Mary Lou L. Narowski
In order for students to analyze and evaluate which format, novel or film, is more effective, three standards-based objectives will be assigned to this unit: understanding character, continuing practice in writing film script, and writing a comparison essay. By investigating character, students will have to decide whether the characters portrayed are static or developing, whether they contain qualities in enough detail, and whether the characters grow and transform as people in reality do. Character will be studied in three phases: first, through the eyes of the student, next, through the eyes of the author, and finally, through the eyes of the filmmaker. Through the use of filmscript writing, students will extend their understanding of the decisions made in adapting the author's text to the filmmaker's movie. Then, using all the information gathered, students will be asked to complete a final exercise and fulfill the final objective, in which they must analyze and evaluate what they have recorded and verified to formulate an educated opinion of the merits of the novel versus the film. The method that will be employed to achieve the observational aspects of this unit is called the Stanislavski Acting Method, while the overall process of instruction is called Paideia.
The Paideia philosophy of education was developed by Mortimer Adler, building on the work of John Dewey and reaching as far back as Socrates. This philosophy defines and explains the overarching instructional techniques steering this unit. It is a scaffolding system in which each of three steps offers certain understandings that become the foundation for the next learning experience. The three steps or columns that Adler defines are: didactic instruction, which presents students with "must-know" information; intellectual coaching, which uses performance-based tasks to develop expertise in reading, writing, and observing; and finally, seminar discussion, which provides for a forum of open-ended questioning and collaborative dialogue
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. This philosophy, similar to the critical thinking found in Socratic teaching, is not only very appropriate, but, in fact, is essential for the students in my class. This philosophy falls directly in line with the current New Haven Language Arts Curriculum and is further explained below.
Initially, my students will be introduced to Konstantin Stanislavski and his system of acting or what some refer to as method acting. This "must know" information will allow my students a window into the heart and soul of the human condition. Understanding this system will enable students to ask, "What if I were really in this situation?" Because of this question, students will have to dig deep into themselves to access memories and emotions from their pasts. But Stanislavski also required his actors to become astute observers of people. With this charge, practice observation sheets of the "characters" in their lives will be completed. This performance-based task will provide a laser focus on appearance, behaviors, attitudes, moods, assumptions, and impressions of everyday people that actually surround my students in their community. These might be their brothers, sisters, cousins, best friends, or hated enemies. They will practice observing these people in everyday situations and decide whether any of them resemble any characters in the novel. A general description of these characters will be provided after they select and study their "subjects." A class discussion, in which their individual observations are brought to light and questions are noted, will provide the backdrop that segues into the next section.
From here we will delve into the reading of the text in earnest. Using scene summary sheets, students will chart the following: character roles in the scene, settings, unusual details that employ literary devices from the author's bag of tricks, and purpose or meaning of the scene, as well as a general summary. These sheets will be completed on the major scenes in the story. Students will also be asked to take on a director's role and suggest ways of inserting thoughts, feelings, and emotions described in the novel into a film. "What would this scene look like in the movie you are directing?"
To aid in this exercise, students will role play several scenes in which they will be asked to say one thing while knowing the opposite to be true. Observing these role playing scenes should help students recognize that body language and actions are ways in which the character's thoughts, feelings, and emotions, described in a novel, take on expression on screen and in real life. A tandem exercise designed to help with character observation of the text will ask my students to record ideas on a compare/contrast sheet, one similar to their initial observation sheets of the people in their lives. They, again, will focus on appearance, behaviors, attitudes, and moods of the major characters. This strategy should aid students in an attempt to determine the similarities and differences that exist between the novel and the film while critically evaluating these relationships.
Upon completion of our reading, students will choose one scene from their scene summary sheets. Small groups will work together to write the scene as a filmscript using the appropriate formatting. This formatting sheet is included below and was previously used by my students as they read the book Monster by Walter Dean Myers.
Finally, the class will actually view the cinematic version of the novel directed by Coppola. They will be asked to complete the second half of the comparison sheet, recording their observations about the characters in the movie this time. Having the students discuss the elements fundamental to comparison, in which similarities and differences are noted and new insights are formulated, will be essential to the final piece of this unit. With all this information in hand, students will write a compare/contrast essay expressing which medium they thought had more merit, momentum, and meaning.
This unit may seem, upon first glance, like it is too large in scope to be handled by my middle school students. A common theme that runs through all school reform of curriculum, however, is the need for students to develop the capability to solve complex problems while having the ability to construct meaning that is grounded in real world experience. The ability to listen, hypothesize, explore, test, and construct meaning is at the core of this unit and defines the underlying process described in the Paideia Philosophy. This unit is complex for this very reason.
There is need of one added note for clarity. Lesson plans for this unit are embedded within the unit as indicated by Day One, Day Two, and so forth.