William J. Garraty
Any teacher who has shown a film knows that students tend to shut down when the lights go out. So how do we overcome that problem? We use film study sheets. There are a variety of film study sheets available and teachers should certainly modify them to fit their needs. These sheets should be a handy reference tool for the student. Each sheet should provide the student with some specific information about the film such as the film title, the year it was made, the general topic it focuses on, the producer/ director and actors if appropriate The sheet should also provide students with some assistance with a
THINGS TO NOTICE
area. Here the teacher can provide the students with points of interest they should be on the look out for. We would want students to look for such things as uniform descriptions, field hospital conditions, and geographical elements. Located on the film note sheets a section will ask students to note sequence of events, significant characters in the film and their roles. Most important for notes is the summary of what takes place in the film or film clip.
The film note sheet provides students with a useful tool to refer to when the class has a discussion about the various aspects of the film. In this unit the students will use the film note sheets for each clip they view. The KWL pre-viewing strategy and the Film Notes should be used for each section of each film. The film clips should not be any longer than 20 minutes.
A format for the use of film to teach can be as simple as the following
Initiating the KWL strategy
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1) Ask students what they know about the topic. The teacher should list those ideas on the board and student should list them on their KWL work sheets.
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2) Ask students what they would like to know more about the topic. Both teacher and students should also list these questions.
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3) Provide each student with a film study sheet.
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4) Show a 20-minute film clip. Some films such as
Divided Union
have segments and it may be easier to NOT interrupt the flow of the film for the sake of keeping a set time schedule.
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5) After the short clip has been viewed, allow students to offer responses to your questions. Questions should follow the Bloom's Taxonomy, which provides a guide to help create useful questions that are thought provoking and not just yes or no style. I would like to acknowledge Benjamin Bloom and the classification system for intellectual behavior. Bloom's taxonomy provides educators with a graduated system to develop critical thinking skills in students. Basing question that will be used to evaluate student learning around the taxonomy provides a solid standard for educators. Below is description of the taxonomy taken from Benjamin Bloom's book
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.
Bloom's Taxonomy
(image available in print form)
In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. Bloom found that over 95 % of the test questions students encounter require them to think only at the lowest possible level...the recall of information.
Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order, which is classified as evaluation. Verb examples that represent intellectual activity on each level are listed here.
1.
Knowledge
: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, and reproduce state.
2.
Comprehension
: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate,
3.
Application
: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, and write.
4.
Analysis
: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, and test.
5.
Synthesis
: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
6.
Evaluation
: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.
Film Notes
Film Title________________________________________
Year ____________________________________________
Producer/ director____________________________________
Things to Notice
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Theme of film ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Film or clip summary
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________