Teach, Think, Play (TTP) is an innovative conference and course developed by Ryan Goble, Nicole Trackman and Teachers College Columbia University professor Dr. John Broughton. Every year TTP has evolved to accommodate different formats and foci while staying true to its founding mission of exploring the power and challenges of integrating popular culture into classroom curricula with celebrities, media professionals, educators, and academics. Educators receive classroom-ready resources throughout the conference designed to improve teacher knowledge and practice around popular culture and "new literacies." Because a majority of the people participating in the course portion of the conference are pre-service and in-service teachers, many final projects are K-12 lessons that incorporate popular culture into existing best practices and national standards.

TTP is sponsored and produced by CEO&I at Teachers College, Mindblue Productions, the Film and Education Research Academy, Students for Cultural Studies Initiative, and in 2007 the Progressive Arts Alliance.
About the strands...

TEACH Sessions led by educators and organizations that have developed innovative and pedagogically meaningful ways to integrate popular culture and media literacy into K-12 and college curricula.
THINK Sessions led by thinkers and researchers who explore the theory and research behind the use of popular culture and media literacy for educational purposes.
PLAY Sessions led by producers (professional & pedagogical) of popular culture who will discuss the ways in which they, creatively, develop their craft. This “behind the scenes” element allows attendees to explore methods of media and cultural production can best be adapted to the classroom setting.

TTP 2009: The Moving Image in the Classroom
 March 28, April 4, 5 & 25, 2009
 Teachers College Columbia University, New York CIty

Featuring two-time Academy Award winning screenwriter and author William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men), Emmy Award winning voice of Elmo, Director & Senior Creative Advisor for Sesame Workshop Kevin Clash and authors William Kist (New Literacies in Action), Alan Teasley (co-author Reel Conversations: Reading Films with Young Adults) and Mary T. Christel (co-author of Seeing and Believing: How to Teach Media Literacy in the English Classroom and co-editor of Lesson Plans for Creating Media-Rich Classrooms)

TTP 2008: David Buckingham on Media and
Popular Culture in the Classroom
 April 5, 12, 13, 2008
 Teachers College Columbia University, New York CIty

Featuring a series of lectures by David Buckingham, one of the leading international researchers in the field of media education, and research on children and young people’s interactions with electronic media. A Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, London University he is the founder and director of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. Buckingham is co-author or editor of 22 books, and over 170 articles and book chapters that have been translated into 15 languages.

TTP 2007: Popular Culture in the Classroom
March 24, 25 and April 14, 2007
Teachers College Columbia University, New York CIty

Featuring rapper, Law & Order actor and star of the VH1 reality show Ice T’s Rap School Ice-T, Pulitzer Prize winning comic book artist of Maus and creator of The Garbage Pail Kids Art Spiegelman, four-time National Poetry Slam champion and star of the film Slam, Taylor Mali, The New Yorker Art Editor of and co-creator of Little Lit comic series Françoise Mouly, mental_floss magazine President and co-founder Will Pearson, author (Youth Fantasies) and Professor of Education at University of Alberta jan jagodzinski and author, Temple University Professor and Director of Temple’s Media Education Lab Renee Hobbs.