Customer Reviews

Reel Conversations: Reading Films with Young Adults (Young Adult Literature)

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I received this book from Amazon yesterday afternoon and just finished reading it. It's not long, but I did skip through a number of sections where films were listed and described.

Having just completed a dissertation about the use of film in the classroom--although I found what was said in this book to be consistent with the literature and my own study findings--I subtracted a star for three missing pieces: lack of an index, more information about the logistics of showing a film (invaluable for teachers for whom this is a new activity), and more of a research base to address "why do this and not that." A further review of their references indicates that a basis for Teasley and Wilder's approach exists, but isn't used sufficiently for justification of their recommended methods.

For example, there are a lot of explanations made about appropriateness of a film to the audience which translates to development. Just a few references to pertinent developmental psych (or even cognitive, educational psych, or human development) would have been useful to explain not just "what" but "why." Although they do mention "deep structure" in their explanation of genre, they do not link it to the characteristics they ask learners to look for in genre films.

There are a number of good references included, but many more are missing. For teachers disinterested in this type of information, it might be included in one chapter that could be skipped. That would add significantly to the book's sparse theoretical foundation and make it equally useful for academics and researchers as well as practitioners.

Other research areas germane to learner response to film, for example, are the function of "mirror neurons" in terms of character identification and empathy, and a study by Israeli neuroscientists indicating that there is no consistency between participant brain scans while viewing a feature film, EXCEPT when they're watching faces, places, and hands--all external stimuli. (This research--the only of its kind--discusses what's actually going on in people's brains when they are watching film.) Nor did the authors directly address learners' worldviews and how they affect expectations, reactions, and the impact of films--which is huge.

I suppose I'm talking myself into writing a book to fill these gaps, aren't I? After having searched far and wide, there's very little available to help teachers both select and use film effectively. In our media-saturated society, it's a very good skill for teachers to develop, but one not as obvious or simple as might be assumed.

These criticisms aside, this book takes a leap forward in helping teachers who want joy and excitement--not to mention learning--to return to their classrooms. For anyone unconvinced how involved kids get with movies, just visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) forums. Kids are watching and discussing movies with or without responsible adult guidance. As educators, we're missing a huge opportunity here. This book--via highly practical and well-thought-out methods that are, in fact, based on theory--is an excellent start of a return to relevance in the classroom.

This book is great for creating plans to teach film and media literacy to secondary school students.

This book is full of excellent suggestions on how to teach film to young adults and help students analyze what they're viewing. It provides a very workable strategy for using film in the classroom, as well as gives great suggestions on unique film titles to use with students. Any teacher wanting to use films in class should check out this book!

Alan Teasley and Ann Wilder (1997) provide a detailed unit plan in this book about incorporating film into the secondary classroom. They set up the introduction of the book as if it was part of a primary article from a scholarly journal, discussing the background, purpose/rationale, participants, and process of film studies in today's educational setting. The most important fact that Teasley and Wilder emphasize is that studying a film relates to the process of exploring literature: "When they (students) engage with film and video in active ways, they continue to develop many of the same skills we value in our literature curriculum (p. 2). The rationale for including film in the English/language arts curriculum includes: students have prior experience with film - almost all of it positive; film is already being used in English classrooms anyway - and often in ways that are a disservice to film; film is an art form that has a rightful place in the English curriculum; viewing a film provides opportunities for discussion and writing; and in recent years there has been a growing interest in the role of "non-print" media in the English classroom (pp. 4-7). Teasley and Wilder advocate for incorporating film into the secondary English curriculum because of its appeal to students. It spruces up a lesson and provides the visual depiction that many learning styles need. Not to mention, according to Teasley and Wilder, film can spark vital classroom discussions and can lead to worthy writing assignments, both of which will create a rich learning experience for students. Teasley and Wilder encourage teachers to use film as a tool in the classroom and to show students a different way of watching film.

This book is designed to assist teachers in implementing film into regular lessons. Teasley and Wilder suggest the introduction of reading a movie in three different forms: literary, dramatic, and cinematic. They supply each of these forms with several examples of films that can highlight each of the forms. Teasley and Wilder also give examples of how to show small segments of films and how to show an entire version of a film. Teasley and Wilder give an in-depth lesson on how to have students write film reviews (along with samples of these assignments from their students). Additionally, they address the viewer-response method to watching film. Again, Teasley and Wilder provide lessons and assignments that apply to this method. An entire chapter of teaching film genres has examples of films for each genre addressed. Finally, Teasley and Wilder conclude the book with a crowned jewel: teaching the major themes of young adult films, such as coming of age, families, belonging, dreams/quests, and love/romance. And, of course, they supply countless examples for each of these themes. The book has blank worksheets that assist with the numerous lessons that the authors provide.

As a teacher of film studies in high school, I have found this book to be an invaluable source. It is full of intelligent, comprehensive and workable plans for teaching all kinds of films. I recommend it highly.