QUESTION: Using Nonfiction Film/Documentary to Teach Argument

[Kirsten Stewart]

I am currently in the process of constructing an argument unit that uses various media sources to engage students.  Teaching thesis statements can lead even the best teachers to want to bang their heads on the wall, but it dawned on me recently that we have tools at our disposal that could be utilized to make this process easier.  When I introduce my students to an argumentative piece of nonfiction, they frequently have trouble locating the thesis statement.  However, if I were to show them a documentary and ask them to articulate the main argument of the director in 1-2 sentences, I have no doubt that they could do this.  It hit me then that practically every piece of my argument unit can be taught using documentaries, news clips, interviews, etc. 

The main areas that I intend to focus on include: determining audience and purpose, creating and locating thesis statements, locating and structuring support, establishing and determining tone, incorporating persuasive appeals, and planning organization. 

Are there any good resources (websites, articles, texts) that I could be using for this endeavor?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

 

[Ryan Goble]

Have you considered teaching with the "Story of Stuff" animations - see in particular http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-broke/ and http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/ In addition to this, have you considered searching the Media That Matters Film Festival - it is an AMAZING resource - http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org

[Faith Rogow]

You might check out two PBS-related sites: POV.org and Frontline.org.  POV features independent documentary films (many are streamed) along with extensive interviews with filmmakers, so students can check their own interpretations against what filmmakers have said about their own work.  The site also provides discussion guides (and a media literacy questions page) for every film. (DISCLAIMER: I write most of those guides).  Frontline streams their programs and also provides online background information, which often includes comments from producers that would help students explore thesis statements.  Frontline is especially helpful for finding films on issues that are very current.

[Annelise Wunderlich]

Another great resource for free PBS documentary film content is Independent Lens (www.itvs.org/educators) This national PBS series has an educator component called Community Classroom, which provides specially edited educational modules (available via streaming or on free DVDs) and lesson plans drawn from the documentaries featured on the series. Like POV, these films are all produced by independent filmmakers and represent diverse perspectives, and often very personal ones. There are also discussion guides available for all of the films featured in the free community screening series. (DISCLAIMER: I am the Education Manager for ITVS, the non-profit that produces these programs).

[Lauren Fardig]

Two films I've had success with are "Letter to the President" (directed by Thomas Gibson, 2005) and "Gasland" (directed by Josh Fox, 2010), both of which I used in a Common Core unit on argumentative writing last year. This required lots of scaffolding on my part as students were writing argumentative letters to an elected official and had a choice as to which film to view as part of their research - we did not watch the full films in class, but did a lot of work on developing significant ideas from the text/film and figuring out a thesis and supporting evidence. Gasland was easier for students to identify the issue and the different sides of the argument/create a thesis around fracking; I used Letters as a high interest piece because it's about the relationship between hip-hop and policy, specifically Reagan's war on drugs and its impact on urban communities. Having an authentic audience helped my students determine tone, as did "bad models" that I wrote all in text/slang to help students identify what not to do.

[Darin.Johnson]

We have borrowed from John Golden's Reading in the Reel World for multiple courses at our high school. Golden is golden as far as I'm concerned. :)

[steve lynch]

I've been using the PBS Frontline Documentary "Digital Nation" to illuminate themes around media and technology. I've also used it to help teach claim and counterclaim, as there are very clearly two different sides that disagree in the documentary. 

I first expected students to take Cornell Notes while watching the documentary, giving them time (5-10 minutes) at the end of every class to add comments, reactions, thoughts to the right hand column. We've now spent a few class days on parsing out arguments and evidence (direct quotes) for those arguments. For their final writing, they'll have to write a two-page analysis/argumentative paper answering the question, "Does technology help or hamper us from being our 'most creative selves'?" 

All of the practice work and the final project are based on rubrics and standards from the 8th Grade Common Core. Let me know if you'd like me to upload any supporting docs!

Steve

[Greg Williams]

I am not sure, but perhaps the Intelligence Squared Debates could be useful to you, and documentaries such as Forks Over Knives or Inside Job could be helpful too.