Reading Film: The Story of Movies

I was happily surprised that the social studies department decided to emphasize how important visual learning is. When I first began my teaching career as a fourth grade self-contained teacher I quickly learned that visual learning was going to be the key to my students understanding difficult concepts in science and historical events in history. I tried to make it as entertaining and visually descriptive as I could. I felt like a story teller from the past. My students loved it! They also remembered it. With the great amount of software programs and websites available I continue to teach my students similarly using newer tools. It is the language they understand and definitely learn from. This year we used Voki's to learn vocabulary. Last year my students created a movie maker file to review for the social studies benchmark. We placed the pictures in the movie then they each recorded their information about that person or event. The video sounded like a little jingle. They did very well and retained the information as well. In addition to software we act out events in class. There favorite, the underground railroad. They loved to go back in time and learn about the life of a courageous slave, Harriet Tubman.

Today's students have been watching videos and movies all of their lives, so using them in the classroom is an excellent way to enhance a student's learning and understanding about historical events. The use of movies will assist in the development of critical thinking skills as well. What a fun way for students to learn!

I totally agree with engaging the students in the video, rather than just giving them a book. Social Studies has always been thought of as a boring subject filled with reading and memorization. The basic understanding of the emotions is very important in the video to understand where the story is leading to. I really love this approach.

I agree with the concept of using something else to assist the straight text. We live in a visual world, and need to incorporate this into our classrooms. With the smartboards and such available to us as teachers, if we get permission from authorized sites we should be able to add this to our lessons. It will definitely boost the interest in the study of social studies.

I think using movies to help children understand history is a great idea.

I preach to third graders in my reading class that a good movie can never complete with the movie in their heads from a good book. This course is a lesson on why it shouldn't have to compete, but rather enhance that experience. To deny the power of movies would be to deny our very culture. The act of analyzing the components that make great film work is an intriguing exercise for the classroom.

I believe this would add another dimension to teaching Social Studies. It would also help students to delve deeper and become more analytical thinkers. Using this form of media would be more captivating to our students and would foster a higher retention of historical events.

I am excited about the possibiity of using this type of media in social studies. SS has always been the subject that I have complained is pure memorization. If we can connect an emotional link to the content, we will hopefully provide a better environment for the kids to learn.

This was wonderful. Too bad they seem to cater to middle schools. This would be a great tool for a before or after school activity.