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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

TRAILS logo with gold star superimposed on the lower right corner. Logo is composed of four vertical bars in varying shades of blue.
Summer McWilliams, Anne Barrett
Greeting Card Analysis: Gendered Constructions of Love and Parenthood
April 11, 2013
Subject Area(s):
Family
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This class activity uses greeting cards to illustrate how our understandings of both love and parenthood are shaped by gender, in particular dominant ideas about masculinity and femininity. To address constructions of love, students are asked to bring Valentine’s Day...
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Tennille Nicole Allen
The Clothesline Project: Unpacking Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence through Sociology of Gender course readings.
March 15, 2013
Subject Area(s):
Family
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 300
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Given the high incidence of intimate partner violence as well as sexual abuse, assault, and violence that occurs within relationships, this assignment is designed to offer students an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the impacts of such abuse and violence...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Elizabeth Anne Larsen
The Simpsons Help Us Understand Deviance and Social Control
March 15, 2013
Subject Area(s):
Deviant Behavior/Social Disorganization
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Class Activity, Lecture, PowerPoint, Video
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Marge in Chains, an episode from the 4th season of the popular animated television show, The Simpsons, provides a wealth of opportunities for students to actively engage with concepts related to deviance and social control. Students first read about deviance and...
Cover Page Requires Subscription PPTX Requires Subscription DOCX
Clara E Rodriguez
Latinos and the Media Syllabus
December 13, 2012
Subject Area(s):
Cultural Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
The COURSE OBJECTIVES are: (1) To understand the history of Latina/os in U.S. media within larger political-economic and social contexts. (2) To analyze Latina/o images in U.S. television and in films, paying particular attention to representations of class,...
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Morten G. Ender
PL384: Sociological Theory through Film
October 25, 2012
Subject Area(s):
Theory
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
College 200
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This course guide should assist you in the organization of your efforts toward successful completion of this course. Careful study of its contents will enable you to organize and prepare for this class. In this course, we will examine both classical and...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX Requires Subscription DOCX Requires Subscription DOCX Requires Subscription DOCX Requires Subscription PDF Requires Subscription DOCX Requires Subscription DOCX
Daniel T Buffington
The four sources of evidence
October 18, 2012
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This in-class activity is designed to introduce beginner-level students to the four major sources of evidence (ethnography; surveys; experiments; archival documents/texts) used in most sociological research. Although it could be performed as a stand-alone activity, I...
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Danielle Lavin-Loucks, Danielle Lavin-Loucks
Seussiology
October 15, 2012
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
When I set out writing this assignment, the intent was to create an activity for students that was fun but offered them insight into how to understand and apply Mills's concept of the sociological imagination. One of the most challenging things for students in an...
Cover Page Requires Subscription PDF
Gretchen Purser
Penal Spectatorship
September 24, 2012
Subject Area(s):
Criminal Justice
Resource Type(s):
Essay
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This essay prompt invites students to reflect upon their own relationship to the criminal justice system. It does so by having them reflexively engage with the concept of the "penal spectator" (Michelle Brown, The Culture of Punishment: Prison, Society and Spectacle,...
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Jeanne E Kimpel
The "No Pants Subway Ride" and Discussions of Deviance
September 18, 2012
Subject Area(s):
Deviant Behavior/Social Disorganization
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity, Lecture, Video
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
The purpose of this exercise is to introduce the concept of deviance and create a fun-filled atmosphere in which to begin this discussion. This exercise facilitates a discussion on various concepts of deviance using short 5-6 minute clips from...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Tennille Nicole Allen
Literary Intersections: Using Junot Diaz’ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to Teach the Sociology of Gender
September 13, 2012
Subject Area(s):
Race, Class and Gender
Resource Type(s):
Assessment, Assignment, Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 400
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This is a collection of resources designed to facilitate the teaching of Junot Diaz’ Pulitizer Prize-winning debut novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in a Sociology of Gender course. This novel was chosen to exemplify and illuminate many of the theories,...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX

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