Customer Reviews

Reading in the Dark: Using Film As a Tool in the English Classroom

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a teacher, I get BOMBARDED with teaching guides, materials, books, etc. You name it, I've got one.

That said, this is simply the single best resource I have ever encountered for using film in the classroom.
Golden's point is simple and clear: It's not enough to just say "Movie Day!" and pop a tape into the VCR. We must teach our students to read film in the same way that we teach them to analyze and encounter any other kind of text.

Golden's book contains wonderful exercises, ideas, very specific clips from dozens of films, and teaching materials (age appropriate films, sample questions and assessments) for several grade levels.

As a professional collegue of the author, I have been fortunate indeed to have been using his materials for over 5 years now. My students consistently rave about the unit in their year-end reflections. They say things like, "I never knew there was so much going on in the film before." and "You've changed the way that I look at films forever!"

On behalf of all English/LA teachers: Thanks, John!!

Golden's book is an excellent starter manual for teachers who want to incorporate media literacy into their curriculum. The great thing is he goes beyond teaching film technique, using film as an aid to teaching literary technique. I had been teaching critical viewing and film-as-text to my high-school freshmen for several years already; Golden's book helped me put together a more cohesive unit and then more seamlessly expand film study into text study. I particularly found his storyboarding activity useful. Studies show that many struggling readers cannot visualize as they read and that is why reading is "boring" to them; this activity is good for encouraging visualization of text. They also have to justify why they set up the shot the way they did, which is a higher-order thinking skill because it demonstrates genuine understanding of the written work they are storyboarding. Published by the National Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts, the book contains ideas useful for elementary through high school aged students. I gave the book five stars even though I had some better (in my opinion) and more varied choices for film clips to show in class to demonstrate certain techniques. The book's value is its usefulness to teaching film as text, not as work of film criticism.

Many people perceive television as the enemy of reading and writing. In his book, John Golden defies what other teachers deem the traditional methods of teaching by bringing films into the classroom. Elizabeth and Apocalypse Now are just some examples of how to inspire students to look for imagery and symbolism in film and then to apply it to literature.

This book is very instructive and extremely interesting. It is definitely the best I've read. Teachers of all grade levels should read this book to, perhaps, interest their students in the literary arts. It's great for the move into the age of technology.

Many people perceive television as the enemy of reading and writing. In his book, John Golden defies what other teachers deem the traditional methods of teaching by bringing films into the classroom. Elizabeth and Apocalypse Now are just some examples of how to inspire students to look for imagery and symbolism in film and then to apply it to literature.

This book is very instructive and extremely interesting. It is definitely the best I've read. Teachers of all grade levels should read this book to, perhaps, interest their students in the literary arts. It's great for the move into the age of technology.

I thouroughly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to incorporating the ideas into my lesson plans. However, the technology described in the book is outdated. This book would probably hold increased revelance in today's teaching society if it was updated to match current technology/media devices. It is an easy read and the revelance of the book although slightly outdated is still useful with adaptations.Reading in the Dark: Using Film As a Tool in the English Classroom

Although I find the films used in this text somewhat distant from our younger generations, the suggested activities for each film, developing comprehension strategies, are quite useful for the classroom. Each example provided by the author shows how useful and effective films can be to promote comprehension in our students, while using more motivating material. More importantly, the text is meant to attack the insidious use of movies in the classroom. A teacher may choose a film clip lasting a few minutes instead of having to show them the entire film. Also, Golden will explain a more effective way of using an entire film, which is to break down the film in several days accompanied by some post viewing activities. I highly recommend this book.