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When showing a film in class:
Have students write down 5 questions they need to answer
during the day's watching of the film. This will cause them to view the
film more actively, to have a better understanding of it, and will cause
them to see the connection more clearly between the content of your class
work and the film.
It's easier said than done. Designing good questions is an
art. Or, at least, a science. Here's the process:
1. Choose questions that enhance learning.
The content of the questions can be factual, observational, or any type
that's appropriate to the film being watched.
2. Choose questions that are quickly
answered. You don't want students bending over to write for a minute
or so while the film plays on. One word answers are best.
3. Choose questions that don't give
away the story. This is a tough requirement. Fill-in-the-blank type
questions from quotes by the characters are good because they often don't
make sense out of context, especially with a key word missing. Beware of
who-did-it questions: just to ask them reveals plot points.
4. Make the students write down the
questions. The act of writing fixes the question in the student's
brain and sets up his receptors to receive it. While the film is playing,
he will observe it as always but this time with his antenna pointed towards
these bits of information. When they occur in the film, a silent alarm
in the brain goes off and the kids all write down the answer. In the case
of the totally-engrossed student whose brain isn't good at multi-tasking,
the actions of the other students writing down the answers will snap him
to attention.
5. Space the questions about 5-7 minutes
apart according to the sequence of the movie. This keeps them alert
throughout.
6. Collect the answers daily after
the viewing of the film. This keeps the students honest -- none
of the "What'd you put for #4?" answers the next day at the beginning of
class. Don't feel obligated to record all of them; just often enough to
keep the kids honest and respecting the process.
7. I'm putting this last because I didn't want to scare you
off, but it really is the first thing you should do: you
must preview the film with a notepad in hand. Don't conjure up questions
from memory; you need to be more precise than that.
I'm a believer in this process. Once you've done your preparation,
you can use the same questions year after year with the assurance that
you will have a group of kids who pay attention during films.
And that's 90% of our battle, isn't it?
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