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CM . . .
. Volume X Number 5 . . . . October 31, 2003
The two volumes of Reeltalk are well organized into nine categories each. Four to five well known movies are described under each of the following titles in Volume 1: Growing Up, Family, Our Society, The Mind, Our Dreams, Life and Death, The Arts, The Media, The Weird and Wacky; and Volume 2: Survival, Heroes, World Conflict, World History, North American History, Nature, Religion, The Future, and Fantasy. Movies such as The Miracle Worker are included under the category "The Mind," and The Power of One is included under "World History." For each movie, the date, running time, rating, director, and cast are included. In addition, for each movie a number of questions are included under the headings: Talking It Over; Digging into Ideas; Digging into Feelings; and Doing Something New. Although these books are well organized and informative, I do not feel that I can recommend them for the classroom for the following reasons. As I perused both books, I was reminded of the copyright laws that have been become more stringent in the past few years. If you were going to show any of the movies that are suggested in the two books in a classroom, then a site license would be needed and a good deal of money would be required to pay for the rights to show them. If a teacher did not want to do acquire a site license or could not do that because of monetary constraints, the author suggests that the movie be sent home to be watched at home by select groups of students studying a certain topic. For example, students studying the Depression would watch The Grapes of Wrath. The homework assignment would include a number of the discussion questions and activities described in the books that could then be further discussed in the classroom. I find that this approach would be very problematic and would limit any possible use of this particular resource. Group discussions would not be able to take place until everyone in the group had seen the movie. The organization of the whole process would be a nightmare. In addition, many of the movies suggested, such as Gandhi, are rated PG for violence. This content may not be suitable for some students in the classroom, and the teacher could have some difficulties with parents over this issue. Consequently, I cannot recommend these books as I do not feel that they are useful for the classroom because of copyright concerns and the whole idea of watching a movie for homework. Family home viewing is a whole different issue, and the two books could be more useful for a Family Night at home where the concern over the ratings would not be an issue if the parents picked the movies themselves. Not Recommended. Gary Evans is a retired Primary teacher who now teaches Social Studies to Early Year Student Teachers at the University of Winnipeg and Year 1 Middle Years Student Teachers at the University of Manitoba.
AND THE AUTHOR RESPONDS....
Dear CM Editor:
Thank you for reviewing my new books Jivin' Johnny's Reeltalk 1 and
Reeltalk 2 in Volume X Number 5 issue of CM Magazine. I believe
through lack of information and creative thinking on the part of your
reviewer, the books were given some irrelevant negative comments, a 1
out of 4 rating and the verdict 'Not recommended.'
The reviewer condemns the books on the basis that showing the movies
would involve a site licence, high cost and problematic scheduling. I
would ask you, Mr. or Ms. Editor, to look into the actual circumstances
involved and report those to your readers. My experience in 25 years
in a school with the Simcoe County School Board in Ontario has been that
teachers who wish to use a movie to supplement or add to course
curriculum 1) rent the movie from the local video store (if the school
does not already own a copy of movie), 2) show it to the desired
classes, then 3) record the title and number of plays on a sheet that
the principal submits to the board twice a year. Many boards have
usage contracts with national distributing firms and the boards pay a
yearly royalty fee to this distributor for films used.
I'm sure that our school was not exceptional in our use of films: we
had a media study course, several A/V tech courses, an active history
program, an active Life Skills program and 10 English teachers ...and in
each course anywhere from 4 to 10 feature length films
(To Kill a Mockingbird, West Side Story, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice
and Men, Dances with Wolves, Gandhi...whatever was selected to meet the
program) would be shown by each teacher in a regular semester. There
were no site licences, no undue cost and no necessary detailed planning
or paperwork. I suspect this is the situation for most teachers across
Canada; they are not breaking copyrights and the filmmakers and
artists are compensated for their achievements. In such a situation,
Jivin' Johnny's Reeltalk books simply add richness to the film study by
offering questions and projects that help "Make the Movie Magic Last!!'
In the Reeltalk books, I also make the suggestion that if a teacher
doesn't want to spend class time watching a particular movie, that he or
she could suggest it as 'homework' or 'enrichment'...but I didn't
suggest giving students the movie to take home with them (which would
indeed, as the reviewer suggests, be a programming nightmare). In
these days of video stores on almost every corner, it's relatively easy
and inexpensive for a student alone (or several if they want to group
together) to rent The Grapes of Wrath and explore the Great Depression
or rent Kramer vs. Kramer and get an inside view of family and divorce.
Certainly, one can't 'force' a student to go this extra mile, but with
many of my students that wasn't ever necessary; movie suggestions I
made and suggestions other students made were usually eagerly swallowed
up by classes and the next Monday we'd spend a few minutes at the
beginning of each period hearing what movies students watched over the
weekend. (Some kids watch 4 movies a weekend; why not have one of the
4 a movie recommended by their teacher?)
I hope that you, Mr. or Ms. Editor, will re-examine the reviews of my
Reeltalk books and either make revisions or add information to make
clear that they are not a nightmare or an expense or out of touch with
the direction classes are headed in. Jivin' Johnny's Reeltalk 1 and
Reeltalk 2 are very useful aids in helping students achieve their full
potential. The study of movies offers the visually literate a chance
to show what they can do and the discussion questions in the Reeltalk
books offer a totally level playing field on which all students can
learn -- and enjoy themselves while they're learning.
P.S. If you should make some changes to the Reeltalk reviews, would you
also indicate that the full price of one book is $21.88 (including GST
and postage) and $17.00 for each additional copy or title to the same
address. All ordering information is at 'jjohnnypress.com' where one
will also find a complete list of the movies included and a sample
lesson for To Sir with Love.
Mr. or Ms. Editor -- Thank you for your help in putting matters straight
and best of luck to CM Magazine and its readers.
John Philips aka Jivin' Johnny (jjohnny@csolve.net)
To comment
on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
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