Book

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

by John Golden

Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom
Grades
9 - 12
Type
Book
Pages
175
Published
September 2001
Publisher
NCTE
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Description

In this lively, practical guide, John Golden makes direct links between film and literary study by addressing reading strategies (for example, predicting, responding, questioning, and storyboarding) and key aspects of textual analysis.

Related Resources

  • Lesson Plans
    • |
  • Calendar Activities
Grades
6 - 8
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Writing a Flashback and Flash-Forward Story Using Movies and Texts as Models
Using the film The Sandlot, students are introduced to the literary devices of flashbacks and flash-forwards. They then write their own stories using those devices.
Grades
6 - 8
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
On a Musical Note: Exploring Reading Strategies by Creating a Soundtrack
Students create a soundtrack for a novel that they have read, as they engage in such traditional reading strategies as predicting, visualizing, and questioning.
Grades
6 - 8
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Literature Circle Roles Reframed: Reading as a Film Crew
Capture students' enthusiasm for film and transfer it to reading and literature by substituting film production roles for the traditional literature circle roles.
Grades
9 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Renaissance Humanism in Hamlet and The Birth of Venus
After reading Shakespeare's Hamlet, students identify, analyze, and explain how elements in Botticelli's painting Birth of Venus and examples from the play illustrate the philosophy of Renaissance Humanism.
Grades
6 - 8
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
You Know the Movie is Coming—Now What?
In this lesson, students read a literary text with the eye of a director, selecting scenes from the text and putting a cinematic spin on them.
Grades
9 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Analyzing Symbolism, Plot, and Theme in Death and the Miser
Students apply the analytical skills that they use when reading literature to an exploration of the underlying meaning and symbolism in Hieronymous Bosch's early Renaissance painting Death and the Miser.
Grades
9 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Comparing a Literary Work to Its Film Interpretation
Students will really get into the swing of things as they analyze the text and film versions of Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Pit and the Pendulum."
Grades
9 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Storyboarding the Transformation from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde
Students imagine and storyboard their own vision of the transformation of Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde and then evaluate movie portrayals.
Grades
9 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Unit
An Exploration of Romanticism Through Art and Poetry

Students use art and poetry to explore and understand major characteristics of the Romantic period.

Grades
10 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Life is Beautiful: Teaching the Holocaust through Film with Complementary Texts
After students have read a book about the Holocaust, such as The Diary of Anne Frank or Night by Elie Wiesel, students will view Life is Beautiful and complete discussion questions to challenge their ability to analyze literature using film.
Grades
8 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
From Text to Film: Exploring Classic Literature Adaptations
Students create storyboards to compare and contrast a book and its film adaptation.
Grades
9 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Unit
Comparing William Carlos Williams's Poetry with Cubist Paintings

Through discussion, drawing, and writing, students compare how William Carlos Williams's poetry and Cubist and Precisionist painting employ similar artistic strategies, enhancing their understanding of both kinds of text.

Grades
7 - 12
|
Calendar Activity
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Author & Text
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on this day.

Students compare the film versions of The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's novels. Students then imagine how a scene in a current novel that they are reading would be filmed.

Grades
5 - 12
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Calendar Activity
|
Historical Figure & Event
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929.
Students make lists of their favorite and least favorite movies and brainstorm qualities that make a film good or bad. Next, students write a movie review for a film they have seen.