Using Film in the Classroom/How to Read a Film

Content Standards

This curriculum unit addresses numerous state and district content standards for my English Language Arts and Social Studies classroom. Our state department of education and the state legislature recently and quite suddenly dropped out of the Common Core national collective after a mere three years of involvement. However, we are currently still working under the standards written during that time and that were put into place under the Common Core. In fact they are almost exactly the same, except they are now called Oklahoma PASS standards.

This unit of study will enable students to achieve the standard that asks students to analyze how the differences in the points of view of characters, as well as those of the audience or reader, can create effects such as humor or suspense. This unit allows for a variety of analysis opportunities for students along with the scaffolding required for effective analysis, such as with the mastery of the formal elements of literature and film. The in depth and close look at suspense as an element in literature and film, the organizing thread throughout this unit, is essential to the mastery of this standard. (RL 8.6)

Another integral reading standard for the eighth grade is that the students should be able to analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story departs from or stays faithful to the text or script, as well as are able to evaluate the choices made by the director of a film or live event. Our comparison of Poe’s written text with that of the filmed and live versions the students will view will ensure mastery of this standard. The analysis of Hitchcock’s film and his directorial nuances will certainly further support the students’ depth of knowledge with respect to this standard. (RL. 8.7)

Determining an author’s point of view and purpose in a text as well as the analysis of how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence in the text will naturally flow from our study of Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart, a story told from the perspective of a “madman”, increasing the suspenseful edge ten-fold. (RL 8.6)

Upon completion of their Movie Review assignment, students will have worked through their film and text analysis in a solid piece of writing. Writing arguments that support claims with clear and relevant evidence is another of our state and district standards for English Language Arts that is ably supported by this unit. (W 8.1)

Ultimately, students are required by the standards to spend extended blocks of time on reading and writing at the high end of text complexity for their grade levels. This curriculum unit does this and much more using a variety of strategies and activities. (RL 8.10 and W8.10)