The story of Movies

http://www.edutopia.org/video/movie.php?reset=cookie&keyword=037&id=Art_1671

The video I just watched was entitled “The Story of Movies”. Martin Scorsese has put together a program for schools to use that utilizes movies in various classroom settings. Ultimately, the goal is to cause students to think critically about movies. The history of movies is taught to the students in history class. Science class focuses on the different elements used in the movies. But English class is where the majority of the lessons are taught. Students put together in their English class everything they have learned in their other classes to analyze movies. The whole course lasts four weeks but by the end of it, the students have not only developed tools to analyze movies, but they have enhanced their critical thinking skills.

The actual video only showed the English setting where the only form of technology used was the videos, but I am sure there were other types of technologies used, especially in the science classroom. The teaching in the English classroom was both teacher and student centered. The teacher utilized the technology to ask questions and the students needed to utilize the same technology in order to respond to the questions.

This unit on movies is one I wish I would have had in high school. It is a wonderful unit that is done throughout all of the students’ classes. I always was most engaged in lessons and units that utilized technology and this is obviously one of them. Without the use of technology, this unit would take on a totally different feel. It would basically be lessons in separate classes, not linked by the common theme of movie analysis.

If I were to teach a lesson like this, I would need to do a serious amount of homework. I do not know the least bit about movies so this would take a lot of homework on my part. For the team of teachers to get this done, a lot of planning will be involved. The teachers will have to time their lessons just right so the entire unit will flow together. The English teacher should not analyze lighting until the students have learned about light in their science class. It is possible to pull this unit off but the teachers are going to have to do a lot of planning and communicating in order for it to be as successful as possible.

Teachers also have to realize that technology doesn’t always cooperate so they must plan accordingly. All lessons dealing with technology should have a back up plan and this unit is no exception. If technology fails, it is important that teacher do not give up on the lesson all together. They should keep the lesson going or possibly postpone it because the students are probably going to respond well to it.