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TRAILS Featured Resources
TRAILS Featured Resources
February 23, 2023

TRAILS, the Teaching Resources and Innovation Library for Sociology, provides a way for you to easily locate peer-reviewed teaching materials, showcase your teaching ideas, develop professionally, and join a community of scholarly teachers. You will find great assignments, syllabi, lectures, and other teaching ideas at TRAILS. Please also consider submitting your great ideas for teaching. The Featured Resources include some of the newest additions to our collection.

-Stephanie Medley-Rath
TRAILS Lead Editor

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JoAnn Chirico
Introductory Criminology Portfolio of Exercises
May 28, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Criminology/Delinquency
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This booklet of seven exercises can be completed in class or assigned as homework. Three of the exercises are "mini research" projects in which students must collect data through survey (Severity of Crime exercise), observation (Neighborhood Analysis) or interview...
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Carla D Ilten
Watching the Culture Industry at work: Superbowl commercials as cultural products
May 19, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Theory
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 300
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
In this media activity, students will learn to watch advertisements through the lens of Critical Theory. Students will discover how "the whole world is passed through the filter of the culture industry" and distinguish the fun and amusement of this genre from the...
Cover Page Requires Subscription PDF
Brianna Turgeon
Power and Privilege Class Activity
April 30, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Sex and Gender
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 300
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
As Johnson (2006) describes, people often have a hard time coming to terms with privilege and oppression without feeling uncomfortable and sometimes even defensive. While discomfort may be part of learning new topics, especially those pertaining to inequality, this...
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David Lee Rigby
Linguistic Ideologies, Fallacies of Racism, and the Construction of a Racial "Gaffe"
April 21, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Racial and Ethnic Relations
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Medium
Abstract:
The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to sociological and linguistic concepts useful for analyzing media narratives often encountered during the "moral panics" that follow infamous racist utterances. In order to do this, the activity utilizes video of...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Virginia Little
Naming and Framing Gender: Analyzing Gendered Vocabulary
April 15, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Sex and Gender
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Medium
Abstract:
The objective of this assignment is to give students the opportunity to apply knowledge about how gender is socially constructed through vocabulary. Students will identify vocabulary that is gender-biased, then create "new" vocabulary that is gender-neutral or...
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Jessica Anna Cebulak
Identifying Colorblind Ideology on The O'Reilly Factor
March 31, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Racial and Ethnic Relations
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Small
Abstract:
The purpose of this activity is to engage students with examples of colorblind racism in media discourse. To do this, this activity utilizes an excerpt from The O’Reilly Factor. This activity will assess students’ understanding of the four central frames of...
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Katherine L. Newton
Criminological Theories Through Rap Music
March 24, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Criminology/Delinquency
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
The objective of this classroom activity is to engage students with examples of criminological theories found in popular culture. This activity will assess students’ understanding of criminological theory such as labeling theory, differential association theory, and...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Melanie D Hildebrandt
Sociology of Native Americans
February 23, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Racial and Ethnic Relations
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
College 300
Class Size(s):
Medium
Abstract:
This course is designed to introduce undergraduates to some of the history, cultures, and dramatic changes experienced by the indigenous populations of North America as a result of European settlement and American conquest. Using a sociological approach, the course...
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Jessica A. Cohen
What is the difference between a Private Trouble and a Public Issue? Exploring the Sociology Imagination
January 12, 2015
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Small
Abstract:
By adapting the in-class exercise described in Adams (2010), the following activity helps students explore C. Wright Mills’ sociological imagination by generating examples of private troubles and public issues. By the conclusion of the activity, students should be...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Landon Schnabel
Technology in the Traditional Classroom
December 1, 2014
Subject Area(s):
Teaching and Learning in Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Essay
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Technology presents challenges for maintaining student engagement, but I argue that it can enhance communication and interaction. In the course of this brief essay, I provide answers to two technology-related questions for the traditional classroom: (1) Can...
Cover Page Requires Subscription PDF

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