Beach Reflections

Film or Video Clip:
I really like the idea of showcasing poetry through film. Poetry is meant to be heard, so students should hear it from the voice that created it. Using video clips of poets reading their own work is a way to bring life to a text. It gives students another perspective of the text besides the written form. This can only make the analysis of a poem more real and comfortable for students.


News and Documentaries:
I LOVE the idea of using documentaries in the classroom. I have done this in the past and it is so engaging for students. We watched Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars in a class that I taught about intercultural communication. There were some very graphic images in the documentary, but at the end of it the students wrote and wrote and wrote. Their reflections of the film were thoughtful and empathetic. It was my first success to elicit that reaction from the students. I think that students are so used to seeing things in a visual format that when you give them that in the classroom their responses to the “text” are much more thorough and thoughtful. Viewing film is something that students are comfortable doing and are therefore are more willing to stretch themselves from.