Silent Films Teacher Resources

Students participate in an engaging, alternative assessment activity: making a silent film of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This project offers them an additional way to demonstrate their mastery of the topic. 

Even an outline can give you enough information to execute an awsome project. The tasks for each of the seven weeks of this project are defined, as well as the objective and specific content facilitated through the project. Learners will...

Students watch Charlie Chaplin films and discuss film elements. They select a story written by Edgar Allen Poe to write and produce a movie of. They film scenes, edit, and create a final iMovie project.

Take writing prompts to another level in this activity, which allows pupils to create scenes of dialogue based on the 1903 silent film, The Great Train Robbery. Useful for a language arts/history cross-curricular activity, the lesson...

Scholars examine the courageous efforts made by civil rights activist, Rosa Parks. Discussion questions and a brief writing assignment follows a short film. A photograph and a silent film delve deeper into Park's history and three...

A budding engineer demonstrates how to use Google SketchUp to build a simple SketchUp house. This is a silent film that uses text to explain the tools needed to draw the house. Very effective modeling that's very easy to follow.

After examining and discussing Guy Ben-Ner's Treehouse Kit, a contemporary art installation with a sculptural and video element, small groups work together to create short silent films. The films should be built around a particular topic...

Students examine the impact of movies and television. In this communication lesson, students share filmstrips that lack sound and determine the genre of the segments. Students discuss popular movies and television shows from different...

Students create dialogue that relates to a Florida Archives silent film clip. They research the Florida Memory Project and view a film clip. They record their dialogue on index cards and review and revise the dialogue as needed. They...

Fourth graders watch a silent movie and identify the elements of a story. They complete a worksheet attached to the lesson and discuss their answers.

Persistence of Vision? The Phi Phenomenon? Zoetropes? Camera Obscura? Kinetograph? What part do these concepts and inventions play in the history of movies? Find out with a short video that launches an informative playlist on film history.

The most impressive movie you've ever seen can't compare to the astonishment audiences felt when feature films began to synchronize sound with the picture. Learn about the complex path to the talkie, including the invention of the...

The Overcoming Obstacles course for middle schoolers continues with a unit module on communication. In the first lesson, participants engage in a series of activities that help them recognize nonverbal clues and the importance of making...

In pairs learners perform a silent skit portraying relationships between two known characters from a popular book or a play for their classmates. Next, the class will read and discuss a NYTimes article about a film school in the Bronx...

Lighten the mood in your film class (or film as lit class) with this amusing presentation. From pictures of Sacha Baron Cohen as his infamous character Borat to a play-by-play of jokes and exaggerated plot lines in many popular movies,...

And the winner is.....! The Academy Awards are a big deal in film and often make top headlines in the paper. Kids read an article about the most recent Academy Awards Ceremony and answer 11 questions about who won what award, and why. 

In this 1970's worksheet, learners complete a quiz about the history and important events that took place in the 1970's. Students complete 20 short answer questions.

Students examine the contributions of a few African American actors. After watching different films, they work together to recreate the film and the struggles faced by the actors. In groups, they compare and contrast the acting style of...

Young scholars view examples of images and discuss why a director or writer chose these images. Using different forms of media, they develop their own standards by which to judge television or films. They discover the use of visual...

Students examine the origins of ragtime music in American and analyze its musical form.

Second graders study Keith Haring by creating tee-shirts and a mural. In this art lesson, 2nd graders study the life and works of Keith Haring through his symbols. Students then make drawings reflective of Haring's style as music plays....

Students share social and cultural traditions and values. They develop listening strategies to explain what is heard.

In this research skills worksheet, students use an encyclopedia, almanac, web search, or other resources to answer the 5 questions about people who have birthdays on Halloween.

Fourth graders participate in role plays in order to consider how they use body language and facial expressions to convey their feelings. In this nonverbal communication lesson, 4th graders discuss the importance of paying attention to...