If Frank W. Baker helps us think about how useful theatrical visuals can be in teaching the close reading and careful analysis skills
critical to understanding literature (like To Kill a Mockingbird), we need to remember that informational videos can be
just as helpful as we take on both literary and informational texts in all of
our classrooms (not just in language arts).
For
example, we used a brief Associated Press clip about Guantanamo Bay from YouTube to remind our young
students about the connections between Al Qaeda, Guantanamo Bay, and 9/11
before teaching an editorial (an informational text) by Stephen Jones
(published in The Wall Street Journal)
about his experience defending Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. (Note: If your school or district blocks YouTube, there are browser plugins that allow you to download videos to your desktop. This is a good practice to follow in general; since the video file will already be on your desktop, your lesson won't be at the mercy of any video streaming glitches.)
The editorial, about the importance
of good defense for politically unpopular clients, helps students see Atticus’s
defense of Tom Robinson in Mockingbird as part of a continuing debate about whether everyone deserves a good lawyer.
But while the article provides accessible background about Timothy McVeigh
(whom the students haven’t heard of), it assumes background knowledge about Al
Qaeda and the Guantanamo defendants (which is only fuzzily present in our
students’ brains).
And as with many texts that can
seem remote and unexciting, the Jones piece has no obvious hook for students.
Why should they care? How can they find an entry point into the text?
We used a quick, engaging clip from the AP (1 minute) about the conviction of Bin Laden’s driver to
create that hook and set the stage. After the clip, we asked a few leading
questions about the clip. Did they think the driver was guilty of serious
terrorism charges or was he just a driver? Did they think he could get fair
treatment through the military tribunal system, or did they wonder, as did his
defense attorneys, about the issue of a fair trial? Students can be used to
watching media passively, so presenting the initial questions to them can be
key in getting the discussion going. And
sometimes, it’s important to show a video clip more than once (or repeat the
clip after you’ve asked the leading questions). It’s easy to forget how much is
going on even in a brief media clip, with visuals, various voices, as well as
information that’s unfamiliar to our students.
In our lesson, after the brief discussion
of the AP clip (about 3 minutes), the students were quick to condemn the driver
as guilty and dismissive of the concerns about a fair trial and even legal
defense for people like Bin Laden’s driver. The clip and the discussion set the
students up to take a stand and they did.
Unlike Baker, our goal with the
media clip wasn’t to cultivate close reading and critical analysis. It was to
prime the students with some basic information and get them to feel invested in
the topic, which was achieved when they took a personal stand.
Once the students had taken their
stand, they were set up for success with Jones’s editorial, which argues precisely the opposite point. The informational text, at this point, wasn’t
remote and abstract to them. The media clip had allowed them to form an opinion
about the issue, and they were ready to read more. And of course, more reading
allowed them to refine and reformulate their earlier ideas and to see
connections with Mockingbird.
So, use media clips to prime your
students with background information and motivation -- especially with
challenging informational texts!
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