In our increasingly visual society, it is often difficult for some readers to create a mental picture of a picture created only with words. An image-rich text like F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby can therefore, present a real...

After viewing and analyzing documentaries and working in groups to storyboard and prepare, your class should now be ready for the production stage of the documentary process. The eighth lesson in the series, this plan provides...

Students study of the effects of the Cold War on the home front. They analyze the film High Noon according to an abbreviated version of the standards that films were judged by in the early 1950s and determine whether or not High Noon is...

Revisit the documentaries viewed in the previous lesson in this series in order to take a look at the persuasive techniques employed by the documentary creators. Small groups watch the films a second time, taking notes on two provided...

There is a reason why an Oscar is given each year for the Best Adaptation Screenplay. Adaptations are the focus of an exercise that asks class members to compare a work of literature with a least one adaptation of the work into a...

Readers of Solomon Northup's brutally frank slave narrative Twelve Years a Slave examine passages that support the argument that slavery "undermined and corrupted" the institution of marriage. Background information is...

Film analysis takes critical thinking, connections, and context. Upper graders look at the film installation, Crystal Palace in terms of the film makers choices, presentation, and perspective of truth. After an analytical discussion...

Film imitates life; that's what they say. Using performance theory to tie the lesson together, learners attempt to understand memory and daily rituals as seen in art, film, and life. They read two chapters from the book, watch the...

Young scholars explore and analyze human and animal communications and create a short film that illustrates their findings.

Engage your pupils in short story and short film. Using a still from the film as inspiration, pairs compose short stories, which they later share and compare with other members of the class. They then watch the film and respond to a...

How does an author's choice of artistic medium influence an audience? What about how an author chooses to transform original source material? These are the questions class members grapple with as they compare scenes from episode IV...

Young scholars research the social context of Elizabethan England for Shakespeare's "Hamlet". They identify cultural influences on the play focusing on the theme of revenge and then analyze and compare film interpretations of the play.

Young analysts write a comparative essay, but about what? They compose a paper based on several critical discussion about reality and illusion, and how both are blurred in art. They analyze several theatre pieces that exemplify Brechtian...

Combine mathematics and science to calculate measurements of unmeasurable materials. Individuals use knowledge of density and volume to determine the thickness of the film used in production. They also apply stoichiometry to...

What are the short and long-term consequences for consumers and producers of modern media propaganda? Class members ponder this essential question as their unit study of ethics of propaganda concludes. After examining two case...

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...

Introduce your class to photography by asking them to construct their own pinhole cameras. After putting together their own devices, pupils take and develop pictures and analyze the results. The plan provides step-by-step instructions...

How can an author's decisions impact a text? Using an insightful resource, scholars begin their study of Hamlet by reading Act 1.1. They explore the language, characters, and setting in small groups. Upon finishing group work, pupils...

How important are sound effects in films? In stage plays? In radio programs? To gain an understanding of the impact of these special effects, class members watch a short video spoof of the sound in a scene from Star...

Readers look closely at Scout in chapter 15 of To Kill A Mockingbird. Learners use turn and talk and Analyzing Scout's and the Reader's Perspectives Note-catcher to compare their perspectives to Scout's. They then make a comparison to...

Have you ever heard someone say the movie is not like the book? Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment to compare scenes from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to the movie version. The assessment contains short answers, multiple choice,...

Use this general lesson guide to inform your instruction surrounding a documentary. The lesson is made up of five activities. The activities are intentionally general because they are designed to adapted for specific films. While the...

Class members compare the final 30 minutes of Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope with Act V of Doescher's play, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope and consider how the choice of media influences viewers' impression...

To increase awareness and launch a discussion of consumerism, class members view What Would It Look Like, a 25 minute film of images that capture the global effects of the consumption of goods. Viewers make a list of the images that...