I wrote the six teaching units for the IFC Film School Curriculum, a FREE public service initiative that uses the excitement of filmmaking to engage high school students in their English classes. Developed to meet the standards of the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Reading Association, as well as the National Education Technology Standards from ISTE, IFC Film School Curriculum provides the tools to get students energized about classroom activities while simultaneously accomplishing core educational goals.

Click on the links below to download the PDFs

Unit 1 explores how teachers have used film in English/Language Arts classrooms in the past and how they can do it even better. The unit summarizes the history of teaching English by using films. Then, the unit gets cameras right into students' hands and has them write and film their own soliloquies and the opening scenes from movies about their lives. The unit then acquaints them with film terms by having them watch and analyze 30-second commercials and a 5-10 minute scene from a television show.

Unit 2 solves the problem of how to infuse more film study into the ELA curriculum and still prepare students for standardized tests. The lessons here include strategies that will help students analyze a film's themes, symbols, and characterization, which will ultimately make it easier for them to identify the same elements in literature. Later, students will create, perform, and film a silent scene or "dumb show," using Act 3, scene 2 from Hamlet. Finally, they will view the opening scene from Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times , and use a section from that film to write and create their own "modern" version.

Unit 3 looks at the role of writing in film, which in turn emphasizes the aesthetics of literature in addition to the plot, characters, and themes. The unit begins with an exercise in text editing using Macbeth 4.2. Then, the students create a stage director's Prompt Book for the edited scene. Finally, students take that Prompt Book and turn it into a film script. Each of these activities requires a close reading and a thorough understanding of the text by the students. This skill will transfer to all literature that they read.

Unit 4 serves as an intermediate step between reading literature and adapting it to film. The unit begins with creating tableau vivants from The Scarlet Letter and using digital photographs to create a storyboard. Then, the students will view several film trailers and create one of their own for whatever book they are currently reading. Finally, using "Cora Unashamed," a short story by Langston Hughes, they will write a treatment for the opening ten minutes of a film adaptation, and then compare their versions to the actual film production.

Unit 5 puts students into "expert groups" and has them look at several versions of the same Shakespeare scene. Students take on the roles of screenwriters, cinematographers, sound technicians, set and costume designers, and actors as they examine how different directors have interpreted a scene. Then the students review all the literature that they have read in class and come up with an idea for a short film "inspired" by that piece of literature. Students will write a film treatment and "pitch" their idea to the rest of the class.

Unit 6 asks students to use their newly-acquired, film-related skills to create their own short films. The unit covers in-depth the five phases of creating a film-development, pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution. Included within each phase are lots of detailed activities and suggestions. The unit encourages the students to work in groups and take on the roles of screenwriter, director, cinematographer, editor, or producer.