起点传媒

This post was written by 起点传媒member Chris D鈥橧ppolito.

 

It was the end of March, and my honors senior classes and I were trudging our way through the end of Hamlet . . . online. I posted movie clips to help support comprehension, attached links to No Fear Shakespeare, and attempted to craft writing prompts that would spur interesting discussion. Nothing seemed to 鈥渟tick.鈥�

One of my last homework assignments in the unit asked students to respond to a sophisticated essay about Hamlet鈥檚 Oedipal complex, and in one class, only 11 out of 18 submitted the work. With much uncertainty facing us about our return to school, I had to begin thinking about clever ways of grabbing my seniors鈥� attention. Hamlet certainly wasn鈥檛 cutting it, and senioritis had set in long before school closed on March 12.

So I thought first about what would interest my seniors the most and engage them in online learning. Faced with a short window to create a new Quarter 4 plan, I considered my own interests and classes that I had previously taught.

On a Google form, I typed up four elective-style 鈥渕ini-course鈥� options with short descriptions and pushed it out to both classes for a vote. (The mini-course, which comprises the entirety of the fourth quarter, was inspired by听my own experiences in senior English.)

Here are the options I provided:

1. Independent Reading in Book Clubs: You choose a book from a suggested list with a group of three or four others and do virtual check-ins where you share your thinking one or two times a week.
2. Creative Writing: Exploration of writing poetry, short stories, movie reviews, “Coronavirus Memoirs”
3. Author Study: Stephen King: A deeper dive into the master of horror’s short stories, novellas, film adaptations, and novels (i.e. IT, The Outsider, The Shining). We would begin by looking at some of his short stories and novellas and view the movie adaptations. If time allows, we will also look at other films, TV series, and stories in the genre.
4. Film Studies: A general study of classic and modern cinema, with connections to stories/books that were adapted into movies.

After giving my classes the 鈥淪pring Break鈥� to make their selection, I announced the top choice: With 43.8% of the vote, seniors chose Film Studies as their Q4 mini-course. Confident in the selected topic, I set out to craft a weekly structure for my lesson plans.

Structuring the Mini-Course

With whichever course students selected, I planned on posting weekly practice online in reading, writing, discussion鈥攁 typical slate of learning experiences in my classroom. With this course selection, however, I added 鈥渧iewing鈥� to the mix since I envisioned seniors watching a movie a week at home using a variety of streaming platforms.

I also wanted to provide my classes with a weekly calendar that laid out each week鈥檚 reading, viewing, and writing assignments. I posted this schedule on my notes for the first class of each week, either Monday or Tuesday, depending on our block schedule. Here are my instructions from Week 2 of the course:

1. Reading: from The New York Times
2. Viewing: One movie or more from any of the directors/films Scorsese mentions in the reading, plus anything from Scorsese himself (most of his movies are on Netflix);
3. Writing: 250- to 350-word response on Classroom; reply to two classmates (50 words each).

Let me give some context. In Week 1, the two classes wrote about the components of a 鈥済ood鈥� movie. Next, I discussed via Screencastify and Google Slides the current movie landscape and prevalence of blockbuster action films and franchises that dominate theaters. Afterward, I sent students off to watch one of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and directed them to think about how their selected film fits their criteria of a 鈥済ood鈥� movie.

In Week 2, their reading assignment consisted of a New York Times op-ed written by Martin Scorsese, which had drawn some criticism from prominent filmmakers in Hollywood. In the piece, he discusses his skepticism with MCU movies and espouses his ideas on great films, alluding to past and current directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Greta Gerwig. I was hoping to 鈥渟hock鈥� my classes with this essay, as many teenagers often obsess about the Marvel movies.

For this week鈥檚 viewing assignment, I directed students to their streaming platform of choice to watch a film from any of the directors mentioned in Scorsese鈥檚 essay. Because students might not have had access to the same films, I tried to provide a range of movies for kids to choose from.

When I created their writing assignment, I made sure to marry that week’s reading and viewing work to the responses. After having read the essay and watched a film by a director that Scorsese referenced, seniors would then respond to one of two questions:

1. In your opinion, are Marvel (MCU) movies 鈥渢heme parks鈥�? Explain.
2. Discuss the movie you viewed this week and connect it to any 鈥渟ound byte鈥� from Scorsese鈥檚 essay.

Because both prompts could generate a reasonable amount of debate, I asked everyone to respond to two of their classmates to deepen thinking and further discussion. This functionality in Classroom mimics the environment of an in-person Socratic Seminar, but it also allows every student鈥檚 voice to be heard, which is not always the case in an in-person class.

My plan in place, I informed my classes that I would be available via email or Google Meet for any additional help or questions, and sent them off to work.

Reflections on My Teaching

When I read and commented on my class鈥檚 鈥済ood movie鈥� responses later that week, I was struck by the completion rate of the assignment. In the class of 18 mentioned at the outset, 16 out of 18 seniors submitted their work; that鈥檚 89 percent completion on this assignment compared to 61 percent on the previous Hamlet homework. Of course there are other factors to consider (level of difficulty, length of response, text complexity), but it seems that this topic tapped into a reservoir of interest and eagerness to learn that I hadn鈥檛 seen from this class in quite some time.

As film studies continued into May and June, seniors remained similarly engaged in their work, and several even reached out to tell me how much they were enjoying the class. In fact, in an end-of-the-year course survey, 88 percent of my students approved of using the mini-course structure (film studies included) for next year鈥檚 seniors.

I would cite two key takeaways from this experience听teaching second-semester seniors.

The first is the importance of choice. I offered my classes four mini-course options when we started Quarter 4. Instead of selecting one movie for the entire class to watch, I also gave them several options. Finally, students chose from one of two possible responses in their weekly writing assignments. Choice makes the content 鈥渟tickier,鈥� in my opinion, and allows kids to take more ownership of their work.

The second deals with the importance of interest and accessibility of content. To illustrate this point, one of my students, Matthew, missed three or four consecutive assignments on Hamlet (Hamlet = not 鈥渟ticky鈥�) at the beginning of our lockdown, but with his 鈥済ood movie鈥� response, he submitted his work on time and crafted an insightful argument that exceeded the word count requirement. The quality and length of Matt鈥檚 work underscore the importance of harnessing choice, students鈥� interests, and accessible material to motivate seniors to continue to read and write, even after their college acceptances and commitments.

Chris D鈥橧ppolito is听currently a 9th- and 12th-grade English teacher in Thornwood, New York, and the advisor of his school鈥檚 National English Honor Society chapter. He has also taught 7th- and 8th-grade English for four years at the district鈥檚 middle school. He is听passionate about helping his students develop lifelong reading habits in an age of constant distraction, as well as teaching strategies for honors students.听

 

 

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