TEACHSOC: Re: clips vs. full-length films

[Jack Estes]

Hi all,   This has been a most interesting exchange, as usual. I have been teaching my intro class as a "sociology through movies" class, and I've had somewhat mixed results. I plan to do it again next term, though, hoping to "fix" the problems I encountered. I'm hoping that anyone who reads to the end of this message will offer some suggestions to help me.   First, I set my classes up so I'd meet them in 3-hour blocks once a week. I thought I'd show a movie a week, frankly, and have them write response papers about each one. They also had longer, more formal papers (4) on assigned topics. Their reading was to be reflected in the topics of each paper (and I tried to set up the movie list so that the movies addressed, somewhat, each topic). My plan was to introduce each film with an overview of the topic for the week (30 minutes), provide the students with a series of questions which forced them to think of the film with the topic in mind, show the film (occasionally interrupting it with brief commentary), and finish with a discussion during whatever time was left (depending, of course, on the length of the film). Seemed like a good idea except that I couldn't get through the overview in 30 minutes AND students were having trouble DOING their writing. (I had asked them to submit their brief - 250 word - papers on Blackboard, an online supplement we use at our college.) Also, I found that I really missed that exchange in class when students ask questions and make comments and do group work, and we TALK.   I ended up showing a couple movies, then taking a week off to catch up. That helped in terms of getting into the material and engaging in discussions with the students. It also helped in finding out where the students were, what confusions they'd had. It helped in that many of the students weren't as prepared to do as much writing as I'd required. (I even had them do some in-class writing to get them going.)   What were the results? I gave more A's per class than ever before - and more F's. My grades turned out to be an almost perfect reverse bell (is that called a valley curve?). The reason seemed to me to be that students who did the work got good grades and the ones who didn't do it - I mean, they had to do nearly nothing - got the low grades. Afraid of writing, a couple students told me. Student responses, however, were very positive, even from those who didn't do the work. They mostly all said they learned a lot and loved the course. (Of course for those who didn't get good grades, all they really did was come to class and watch movies, so why wouldn't they like the course. I wonder if it isn't better that they dislike the course and actually do some work.)   I'd given no exams, although I started giving extra credit quizzes at the beginnings of classes to encourage prompt attendance and reading. So the students' grades came almost entirely from their writing. I was part of a Writing Across the Curriculum program at our college, so I had smaller classes (25 students) and focused more on writing. I'd also chosen to focus on the college's move toward globalizing the classroom, so I showed three films which were not in English - "The Nasty Girl" (German, focusing on research as well as on social control), "City of God" (Brazil, focusing on deviance and socialization), and "Ma Vie en Rose" (Belgian, focusing on gender and social control and socialization). A fourth film, "Smoke Signals," while in English, also introduced the students to a new culture (Native American).   What will I do differently next term? Not sure. Probably a film every OTHER week, a mid-term and final in-class exam, more rigid requirements about when papers were due (I allowed too much leeway in late papers), quizzes (not as extra credit) every week. Any other suggestions? I'd really appreciate some help here. I HATE to give low grades. I feel they reflect me as much as the students and, naturally, I don't like to see myself as screwing up so badly.   Sorry this has gone on so long.   Jack Estes BMCC/CUNY   Other films I showed, by the way, include "Crash" (which won our class Oscar for Best Picture), "Nell," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Outsiders," "My Fair Lady," and "Zelig." I also showed about half of "People Like Us" and one part of "Race: The Power of an Illusion," two documentaries I find to be outstanding.