Judith J. Katz
The target class for this unit is the ninth grade Creative Writing class of the Cooperative Arts and Humanities Magnet High School (Co-op). This is their first high school level writing class. The students in this class are self identified writers. Even so there is usually a wide range of skill levels and abilities from students with IEP's (Individual Education Plans) to Honors level students and every kind of student in-between.
At Co-op we have the luxury of block scheduling which means that each arts period is given two standard class periods (42 minutes), back to back for a total of 84 minutes of class time, with a five minute break between periods. I predict that this unit in its full-length version will take three to four weeks of double periods. I have therefore constructed the unit in four discrete parts. The first three parts are keyed to specific films while the final part is an in-depth writing assignment. In this way a teacher with less time to devote to the unit can choose to use one or more of the films, with or without the culminating, in-depth writing assignment to accomplish his/her specific goal(s).
In order to give the teacher who intends to use this unit flexibility I have also attempted to construct the lesson plans and worksheets in a way that can be easily adapted to fit films other than the ones I have chosen. Another benefit to this method of construction is that students begin to understand that, as the playwright Eugene Ionesco said, "It's not the answer that enlightens, but the question." Hence a good set of questions can be a valuable companion as one faces the blank page whether it is for this assignment, an essay in another content area, or for a standardized test.
