I know Darth Vader is coming!

Teasley and Wider’s text continues to impress me as I read through this chapter. The viewer-response approach they proposed stresses the active role of viewers as well as the importance of discussion and collaboration in literary/film study. They believe that as students become active viewers, they would be more awareness of different perspectives and techniques that a movie contains, which prepares students to become long-term viewers and learners. As for the role of teacher, Teasley and Wider consider teachers are listeners, facilitators, and consensus builders who assist students in becoming film connoisseurs. Via curriculum design and viewer-response approach, teachers can guide students with many possibilities. After reading this chapter, some thoughts linger on my minds.

As shown in the chapter, Teasley and Wider made a twist on reader-response approach and turned it into viewer-response approach which would be fit for film study. I actually like this idea, for “viewer” would be a broader term than “reader.” That is, a viewer not only reads but also listens, which makes viewing a film an integrated experience of texts, images, and sounds. However, it is a pity, I think, that the example in chapter as to how a teacher guided students to respond to film does not seem to show the discussion about music or sound effects in the film. I understand that Teasley and Wider intended to employ film as an instructional tool to teach English and literacy, yet as music and sound effects have a huge impact on viewers’ feelings toward a scene, a character, or even the whole movie, it would be better to have some conversations about how music and sound effects contribute to the viewers’ interpretation and understanding of a movie. (Let’s just think about how many times we remember a movie because of the song in it, and how many times when we hear a unique sound effect in Star Wars, we know Darth Vader is coming.)

World's Greatest Dad
(Source:http://thewisecracker.com/2011/11/funny-star-wars-cartoon-darth-vader-worlds-greatest-dad/)

 Another thought I have is about the writing activities. Teasley and Wider mentioned some writing activities, such as personal essays, analytical essays, imaginative writing, writing film treatments, scripts, and storyboard, and film reviews (from chapter 2). All of which are useful for teachers to use as a mean to nurture students’ literacy skills and creativity. I am thinking that having students to write about film may have already been an exciting activity for students. To make it more motivating, teachers may also encourage students to write a review for a latest movie and submit it to local newspapers or school newsletters. If students’ reviews get published, it may also motivate students to keep writing, which might be another way to foster students becoming lifelong viewers.

Overall, I think Teasley and Wider’s text is a good resource for English teachers who hope to incorporate film in teaching literacy. Though what they suggest is feasible and practical, teachers still have to tailor lessons according to students’ needs and class schedule.

Question: 

Will you use film in teaching other content areas? And how will you use it?