3.00 Credits
This course will show participants ways they can help their secondary students appreciate and understand documentaries, which will subsequently help them, read and write a variety of nonfiction genres. We will apply analytic skills used to critique nonfiction film to the skills that are necessary for adolescent readers and writers to interpret and to create nonfiction print texts. We will learn the following key elements of film analysis: nonfiction film tracks, nonfiction film genres, bias and propaganda techniques, ethical considerations in making documentaries, and the ways that the construction of truth in nonfiction affects its message. We will compare the elements of tone, theme, and perspective in both film and print texts and examine how an analysis of the structure of film can help students become stronger writers. We will specifically look at the following writing strategies in both media: persuasion, compare/contrast, and problem/solution. Our course will consist of discussion, creation of storyboards, writing, reading, and viewing of film clips and complete documentaries. We will discover ways that nonfiction film can be used across the disciplines of English, social studies, government, and science and can strengthen adolescent literacy skills in those disciplines.