kansas State University
persuasive writing class are learning to find their James Earl
Jones voice, and it has nothing to do with emulating the actor's
trademark resonance. Instead, students are learning to balance
facts with passion in their writing by taking a cue from "Field
of Dreams," thanks to Abby Knoblauch, a K-State assistant
professor of English who uses popular culture to make students
better writers and critical thinkers. In October, she shared her
tips on using popular culture in the classroom with English
teachers from across the state at the Kansas Association of
Teachers of English conference in Wichita. Knoblauch shows
students in Expository Writing II a scene from the movie "Field
of Dreams" in which the main character is listening to his
brother-in-law's factual argument for s