Narrative Film Construction Teacher Resources

Excerpts from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and from John Fante's Ask the Dust, as well as a variety of primary source documents provide the background for an examination of the migrant experience from 1920-1945.

Practice makes perfect, and this instructional activity provides a rubric to prove it! To improve their ability to read with fluency and expression, readers listen to a series of online stories in order to hear how a well-read story...

Students generate their own definition of documetary. They watch and discusss a series of extracts that demonstrate the breadth of the documentary form. Students create a defintion of the term documentary that takes into account the...

Students create storyboards. For this pre-Christmas special lesson, students produce a storyboard for a TV version of the poem, "The Journey of the Magi". Options to complete with or without technology are included.

Track the transformation of Malcolm Little into Malcolm X and then into El Jajj Malik El-Shabazz with the second part of Make it Plain, a documentary on the famous civil rights activist. Viewers consider not only how events shaped and...

Students examine artwork by Keith Haring, and listen to music popular in the 1980s that influenced him. They develop storyboards, and film music videos for their favorite song.

Students examine different viewpoints and representations of events. They discover that viewpoints are constructed from different points of view. They also examine how they represent real events.

Students examine two new concepts: orientalism and objectification. They view two film clips/videos on Seven Years in Tibet with Brad Pitt to incorporate the new concepts. In addition, students read Orientalism and write key questions...

Second graders create a Mother's Day Writing Project in this lesson plan. They review the assignment's expectations, and develop their rough draft letters and illustrations. They then peer edit their rough drafts and write their final...

Students explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...

High schoolers study the African American troop experiences in the Civil War. In this American history lesson, students examine primary and secondary sources regarding the experiences and contributions of African American soldiers who...

Students explore the work of Stephen Sondheim. In this musical theater lesson, students examine the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George. Students identify and anaylze linear and nonlinear structural patterns...

High schoolers examine World War I war crimes. In this world history instructional activity, students use primary and secondary sources to research and understand the systematic nature of the Armenian Genocide. High schoolers reflect on...

Fourth graders examine written works dealing with environmental issues and resolutions during a 5 week unit. They create posters, poems, and rap songs demonstrating authorship and knowledge of the environment.

Students explain the definition of a portrait. They identify the visual clues that Gilbert Stuart included in his portrait of George Washington. They compare the reproduction to other images of Washington. They discuss the importance of...

First graders locate place of birth on a map. They identify their birthdays and place a graphing square with their birthday written on it under the corresponding month. They compare birthdays on the graph. They read "P.B. Bear's Birthday...

Students research walruses using the library and the Internet, then write an essay from what they find in their research.  In this investigative instructional activity students view a video on walruses then write an essay after...

Students observe as the teacher demonstrates how to use a digital video camera. They experiment with the camera to get to know its features. Finally they create a video commercial and edit it, inserting sounds, titles and other graphics.