---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Memory Fellows <AMFELLOWS@SUN8.LOC.GOV>
Poster: Jane Garvin <jlgarv@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Re: film in the classroom project -- of interest?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for this info. It looks good! Jane Garvin
P.S. When I got a new e-mail address a few weeks ago I wanted to be sure I
still was on the American Memory list. I must have been too enthusiastic,
because each AMMEM/ LOC e-mail comes twice! Whaat should I do?
-----Original Message-----
From: bill tally <btally@EDC.ORG>
To: AMFELLOWS@sun8.loc.gov <AMFELLOWS@sun8.loc.gov>
Date: 14 March 2001 12:43 AM
Subject: film in the classroom project -- of interest?
Dear Friends and Fellows: Here's an interesting opportunity for those of
you who like to use films in your humanities classrooms. FYI.... it comes
from people at George Washington University.
Best, BIll
Dear Teachers:
I am a professor of American studies at the George Washington University,
and I am writing to ask your assistance and participation in a new project
aimed at developing tools for teachers who want to use films in their
classrooms.
At GW, we were recently awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. This award will
support a cooperative project among public school teachers, Ph.D. students,
and university faculty to develop curriculum ideas and resource materials
for teaching historical films in junior high and high school classrooms. For
several years, academic organizations such as the Society for Cinema Studies
have received an increasing number of requests from public school teachers
who want very much to use film and media in their classrooms, but are well
aware of the problems and pitfalls of using historical films as history.
Rather than give up on the excitement that films like Amistad or Saving
Private Ryan offer to students, teachers are looking for materials that will
help them teach their students how to analyze films critically.
To respond to this need, GW’s Center for Public Culture and History
developed a collaboration with Mediapede, a new national organization
dedicated to furthering research and teaching about the media. Our Wilson
Fellowship has enabled us to initiate the pilot program that will bring
together a core project team of high school teachers, GW faculty, and
American Studies graduate students to develop film teaching resources. If
you are interested in working with us on this project, your responses to the
questionnaire below would be enormously valuable.
If you would like to help us, you may either print this message, fill out
the questionnaire by hand and mail it to my assistant: Denise Meringolo
American Studies Department The George Washington University 2108 G Street,
NW Washington, DC 20052. Or you may respond in an email to denisedm@gwu.edu.
Thank you very much for your interest and assistance. The questionnaire is
below.
Melani McAlister
__________________________________________________________
Media in the Classroom Questionnaire
Optional Identifying information:
Name:
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Please answer the following twelve multiple choice and short answer
questions:
1. What grade and subject do you teach?
2. Please list the films you currently use in your classroom.
3. Which of the following best describes how you use film in your
classroom?
If you choose more than one, please rank them in order of importance, 1
being
most important, 2 being somewhat less important and so on.
____ dramatic representations of literary texts
____ dramatic representations of historic events we are studying in our
class
____ dramatic representations of historic events we do not have time to
cover
____ to study the genre of film as an art form
____ to explore the history of film making
____ as a reward for good behavior or work accomplished
____ I teach only documentary films
____ other (please explain)
4. If you teach films in order to cover history, are there particular time
periods for which you are most interested in using films? If so, please
check
all that are important:
____ World or European History, ancient or mediaeval history
____ World or European history, Enlightenment
____ World or European history, modern
____ U.S. History, before 1800
____ U.S. history, 1800-1865
____ U.S. history, 1865-1945
____ U.S. history, 1945- 1970
____ U.S. history, 1970- present
5. When you use film, which of the following do you discuss with students?
If
you choose more than one, please rank them in order of importance, 1 being
most important, 2 being somewhat less important and so on.
____ plot
____ historic accuracy
____ character development
____ literary devices (such as setting, climax, foreshadowing, etc.)
____ audio and visual devices (such as lighting, camera angles, dialog,
music, etc.)
____ how the film reflects the time period in which it was produced and
viewed
____ other (please explain)
6. Film scholars often approach movies by studying the medium of film
itself. Would any of the following approaches be of interest to you? If you
choose more than one, please rank them in order of importance, 1 being most
important, 2 being somewhat less important and so on.
____ meaningful differences between film and other art forms
____ how film communicates
____ the relationship between film and American culture
____ production of a film
____ other (please explain)
7. When you consider using a film in your classroom, how important are
issues
of age appropriateness?
____ Extremely ____ Somewhat ____ Not at All
8. What issues related to age appropriateness are you most likely to be
concerned about, and, perhaps, edit out of the version you allow your
students
to view? If you choose more than one, please rank them in order of
importance,
1 being most important, 2 being somewhat less important and so on.
____ sex ____ graphic violence ____ profanity
______ controversial political content
____ other (please explain)
9. Please list any curriculum guides, web sites, film studies texts or
other
resources you have consulted to aid you in using film in your classroom.
Indicate which were particularly helpful
10. Are there particular kinds of resources that you have looked for and
not
found?
11. What information would be most helpful to you? If you choose more than
one, please rank them in order of importance, 1 being most important, 2
being
somewhat less important and so on.
___ film reviews and plot summaries geared toward teachers
____ bibliographies of film studies scholarship
____ Additional historical background on the period covered by a particular
film
____ a listserv where secondary school teachers could exchange ideas and ask
questions
____ a sample curriculum which demonstrates use of film in the context of a
specific learning unit
____ other (please explain)
12. Would you like to have access to additional information about any
historical event or time period or a particular literary work or genre?
Please
list.
Denise D. Meringolo
Ph.D. Candidate, American Studies
The George Washington University
denisedm@gwu.edu
703-578-4068
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