Boswell Hosts Du Vernay, ‘The Simpsons in the Classroom’

When “The Simpsons”hit the TV scene 20-plus years agowith Homer’s satirical ignorance years awayfrom international renownwho would have conceived that today’s professorswould be designing lectures built around this cartoon family? Currently in its22nd year on television, Springfield’siconic dysfunctional family has been a mainstay in popular culture and thefoundation for classes in literature, humanities and composition. The Simpsons in the Classroom: Embiggeningthe Learning Experience with the Wisdom of Springfield emphasizes themedley of approaches instructors can take to mold “The Simpsons” into ascholarly teaching tool. Co-authors Karma Waltonen and Denise Du Vernay, educatorswho have shared their “Simpsons” knowledge with novices for more than 10 years,offer a guidebook teeming with ways for teachers to use “The Simpsons” toexamine a sundry of topics, as well as classroom activities and samplesyllabuses that have proven to be effective additions to school curricula.

There is littledispute that “The Simpsons” have impacted American society as no other animatedTV family in history. Homer, in particular, has coined expressions so wellknown that they even appear in the Oxford English DictionaryWoohoo! In fact,Homer’s most familiar catchphrase, “D’oh,” has popped up on cable news networksand in error messages on prominent websites. From educational exercises and episode commentary to in-depth analyseson each of the five Simpson family members,The Simpsons in the Classroom is an entertaining and satisfying installmentsuitable for a classroom or the TV room.

Waltonen and DuVernay, who became acquainted when they were graduate students at Florida State University,collaborated on this publication largely via e-mails and long-distance phonecalls. Du Vernay resides in Milwaukeeand teaches at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). She has incorporated“The Simpsons” into composition, literature, humanities and speech courses formore than 10 years. This die-hard “Simpsons” fan will discuss The Simpsons in the Classroom at 2 p.m.on Saturday, Aug. 21, at Boswell BookCo.