Reel Conversations : Reading Films with Young Adults

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 writing in response to selected films are also provided.

Teasley and Wilder make clear the connections between the study of film and print literature. The units have been classroom tested over years and are designed for teachers who regularly use film, as well as those who are new to its uses.

Alan Teasley serves as director of staff development for the Durham, North Carolina Public Schools and adjunct assistant professor in Duke University's graduate and undergraduate teacher education programs. Alan has also conducted workshops and published articles in English Journal, The ALAN Review, and The Iowa English Bulletin.

Ann Wilder teaches English, young adult literature, and mass communications at Southern High School in Durham, North Carolina, and serves as a mentor for interns in Duke University's MAT program. She has conducted workshops and published articles in English Journal, The ALAN Review, and The Iowa English Bulletin.