Using Film in the Classroom/How to Read a Film

Strategies

I find that my students seem to want activities in which they are to read a piece of text – not too difficult – and answer some questions. The idea (fear?) of needing to think and not knowing if they are “thinking correctly” – meaning, getting the right answer-- is something that I am constantly battling. Students complain, get upset, and all too often give up. But I know that students are expected, when they go to college, to read and comprehend multiple, difficult texts, analyze them, and use these for application purposes. I know that I need to help them do this, especially since they will most likely be doing these things on their own.

The Common Core supports these skills. It asks that social studies teachers assist in teaching students how to read texts. The reading for the informational text section highlights a variety of things that we should be doing with our students. Regarding Key Ideas and Details, we should help them to: cite specific textual evidence from sources, connect insights to better understand text, determine the central ideas or information from a source, and provide a comprehensive summary with key ideas and details to support them

Close Reading

The Common Core Standards ask students to close read texts. This includes having students read and re-read texts for deeper meaning. Number the paragraphs so that it easy to acknowledge which paragraph is being referred to when citing evidence, chunk the text so that it does appear to be too overwhelming. Have students draw lines at various points – e.g. paragraphs 1-4; 5-8; 9-12. This should happen at areas that have a natural division. The author states that this responsibility can be relinquished to students throughout the course of a school year. Underline and circle with a purpose. Yet one might be quick to remember when he or she began to highlight texts and the overuse that occurred. Directing students to what is important is vital to their success in understanding the text. Students will circle symptoms of the diseases in the text while underlining examples. Use the left margin to summarize the chunks of text and the right margin to ask questions.³⁸

Socratic Seminar

I have noticed that my students tend to talk before thinking and are more interested in hearing themselves than their fellow classmates. Being able to think critically about a text before discussing it and then listening to others are important skills necessary for academic success and the life-long ability to understand better another person’s viewpoint. The weight of the conversation is left to the participants – in this case the students. They must critically look at and read the texts before coming to class and be prepared with questions and comments they would like to focus on. This is vital to the conversation’s success. I want them to experience what it is to be in college in a small seminar-type atmosphere. Additionally, I believe if they are made responsible for this, it will help them to better comprehend the content of the text that they are expected to master.

Collaborative Learning/Groupwork

Students need to learn how to work together to accomplish goals – those set by the teacher and themselves. This is a basic requirement for many positions or jobs that they will hold in the future. Working together, relying on each other helps to build team-working skills. This strategy is somewhat challenging for us in that there are two groups of students at three different high schools. For the intense conversations that follow the readings of important concepts such as gender, race, or religion a facilitator must be certain that there is a strong sense of camaraderie, trust, and willingness to work with and listen to others in the group. In collaborative learning, each group member is accountable to each other, dependent upon each other and contributes the established goals. Everyone has some strength to share.³⁹ Together, more is accomplished. Opportunities to learn about each other before and while working help to promote the collegiality and cohesiveness necessary to work well together. Individual and group evaluations are necessary to monitor the group’s work (product) and their progress in teamwork.