Rationale

Students really enjoy watching movies and television for a variety of reasons. For one, they get exposure to natural language in a non-threatening setting and movies provide common ground to students of any international background. Since many classics of literature have been made into movies, lessons asking students to read a book and then watch the movie made on it can help their understanding of key points and themes. In this case, we decided to have the students watch a few short clips (Pixar’s // Boundin’ //, // Glee // , // Friends // , and // Modern // // Family // ) to lead into the main lesson on the movie // Hairspray //. The students will watch the short films and movie in school, and examine how film employs different techniques for different effects and purposes.
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Some literature is difficult for modern readers. Movie renditions can introduce and help students comprehend these works. For example, many teachers contend that watching films based on real life events help students better understand, while enjoying at the same time. Therefore, we think it is important for students to have a foundation in order to study film. We cannot just show students a sample of media and use it to augment our instruction. Students need to understand how film works, as well as the different components film incorporates, and Cortes’ and Golden’s articles can help with this. The first two lessons are meant to set up students for the other lessons in order to fully understand and analyze the movie // Hairspray //. It is our initial goal through showing the short film // Boundin' // from Pixar to demonstrate and model what we expect our students to look for and know for subsequent lessons on the movie. We also want to teach our students the important of cause and effect relationships, unity, and motive and the affect these all have on narratives constructed in film (Pace 27). As the Handbook suggests, "to establish and maintain unity across shots and scenes, writers and directors use narrative, dialogue, and visuals," (27) something that we believe is important for ours students to also focus on and learn about in order to fully understand the narrative film. They will do this through the short film //Boundin'// and try to keep track of shifting scenes and time changes, known as the "dialogue hook" (27) in order to notice all the important changes in scenes. This lesson will help teach them the importance of music in the movie they will soon watch and analyze, and show how the musical helps with unity and how the film is constructed overall.

Following this lesson, we want to assess and analyze expectations and stereotypes based on how media presents characters in short clips (Glee, Friends, and Modern Family). In order to do so, the students are going to look closely at these three short clips, and notice how messages are portrayed on television every time they turn it on or head to a movie. We all know that we expect to see certain things in a show or film, and we make our own judgments based on this idea. If in the show Friends, Joey is Italian, we expect him to act and say things in a way that represents such. We want our students to think about why we stereotype these characters in such a way and why society thinks the way they do. Students will use this lesson to become aware of their own preconceptions about television and movies, and realize their abilities to analyze and predict certain stereotypes. Since most students have no background in studying media, this lesson is important to teach them about different ways media is presented as well as how to relate them to real life experiences and interests. We wanted to use Overt Instruction for this lesson by teaching the students about how media is presented and how it presents information to the viewers.  The third lesson was created to increase our students’ abilities to analyze media and think critically about the things that media presents by examining the movie // Hairspray //. This movie represents many stereotypes, values and ideologies in terms of film and media techniques, as well as through the time period the movie takes place. In the movie, the main character, Tracy Turnblad, is a dynamic young woman who is not about to stand for anyone putting her down, a lesson that we see as essential for adolescents who are beginning to figure out who they are and where they want to go in their lives. With integrity and optimism, Tracy forges ahead in spite of the criticism she receives of her mission to integrate Baltimore and on her weight, another inspiration message the movie portrays. The main messages that we see are essential to teach our students come from the idea that the color of one’s skin should be of no importance. Also, it teaches people to follow their dreams and to stand up for what they believe in, values that parents may wish to reinforce. Not only does it teach this important lesson, it can show students how to be tolerant of those who are different from them. Courage and determination, and fighting prejudices in the world and the importance of good character rather than body image in this movie really help show children how to break the mold of stereotypes and perseverance. This movie could also give teachers a lesson and opportunity on ways to solve problems without resorting to the use of violence in and out of school.

Our last lesson uses generative thinking and overt instruction in order to give the students a chance to identify specific choices the director makes in order to develop characterization and particularly, stereotypes of weight, racism, and gender roles in the movie. Using the metalanguage taught from Golden, students will analyze a clip of the film and then “re-direct” that clip to portray the plot from another character’s perspective. This activity will help students not only identify techniques that have already been used, but also make their own decisions to create a new point of view, one that they feel is more tolerant and important. In order for students to be successful in generative thinking, there are some steps that need to be ensured by the teacher. The teacher needs to provide overt instruction to offer new information and teach the students how to connect that new information to prior knowledge; the teacher also needs to develop activities for situated practice to help scaffold students in acquiring new literacy practice skills. Starting at the introductory lesson, we introduce new key terms that will help them model how to analyze the movie in future lessons to come.

Giving them metalanguages to participate in literacy events that come up in lesson three and four, analyzing the movie’s stereotypes as well as how the camera angles and shots enhance these, provides the students will tools to scaffold the literacy practices that they need to actually participate in the lesson. The critical framing in the lessons on // Hairspray // help the student create their own films, and “redirect” the film from their own ideas and thoughts. This group work also promotes situated practices and enhances the students knowledge and cooperative work through collaboration of ideas and may even help them notice stereotypes they make on their own in school and their classes. It is also important to notice how the Handbook written by Dr. Barbara Pace teaches us ways to discuss TV and film narrative structure. For example, we would like our students to know the term, demystification, which is about teaching students how to deconstruct media, something that we are trying to have them do while looking at the movie //Hairspray.// As stated in the handbook, "it draws heavily on semiotics (the study of cultural signs and symbols) and on detailed study of media texts. The assumption is that students will unearth and subsequently resist the dominant ideologies privileged in media" (Pace 10). This will allow the students to come up with their own findings and ideas about the stereotypes and issues that are presented in the movie during the time period of non-integrated television, and weight biases.

Students studying English as a second language can be assigned a number of films with themes relating to words they are expected to learn, and these lessons can be really beneficial to their learning. This will broaden their understanding of the new words and cultural norms, while helping them with conversational English and sentence building. The fact that lesson four is about creating a new film, there are higher order thinking skills being used, and the ELLs will get to participate in varied instruction, lesson types, and different genres of media. The group work will help with their listening and speaking skills, and they will also learn more about the culture of America during the 60s and when the world was not so accepting of diversity.

These lessons as a whole enable students to see conflict and stereotypes of the movies and short films being studied, while connecting these observations to the world and culture around them. These movie was chosen because it teachers important concepts and issues the U.S. faced during the 60’s and can be transferable to other lessons, and real life. We feel that having multiple genres within the lessons also shows students that all types of media have importance, and that the students’ literacy practice tools can be used within a variety of activities for many purposes. We hope that not only do students learn how to analyze and look closer at film, but also that they learn a sense of self and courage through the morals and values depicted in the film and lessons on // Hairspray. //