Curated OER
Film Festival: Documentaries for Hispanic Heritage Month
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the New York Times provides links to five short documentary films depicting Hispanic themes and culture. Learners can click on each embedded link to view the films, then answer each set of related...
Creative Visions Foundation
Studying Documentaries Like a Writer - Looking For Persuasive Techniques
Revisit the documentaries viewed in the previous instructional activity 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...
Curated OER
General Lesson Plan for Documentary Lens
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...
College Board
AP® English Language and Composition: Using Documentary Film as an Introduction to Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the key to character. Scholars work through four activities using documentary films to complete rhetoric analysis. Learners participate in writing a note to a friend and then analyze their own writing. They also view clips...
Teaching Tolerance
Film Festival
Everybody's a critic—even your pupils! Using the included resources as a guide, screen films related to social justice and ask film enthusiasts to critique them. Publish the reviews for your school community or develop a film festival...
PBS
Hemingway Educator Guide
A 17-page Educator Guide is designed to support classroom discussions of Ken Burns' documentary on Ernest Hemingway. The guide includes background information on Hemingway's life, the themes found in his works, essential and discussion...
Dream of a Nation
Read, Watch, Write for Pathos, Logos and Ethos
Encourage your young citizens to make a difference. Using Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America as a starting point, class members watch documentaries, investigate issues, and then write letters to...
Social Studies School Service
DVD Lesson Plan: Thirteen Days
Here you'll find a fine teacher reference for presenting the film Thirteen Days, a dramatic interpretation of the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Kennedy administration. It includes a brief description of the film, learning objectives, a...
US National Archives
WWII: Western Europe 1939-45 – Battle of Britain
Had Britain not emerged as the victors of the 1940 Battle of Britain, World War II would have ended much differently—and the world as we know it would be catastrophically altered. Learn more about this pivotal moment that kept the Nazis...
Curated OER
Films About World War II
Ninth graders focus on how filmmakers have changed their view of the Second World War. They create portfolios or their own documentary to investigate the various screen interpretations of the wartime era and explain different points of...
Curated OER
Worksheet for Analysis of a Motion Picture
In this primary source analysis worksheet, students respond to 14 short answer questions that require them to analyze the motion picture of their choice.
Channel Islands Film
The Legendary King of San Miguel: Lesson Plan 3 - Grades 9-12
The documentary, The Legendary King of San Miguel Island, introduces the fascinating tale of Herb Lester, his family, and their life on San Miguel Island. Viewers have an opportunity to expand their study of the island and of Lester's...
Vaquera Films
Wonder Women - The Untold Story of American Superheroines: High School Curriculum Guide
A 41-page curriculum guide tells the story of the untold stories of American Superheroines! Divided into three modules, the guide is designed to be used before, during, and after viewing the 2012 documentary Wonder Women! The Untold...
Curated OER
Motion Picture Analysis Worksheet
In this motion picture analysis worksheet, learners decipher what type of motion picture they viewed based on a complete list of criteria. Students then answer multiple questions based on their discoveries.
Media Smarts
Defining Popular Culture
What part does media play in creating, defining, and perpetuating popular culture? High schoolers chart their encounters with fads, trends, and icons and reflect on the media's influence on popular culture.
Curated OER
Exploring US Foreign Policy after WWII--The Cold War
Scholars explore U.S. Foreign Policy and Cold War ideologies adopted after WWII. They conduct Internet research on a topic or issue related to the Cold War Era, watch two films, and compose a time line and a multimedia presentation to...
K20 LEARN
The Parched Plains: Weather And Climate
How do meteorologists differentiate between droughts and dry spells? Introduce the concepts of weather forecasting and prediction with an insightful research-based lesson from the K20 series. Partners synthesize individual research from...
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: The Teenage Brain and Connections: Free Choice Activity
During this lesson, which is all about making connections, learners watch a documentary about the teenage brain and connect it to Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, their own lives, and the world.
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 4 - Grades 4-5
After viewing the West of the West's documentary Cache, individuals craft either a newspaper article chronicling the discovery of the cache on San Nicolas Island, a historical narrative of the placement of the cache in the cliff side, or...
Curated OER
Picturing a Story: Photo Essay About a Community, Event, or Issue
Students research Dorothea Lange's documentary projects and create their own photo essay about a subject. In this photo essay instructional activity, students analyze examples of social-documentary photographs of Lange. Students define a...
Curated OER
The Photographs of Dorothea Lange
Young scholars research social-documentary photography using Dorothea Lange’s documentary projects. In this photography analysis lesson plan, students analyze examples of photographs by Dorothea Lange and research one or more of Dorothea...
Curated OER
Unchained Memories
Eleventh graders consider what life was like for American slaves. In this primary source analysis lesson plan, 11th graders read slave narratives from Unchained Memories and then participate in a discussion about the conditions in which...
Channel Islands Film
Arlington Springs Man: Lesson Plan 3
Imagine being part of a team of scientists that discover the oldest human remains in North America. Imagine being part of the crew that documents this discovery. Class members get a change to be part of such an exciting adventure in a...
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 3
How far have California's Channel islands moved? What was the rate of this movement? Class members first examine data that shows the age of the Hawaiian island chain and the average speed of the Pacific Plate. They then watch West of the...