{"id":13734,"date":"2014-12-04T00:51:05","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T05:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/?page_id=13734"},"modified":"2023-12-07T10:02:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T15:02:28","slug":"2009-sccte-film-in-the-literature-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/2009-sccte-film-in-the-literature-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"2009 SCCTE: Film in the Literature Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThe 2009 SCCTE Conference theme was \u201cImages, Imagination, Innovation.\u201d
\nI was pleased to have been invited by the SCCTE conference planners to present a half-day\u00a0post-conference workshop Saturday January 31 on using film in the literature classroom.\u00a0My aim was to help English teachers (and their students) better appreciate the “languages of film.”<\/p>\n

Most of our students view movies (and other media) uncritically: they only know what\u00a0they see on the screen. They don’t have a clue how it got to the screen: the process.\u00a0Teaching film literacy, or film fluency, is a way of “pulling back the curtain” on how\u00a0movies are made. So helping them to understand the languages of film is a perfect way to encourage both critical thinking and critical viewing.<\/p>\n

At the start of the presentation, we shared our favorite films and what made the film, or the scene from the film, memorable. The films, and techniques, were posted on the walls.<\/p>\n

I referenced the upcoming Academy Awards (February 22) and asked participants to\u00a0brainstorm the award categories.\u00a0 Those categories and awards recognize the people who use\u00a0and understand the “languages of film.”<\/p>\n

To get teachers accustomed to viewing a film critically, I started with this activity.\u00a0We started with a (passive) viewing of the opening scene from Steven Spielberg’s “ET-The Extra Terrestrial.”\u00a0You can find this clip here<\/a>.\u00a0 (We viewed up to the point where the “mother ship” departs—\u00a0stranding ET on Earth.)\u00a0 After this initial viewing, I distributed index cards<\/a> to groups of teachers.\u00a0Each card listed a different “language of film.”\u00a0 The card was read by each teacher in the group.<\/p>\n

We watched the clip a second time, incorporating active viewing–with teachers concentrating on their specific assignment, listed on the card.\u00a0 At the end of the activity, participants compared notes and then a representative from each group shared what they saw\/heard with the entire room. <\/p>\n

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We looked closely at opening credits<\/a>, symbolism<\/a>, point-of-view<\/a>, and lighting<\/a> in several clips from “To Kill A Mockingbird;”\u00a0the role of music in “Tuck Everlasting;” the use of images, sounds and symbols in “The Great Gatsby;” \u00a0and visualizing and storyboarding in “Because of Winn-Dixie.”<\/p>\n

Handouts from this workshop:<\/strong><\/p>\n