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Analyzing Radio and Film Documentaries
radio
Course Description:
In this class students will explore radio and film documentaries as literary forms.
This is an English class and therefore, students will be responsible for looking at documentaries through a literary lens.  They will be expected to employ traditional literary terms as they generate discussion, research, and analysis of different documentaries presented in class.   This class is writing and reading intensive.  Reading material including criticism and supplemental prose, not excluding fictional works, will accompany all documentaries studied in class.  Students will be expected to write documentary transcripts as well as analytical essays.  Students will also be expected to create both radio and film documentaries.     

Course Rationale:
On using the documentary in the English classroom, John Golden, author of Reading in the Reel World: Teaching Documentaries and Other Nonfiction Texts, stated “by tapping into students’ natural attraction to film, teachers can help students understand key concepts such as theme, tone, and point of view as well as practice and improve their persuasive, narrative, and expository writing abilities.  Studying documentaries helps students learn how nonfiction texts are constructed and how these texts may shape the viewer’s/reader’s opinion” (www.ncte.edu).  Documentaries give students the opportunity to express themselves by using the tools and methods associated with their generation. The documentary provides students the opportunity to get excited about learning and make meaningful connections to the research process.   As students look at documentaries with a critical lens they engage in problem solving, collaboration, and gathering and analyzing data.  As a result the documentary allows them to refine essential English and critical literacy skills — such as researching, reading, writing, and speaking.  Both radio and film documentaries provide a medium our students naturally gravitate towards. Therefore, students become intrinsically motivated to be wholly involved in the curriculum because they really want to, not because they are told to.  As a result the documentary is quickly becoming essential in the discussion of critical literacy.  A medium dedicated to capturing the voice of individuals, the documentary allows students to capture and explore their own voices.  Furthermore, based on my experience and the experience other high school English teachers around the United States including Mary Palmer (English teacher at Centennial High School in Bismarck ND) and John Golden (author and high school English teacher), the documentary, both radio and film, is a powerfully effective and proven method to meet high school English standards on both a state and national level. 

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St. Paul Public School System, District #625