Reel conversations

by Alan B. Teasley

From its beginnings, cinema has forged a distinct medium, a literature in its own right, as worthy of study as print literature. A good film, like a good book or poem, can delight, provoke the imagination, inspire serious though, discussion, and writing. Perhaps especially today, film can and should be an essential component in the language arts curriculum, given students' increasing reliance on visual imagery in defining their world. In Reel Conversations, Alan Teasley and Ann Wilder discuss and demonstrate the powerful role film can play in the language arts classroom, both as a subject in itself and as a key dimension of language study. Reel Conversations provides middle and high school teachers with proven methods for teaching with and about films in conjunction with literature and composition classes. It describes techniques for instruction, details over two hundred films appropriate for classroom use, and offers a corresponding list of young adult novels. Samples of student writi