CURRICULUM UNITS

For 25 years, educators from across multiple disciplines—English/Language Arts, History/Social Studies, Media Literacy, Film Study—have found that the Story of Movies interdisciplinary approach effectively engages students in critical thinking and viewing. Whether you are a classroom teacher, media specialist, or librarian—whether you are teaching English as a second language or adult literacy, The Story of Movies program provides valuable educational resources. These include:

  • Teacher's Guides, with discussion questions and screening activities;
  • PowerPoint Presentations, featuring movie stills for analysis as well as maps, editorial cartoons, and paintings related to the movie's theme;
  • Clip Reels, with selected movie scenes for analysis;
  • Film Readers, providing news, feature articles, and other primary source documents relative to the movie's historical/cultural contexts;
  • Assessments, including lesson quizzes, chapter tests, and performance-based assessment activities.

Portraits of America: Democracy on Film
This interdisciplinary curriculum engages middle and high school students in exploring how American filmmakers have expressed the ideals and challenges of our democratic society. The program features more than 45 movies for in-depth study, organized thematically into 8 modules. Each module has 5 chapters plus an introductory lesson. Movies include feature films, documentaries, silents, newsreels and animation.

                                                 MODULES
     1.  The Immigrant Experience        5.  Politicians and Demagogues
     2.  The American Laborer               6.  The Press
     3.  Civil Rights                                    7.  Soldiers and Patriots
     4.  The American Woman                8.  The Auteurs
 

Curriculum Outline
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Introduction to Film, Part 1: To Kill a Mockingbird 
(1962, directed by Robert Mulligan)
 

To Kill a Mockingbird tells the poignant story of childhood and the loss of innocence, of racism and justice during a period of civil rights strife. Lesson plans are organized into four chapters focusing on narrative structure, the filmmaking process, film language, and the movie's historical/cultural contexts. Students explore both the period in which the movie is set, the 1930s, and the period in which the movie was made, the early 1960s.
 

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Introduction to Film, Part 2: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
(1939, directed by Frank Capra)


Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is the story of an idealistic but inexperienced senator who confronts corruption in government. At the time of its release, on the eve of America's involvement in World War II, the movie was controversial, as some politicians and journalists labeled it unpatriotic. The fourth chapter, on historical/cultural contexts, includes selected scenes from Frank Capra's WWII documentary, Why We Fight.


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Introduction to Film, Part 3: The Day the Earth Stood Still
(1951, directed by Robert Wise)


The Day the Earth Stood Still was produced during the post-World War II climate of nuclear weapons testing. A mysterious visitor from outer space works with a young boy and a brilliant scientist to send an ominous warning to the nations of the world, to find peaceful solutions to their differences or risk extinction. Still relevant today, the film engages students in the science fiction genre while examining the Cold War Era's fears of atomic warfare.


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