Ways to Effectively Use Movies in Class
Including movies in your lessons can help enhance learning and increase student interest levels while providing direct instruction on the topic at hand. While there are pros and cons to including movies in lesson plans, there are ways that you can help ensure that the movies you choose do in fact have the learning impact you desire. The following list gives ideas for how you can effectively use films to reinforce what is being taught.
1. Create a generic worksheet for students to fill out after watching the movie
With this option, you would create a worksheet that you could use for all the movies you plan to show over the course of the year. Questions that might be included are: * What is the setting of the movie? * What is the basic plot? * Who is (are) the protagonist(s)? * Who is the antagonist? * Give a brief summary of the movie? * What are your impressions of the movie? * How does the movie relate to what we are studying in class?
2. Create a movie question worksheet to be filled out during the movie
Here you would create a specific worksheet with questions about events that happen throughout the movie. Students would need to answer the questions as they watch the movie. While this would have the benefit of ensuring that students understood specific points from the movie, it can also lead to problems with students so busy watching the movie that they forget to read and answer the questions. When I have used this method, I have a tendency to stop the movie after each question or two and have the students answer them before moving on. Here is an example for All Quiet on the Western Front.
As you watch the movie, please answer the following questions. 1. What is the title of this film? When was it made? Who wrote the original novel? 2. Why did the students join the Army? 3. What role did the mailman (Himmelstoess) have? Was he particularly mean