The REACT to FILM Middle & High School curriculum is custom designed to educate and empower today's youth through documentary film. Our courses encourage participation and activism by focusing on the most pressing global issues facing our nation, our world, and our planet.
Events surrounding Baltimore, Ferguson, and the “Black Lives Matter” movement illuminate the persistence of institutionalized racism as well as the unfortunate reoccurrence of police brutality in the United States. These recent events have reinvigorated conversations about structural economic inequality, the school to prison pipeline, white privilege, the criminalization of people of color, the militarization of law enforcement and a constellation of other converging political and social problems that have emerged or persisted since the Civil Rights Movement. This mini-unit curriculum is designed to help teachers and administrators initiate meaningful conversations amongst students in order to foster a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of race relations in the twenty-first century. This is geared toward 8-12th graders, and ideally should be taught across 1-2 weeks.
Everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong. FED UP is the film the food industry doesn’t want you to see. From Katie Couric, Laurie David (Oscar winning producer of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) and director Stephanie Soechtig, FED UP will change the way you eat forever.
Film Runtime: 92 minutes
Average Instructional Time Required: 10 hours
Essential Questions:
Common Core State Standards Covered:
Writing, Speaking & Listening, Reading & Informational Text, Research
This download package is suited for grade levels 7-12 and includes:
This special double feature unit explores the history of the atomic bomb and the origin of the nuclear arms race. Students explore the positions of scientists and politicians as they relate to nuclear proliferation. Through the viewing of the Atomic Bomb chapter in Oliver Stone's The Untold History of the United States, and the viewing of Lucy Walker's documentary Countdown to Zero, students will have ample opportunity to look at this topic considering both history and current events. This is best suited for 11-12th graders.
Directed by Lucy Walker, and filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.
Film Runtime: 99 minutes
Average Instructional Time Required: 7 hours
Essential Question:
How does art have the power to transform?
Common Core State Standards Covered:
Writing, Speaking & Listening, Reading & Informational Text
This download package is suited for grade levels 7-12 and includes:
Where to watch: iTunes, Amazon, Netflix
Facebook: facebook.com/WastelandFilm
Twitter: twitter.com/wastelandmovie
Website: www.wastelandmovie.com
This documentary based semester of exploration covers Civil Rights through the lens of 6 films (The Black Power Mixtape, Planet Rock, The House I Live In, The Interrupters, Sing Your Song), with an extension option to delve into a 7th film (3 1/2 Minutes 10 Bullets). Students will evaluate the American Civil Rights movement and the current state of Civil Rights today. This package is recommended for students 8th grade and up. This could be taught across a semester or stretched across a full school year.
This semester-course engages students in a range of films (Electoral Dysfunction, Living for 32, Hell and Back Again, If A Tree Falls, The Lottery, and Who Is Dayani Cristal?) covering political issues and their impact on people's lives. From voting rights, to gun legislation, to the psychological impact of war, to domestic terrorism, to educational inequity, and finally immigration, this unit will equip your students to be well-versed on some of today's most relevant topics. This bundle is highly recommended for students in grades 11-12, but also works for grades 9-10.
This course explores factory farming and agribusiness, ocean conservation, natural disasters, and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas through the documentaries Food Inc., The Cove, The End of the Line, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, and Gasland. This is a great interdisciplinary course that is heavy on English Language Arts, but has clear ties to Science and Social Studies as well. This course is best suited to students in grades 9-12.
This semester-length course is central to what is at the core of students' day-to-day lives. Through the films Inocente, Born Into Brothels, Buck, Miss Representation, The Mask You Live In, and Let's Talk About Sex students will look at media, health, and identity. Whether homelessness, abuse, gender identity, or societal taboos, this course will keep your students highly engaged while they tackle critical English Language Arts skill building at the same time. This bundle is especially great for 7-8th graders, but well-received for 9-12th graders as well.
