~ John Keating, Dead Poets Society
Many us remember the days of substitutes in the classroom, which often times translated into MOVIE DAY! Unfortunately, this is not in the past and there are still times when a movie is the easiest sub plan. On the first day back from winter break last year, my daughter (who was a high school senior) had a sub in two classes...and watched two movies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Princess Bride. And before you ask, no there wasn't a lesson attached to the movies; they were just to watch them.
Changing this belief that a sub day is the only time to show a movie is probably the hardest thing to overcome for teachers today, who actually use film as a tool of analysis and critique in the classroom. Morrell builds a case for movies in the classroom though his descriptions of two units his employed in his high school English classes. His four main reasons to support the use of film in the classroom are(90):
- It increases motivation.
- It taps into background knowledge.
- It improves awareness.
- It fosters sociopolitical philosophy.
Through The Godfather and The Odyssey, the students are asked to think about the following:
- The treatment of women and the world view of femininity
- the voyage to manhood
- role of religion
- the epic hero and his journey
Through Native Son and A Time to Kill, the students focused upon:
- equality and justice
- racism and prejudices
- simplistic notions of right and wrong
Within the units the students began to use the world as a text also, as they began to take the themes from the literature and films and apply them to their own world. The A Time to Kill/Native Son unit was a powerful unit for the students since many were minorities themselves and had personal experience with injustice, inequality, and racism. They were so moved by the unit that as a class, they decided to dedicate the final 6-weeks of school to creating a magazine that exposed the injustices the students faced on the school campus; thus taking a theme from a movie and applying it to their own world.
Like everything else in education, using movies isn't a cure-all. Morrell still had disengaged students, as well as issues with truancy; however, the students in class found the use of contemporary movies teamed with classical texts rewarding because it allowed them to tap into their own background knowledge as well, in order to critique the texts.
For me...
The new curriculum that we have implemented at school, SpringBoard, using many different movie clips, in conjunction with the texts being used in the classroom. I have used movie clips for many different reasons (the first 8 minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark to help teach climax, The Corpse Bride for mood, Westside Story's Jets/Sharks scene as a companion to The Outsiders Socs/Greasers rumble) so this hasn't taken me out of my comfort zone too much, but other teachers in the school now think that all I do is "watch movies", more so than I already did.
What I find interesting are the messages/themes/allusions that students see in a film that I myself sometimes fail to notice. When Terminator Salvation came out in theaters, we were finishing a unit on the Holocaust. Many students came back from the opening weekend, sharing how they believed there were allusions to the Holocaust throughout the movie, e.g., when Kyle Reese and other humans are rounded up and taken to Skynet, via a flying "cattle car." Or, after talking about Star Wars, the conversation the students had concerning the connections between the movie and Nazi Germany. (The stormtroopers were named after the Nazi stormtroopers, and the Empire was modeled on Nazi Germany.) I grew up with Star Wars and absolutely love it, but my appreciation of it grows each year as the students and I talk about its implications in society.
In case you are interested, another great book I found concerning film in the classroom is Reading in the Dark: Using Film As a Tool in the English Classroom by John Golden. It provides clear examples that can be used in almost any English classroom.
Morrell, E. (2004). Linking Literacy and Popular Culture: Finding Connections for Lifelong Learning. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.
Misty: This is a great approach to using media in literature and the classroom in general. With a rapidly changing classroom culture, we need the media, pop culture, and other forms of entertainment to reach these students half way, if only for an 8 minute clip to make point more clear.
ReplyDeleteThanks Laurie! I do the Indiana Jones clip within the first two weeks of school, so that I can get them in the groove of watching small bits of films.
ReplyDeleteMisty,
ReplyDeleteIt is very powerful that Morrell provided here ideas about how to link such movies to literature. I am wondering whether he provides more techniques about using other mass media in classrooms. On another note, when I was a child watching movies or reading history or literature, I used to get very much influenced by what I was exposed to. I think students need to be aware that whatever information presented is nothing but the point of view of an author or director. Stressing the notion of “no one owns the truth” and that it is their responsibility in this life to discover what makes sense to them is extremely important. In other words, making links and relating different pieces of information together is, of course, important, but also challenging what they watch or read is as equally important. I am sure we all know that certain movies or historical stories are just funded by some institutions or agencies for whatever hidden agendas. That is why we need to make our students develop a critical eye, critical thinking to what they watch and read.
Noha Ghaly
Misty,
ReplyDeleteWhen I taught 8th grade, I also tried to bring in film clips into the classroom, and I found it very helpful. I found that students were able to relate to larger social issues when we distanced it from their own lives by talking about the film specifically, and then gradually, the students would relate their analysis to their own lived experiences. Sometimes, it's too much to ask an 8th grade boy, for example, to analyze the grief and loss associated with injustice, but by showing a clip from a movie (or reading a graphic novel such as Maus, by Art Spiegelman), real transformative knowledge sharing can occur...
Misty...Sorry I haven't been responding..
ReplyDeleteYour last two posts have gotten me thinking about how the music students listen to and the movies they watch CAN be powerful teaching tools. I truly believe that we need to adjust the curriculum to reflect the needs of the students in the classroom, rather than "prepare" students to navigate a curriculum that does not engage students.
I like the use of the movie clips to illustrate social issues and historical events for students. As I'm reading your desciptions, I think about how the same lessons with movies (and music) can translate to analyzing plays/musicals/operas. For students to have a variety of experiences from which to draw lessons should be the cornerstone of our educational system. Good for you that you are finding ways to incorporate pop culture in your class. It may take a little thought and extra prep, but in the long run your students will be more successful!