Films in class affect students differently

Teachers use pedagogical reasonings for showing films, and we should know why

a select few.

Many teachers show movies in class. It’s a universal experience. However, not every teacher shows movies for the same reason.

Social studies teacher Russ Olcheske shows films for his classes and explained why.

“It connects to the content. It connects to what we’re learning about, and so it’s just another way to tie in the curriculum. Some kids, you know, really enjoy learning that way,” Olcheske said.

He shows movies to connect to the content of the course, but also for rewards.

“I show Apocalypto in World History and that is a pre-winter break...That’s more of a movie of a reward for their work that they’ve put in all semester,” Olcheske said.

Junior Caitlynn Salow had Olcheske, and talked about how they felt about movies in Olcheske’s class.

“It was nice to picture instead of just... reading in books because I’m more into visual learning than just having a bunch of things crammed into my head and having it viewed in a different way,” Salow said.

Salow talked about the visual aspect of movies and how that helps people understand what they are based on better. While books can be seen from any point or angle, movies are more specific.

“[Analyzing movies] is equally as hard as analyzing the course material. It’s not like ‘Oh it’s just a movie.’ No, it relates to the content, and it can be shown in different ways, which is cool to view,” Salow said.

Many students benefit from the way Olcheske incorporates films into his curriculum. However, a few teachers choose not to show movies, including social studies teacher Hannah Cappelletti, who only shows

“I don’t currently show any full length movies until the end of the year with my AP Government kids. We watched Hamilton last year and we watched Just Mercy, which had to do with the death penalty,” Cappelletti said.

Cappelletti doesn’t view movies as not as intellectually rigorous as the course material, but she simply doesn’t have the time to show movies.

“In my class, at least, I will make movie suggestions. Hey, you should watch this movie, there’s a movie about a Supreme Court case . . . there are lots of great movies out there. I can’t show them all, I just don’t have time,” Cappelletti said.

Senior Benjamin Shirey took Cappelletti’s Government class and shared his thoughts.

“Most of the stuff in Government was pretty easy. I don’t think we needed the movie to explain it, and I don’t know if there’s time for a movie,” Shirey said.

To some students, like, Shirey, movies aren’t always a mindless l way to take in information. Shirey went on to talk about if movies are breaks.

“I don’t think of movie days as break days, because usually there’s a worksheet with them, and you have to do the worksheet unless you want to be behind,” Shirey said.

English teacher Lauren Hallett shows movies in her classes for different purposes.

“I’ve shown Zootopia, I’ve shown Planet of the Apes, whatever I think works best with the class conversations we’ve had. Second semester, there is The Kite Runner. We read the book and then we watch the film adaptation of it. I also sometimes show Harry Potter for fun,” Hallet said.

Senior Sophie Huston was previously a student of Hallett’s. Huston talked about how she viewed movies in Halletts classroom. a kind of supplemental film that has similar themes that are typically modern. I did a lot of research during my master’s degree, about the effective use of film in a class and showing an adaptation of a book is not necessarily the best practice,” Russo said. behind in classes with each movie.

Teachers show different movies for different reasons, but movies are almost always shown with an educational factor in mind.

Huston simply doesn’t need movies to understand the course material, but will sometimes enjoy watching the movie itself.

“For some books, if I liked them, I’d like to see the movie, as I want to see how it can be interpreted differently,” Huston said.

English teacher Anne Russo, whoteaches an elective Film as Literature course, shows movies for her own reasons.

“Typically, I have a non-adaptation or a non-strict adaptation. I just have

Picking a similar but different movie can help prevent boredom, while also teaching about the book. Senior Ethan Holdcraft had Russo for Honors English 11 and explained why reading the books was better for him.

“I like the books a lot more than the movies because when I watch movies, it just goes ‘whoosh’ over my head,” Holdcraft said.

If attention during a movie is graded, or there is a worksheet that goes with the movie, students who lack the ability to fully analyze a movie will become more and more

Teachers I interviewed usually have some sort of rule for viewing movies. If the rule the teachers followed brought them to this, of what use was the rule? What the teacher wants and the student does isn’t always the same. This is similar to something Hallett said.

“Sometimes, kids need a break. Last year alone, we had a lot of times where it was very stressful or days where kids just needed to come in and they were done,” Hallet said.

“But if it’s something where it goes with our content, then it’s not a break day. It’s more to supplement the learning you already have or to analyze it even further.”