Teaching Social Media in Austin ISD's Phone-Free High School English Class
Teaching Social Media in Austin ISD's Phone-Free High School English Class
Austin ISD high school English teachers can teach social media, memes and online speech even with every phone powered off, using the High School Media and Communication Units Bundle. Its six printable units for grades 9–12 cover social media platforms, the chances and risks of digital media, utopian and dystopian narratives, multimodal texts, emojis and memes, and private versus public speech online.
See the 6 media unitsYes. The High School Media and Communication Units Bundle ($89.99) lets you study students' online world without their phones in the room. The six units are Social Media & Digital Platforms, Media and Digitalisation, Future Visions: Utopian & Dystopian Narratives, Analyzing Multimodal Texts, Emojis, Memes and GIFs, and Private and Public Communication Online. You print the texts and examples, students analyze them on paper. Separately the units cost $149.94.
The resources
High School Media and Communication Units Bundle, Grades 9–12
6 resources in one download: $89.99 instead of $149.94 bought separately.
Start with the first resource; the others are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
High School Media and Communication Units Bundle | Social Media, Memes, Online Speech & Dystopian Media | 6 Units | Grades 9–12
High School ELA Text Analysis & Writing Bundle | Fiction, Speeches, Essays, Macbeth & 1984 | 9 Units | Grades 9–12
English Language Arts Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for High School ELA (Grades 9–12)
Global Issues in English Class Bundle | India, Nigeria, Migration, Diversity & Globalization | 5 Units | Grades 10–12
The real problem
Teaching the feed after the phones went dark
To comply with Texas House Bill 1481, the Austin ISD board adopted a policy on Aug. 21, 2025 that bars personal communication devices from first bell to last bell. Students keep phones, smartwatches and earbuds powered off and out of sight, while district-provided devices are still allowed. That rule is in place for the 2026–27 school year, which began Aug. 18, 2026. For an English teacher this creates an odd gap. The texts your students read most, posts, comment threads, memes and short videos, are now the ones they cannot open in class. You can still talk about social media, but if the lesson depends on students scrolling their own feeds, it no longer works. District devices remain an option, yet a filtered laptop is a different thing from a student's own account. What you need is material that brings the online world into the room on paper: examples to annotate, structured analysis steps, and discussion that asks students to explain, from memory and evidence, how platforms shape what they see and say. Texas also adopted K–12 Literary Works Lists in June 2026 under HB 1605 (2023), so check how your campus fits media units around those lists.
Why it fits
Six units that study screens without screens
Each unit treats digital media as a text to analyze, which suits a room where the devices themselves stay off.
- Social Media & Digital Platforms looks at participation, influence and manipulation from the outside.
- Emojis, Memes and GIFs turns the shortest online texts into close-reading practice on paper.
- Analyzing Multimodal Texts gives students steps for reading image and text together.
- Private and Public Communication Online prompts discussion about what students post and who sees it.
- Future Visions pairs utopian and dystopian narratives in literature and media with today's technology.
- Media and Digitalisation weighs chances and risks of digital media in a structured, printable format.
Getting started
A sample six-week media strand
This is a suggestion for one way to fit the units into a semester; change the order to match your course.
- Open with the platforms themselvesStart with Social Media & Digital Platforms. Ask students to sketch, from memory, how their favorite app decides what they see next, then compare the sketches with the unit's material.
- Read the short forms closelyMove to Emojis, Memes and GIFs. Printed examples slow students down; a meme they would scroll past in a second becomes something to annotate for audience, tone and purpose.
- Add images and layoutTeach Analyzing Multimodal Texts next, so students can apply the same close reading to ads, posters and infographics that combine words and pictures. Printed copies let them circle and label directly.
- Move to speech and privacyUse Private and Public Communication Online for discussion. With phones powered off, students argue about online behavior instead of performing it and listen to classmates who see it differently.
- Finish with dystopiaEnd with Future Visions: Utopian & Dystopian Narratives and Media and Digitalisation. A short argumentative piece on where technology is heading makes a fitting close to the strand.
What to buy
Choosing between the high school English downloads
The High School Media and Communication Units Bundle at $89.99 is the pick for a media strand; the six parts cost $149.94 separately. If your priority is classic literature and writing, the High School ELA Text Analysis & Writing Bundle ($109.99, parts $224.91) includes Macbeth, Orwell's 1984, political speeches and argumentative essays. For a full sequenced course, ELA Complete – High School starts at $149.90. Upper-level classes reading about global topics may prefer the Global Issues in English Class Bundle at $79.99, with units on India, Nigeria, migration, diversity and globalization.
Honest limits
Where the bundle stops
The bundle was not written for Texas or Austin ISD. It has no TEKS codes and no texts from the Texas Literary Works Lists, so check each unit against the English TEKS for your course and your campus plan. It is six media units, not a year-long English course. Enforcing the device policy is up to your campus; the bundle simply works without phones. Sharing it with your English department needs a short message to Teach Lessons first. Within 7 days you can exchange it for store credit of equal value, not a cash refund.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Does the bundle match the Texas English TEKS?
It is not aligned to, endorsed by or approved under the TEKS, and Austin ISD has not adopted it. Media literacy and multimodal analysis appear in many high school English courses, but you should compare each unit with the TEKS for the course you teach, and with any campus or district guidance on the 2026 Literary Works Lists.
Can I teach memes without showing students actual memes on a screen?
Yes. The Emojis, Memes and GIFs unit is printable, so the examples arrive on paper. Many teachers find printed examples easier to discuss, because the whole class is looking at the same thing and nobody is scrolling ahead. If your campus allows district devices, you can also show examples on a projector.
Is any part of it against the Austin ISD device policy?
No part of the bundle asks students to use personal phones, smartwatches or earbuds. The policy still allows district-provided devices, so you can use a district laptop or projector if you like, but the units do not depend on one. Students can complete every task with paper, pens and the printed examples you hand out.
Which grade levels does it suit?
The bundle is listed for grades 9–12. Emojis, Memes and GIFs and Social Media & Digital Platforms are natural starting points for younger students, while Future Visions and Media and Digitalisation suit juniors and seniors who can sustain a longer argument. Read through each unit and place it where it fits your course.
How soon can I teach the first unit?
As soon as you have checked out. You receive a download link by email, and the files remain in your customer account under Orders, so you can print the first unit tonight and keep the rest for later in the semester. There is no shipping and no wait.
Can our English department share it?
Your purchase covers your own classes, including every section you teach. Use across a team or school is possible after a short message to Teach Lessons. Uploading the files to a public site, sharing them outside your campus or reselling them is not allowed under the licence terms.
Analyze the feed with the phones off
Open the product page to read the description of each of the six media units before your next planning period.
See the 6 media units