Debbie Krivoy, M.Ed., is the Director of Avoda Arts. She has 20 years of broad-based experience in curriculum design, classroom instruction and teacher training. Debbie currently serves on the board of directors of Lander-Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon Schechter School of the Pioneer Valley.

Every day, students are bombarded with visual stimulation – on the Internet, on TV and movie screens, even on their phones. How do we help them make sense of the images they see? How do we enable them to become more discerning consumers of visual culture? One way is by slowing down their looking – getting students to think about the images they observe; the inferences, assumptions and interpretations they make; and the context and medium of the messages.

A growing body of research in the media education community suggests that if we teach young people to become critical viewers, we do more than give them the ability to analyze the construction of isolated images; we also give them the ability to think meaningfully about the composition of “the whole picture,” enhancing their ability to read words and worlds. More simply put, we can use film to promote critical thinking, personal reflection and broader cultural understanding.

At Avoda Arts, we believe deeply that fostering these skills and attributes is vital to both Jewish life and civic life. Reel Learning, the signature program of Avoda Arts, uses short films to explore a variety of Jewish topics and themes – from values and ethics, to history and politics, to culture and community. Each film sparks thought and discussion about Jewish identity, builds critical thinking skills and introduces media literacy concepts. The Reel Learning initiative includes a visual literacy curriculum for students, professional learning workshops for educators, guest lecturers and community screening opportunities.

Our work builds on an important trend in K-12 education – a drive to use film as a way to help young people make connections, meaning and sense of the world around them. We know firsthand that a great movie can motivate and inspire students, enhance their ability to find relevance in our texts and traditions, produce joyful Jewish learning and create community within school-based settings. We also know that, particularly for middle and high school students – who are in a critical formative stage of identity, social, intellectual and moral development – involvement with the arts and media represents an especially powerful strategy for fostering Jewish exploration, self-expression and connection.

A Unique Approach

What makes the Reel Learning series unique is that we provide hand selected short films, substantive lesson plans and practical facilitation coaching to help teachers lead meaningful conversations and activities. Throughout the program, we integrate principles of media literacy that help students hone the skills of critical thinking: a spirit of inquiry, the willingness to engage in dialogue and conversation, the commitment to challenge assumptions and beliefs about others who are different, and the development of interpersonal skills necessary for understanding and valuing multiple perspectives.

Each film in the series is accompanied by a resource guide, which is not meant to be an exhaustive curriculum, but rather a flexible tool for connecting the film with a group’s ongoing studies. The guides provide teachers and school administrators with the following:

• A general framework for using the medium of film effectively
• Background and historical/cultural context for the film
• Group discussion ideas related to the film’s content and presentation
• Suggestions for connecting the film with broader explorations in history, current events, media studies, Jewish studies and art
• Additional resources (e.g., maps, glossaries, bibliographies)

Over the past six years, more than 5,000 students and 250 teachers from 21 day schools in the United States and Canada have been served by our Reel Learning program.

Why Short Film?

There are numerous practical advantages to using short films in the classroom. A short film (with a running time under 30 minutes) typically can be screened in its entirety within one class session. Longer, feature-length films often lose their impact, either by being viewed over a number of sessions, or by being shown only in “clip” form.

According to Mark Reid of the British Film Institute (2006, p. 4), short films have their own specific features, including “powerful themes, the likelihood of ambiguity or the unexpected in the storyline, a small number of characters, heightened use of sound and music, and minimal dialogue.”

Short running times make it possible to screen the film again, allowing students to gain new detail and perspective from the work. When used productively, short films can focus the group, trigger an emotional response and provide a catalyst for thoughtful consideration and discussion of an issue or situation.

Many of the creators of short films are at an early stage in their filmmaking careers, which means that they frequently have their own powerful stories to tell and a desire to establish their own style. As these filmmakers are often giving accounts of their own childhood or youth, there is much to engage young people. The Reel Learning program showcases award-winning works by emerging Jewish filmmakers, many of them recent graduates of film schools throughout the U.S., Canada and Israel. When you take a great film with a Jewish theme, made by a 25 year old, and you show it to his or her peers – or better yet, to high school students – it makes an indelible impact.

In his Headmaster’s Blog, Dr. Joshua Levisohn of the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, MD, reflected on a professional development program that Avoda Arts facilitated for his faculty and staff in 2009:

Teachers came away with tremendous respect … for the power of short film to connect with themes and ideas that we already discuss throughout our curriculum, including reward and punishment, good and evil, standing idly by, Israel and Zionism, sympathy, treatment of other people and animals, and so on. The program also allowed for penetrating artistic analysis, the kind that transcends the actual messages, which too often become trite as soon as you articulate them.

Yes, the message is part of what we are looking for in great art, but it must move us beyond the message – it must make us identify with the characters or with the scene; or it must make us look at the same scene with a different perspective; or it must make us draw connections where we do not yet draw connections.

In showing the films a second time, it became even clearer to all of us just how much more there was to notice, interpret and ponder. And this, too, is a hallmark of great art. After all, mediocre art can be seen, interpreted and digested on the spot. Seeing it again provides marginal benefit. But really good, thought-provoking art makes us think more profoundly each time we see it (much like the Torah, if we read it properly).

Building Literacy

A writer chooses every word carefully and constructs each sentence, paragraph and chapter to communicate a specific message. Similarly, a filmmaker uses a very particular language – a multimedia language constructed through camerawork, editing and sound design – to communicate with an audience. And if film is a language, then we need to help students develop the skills to “read” it. For example:

• What is the filmmaker’s point of view, and how does he or she express it?
• How does the choice of framing, pace, music or color affect the story?

The ability to read a film can have far-reaching implications. People who are media-literate are able to engage more competently and critically in their environment. Media is too important and pervasive an element of our society for people not to be skilled in deconstructing its messages.

In addition, media literacy skills can be applied to other types of literacy. Active interpretation of film, like written texts, requires an understanding of character, theme, plot and symbolism. A person who learns to predict, infer, ask questions and make connections in film brings those same skills to the interpretation of written texts – from Tennyson to Tolkien to the Talmud.

We can use film to help students craft effective arguments. By getting them to respond to the details of a film, we elevate the discussion from a stagnant debate about “good” and “bad” to a more nuanced dialogue about ideas. Arguments are defended and refuted; opinions are grounded and more clearly expressed. Of course, students may still disagree about a film’s merits or its meaning – even when they’re all basing their opinions on the same facts. And that’s how it should be. There is rarely one “right” answer when engaging with film or any other art form. We must train young people to remain open to all ideas and really hear what others have to say.

Choosing the Right Film

In choosing films for classroom use, teachers and school administrators need to consider how well the film will help students meet specific learning outcomes, but they must also consider the quality of the film, its appeal and appropriateness for students, community standards, copyright concerns, cost and availability. It goes without saying that care must also be taken in the kinds of learning activities that are planned around the films.

At Avoda Arts, our goal is to help educators identify films that inspire imagination and spur creative discussion. We regularly screen scores of films and judge them on the basis of authenticity, both in content and production quality. Specifically, we are guided by the following selection criteria for using film in Jewish educational settings:

• Artistic excellence – Good acting makes us believe in the characters, a good script and dramatic tension compels us to continue watching and solid production quality keeps young, media-savvy viewers engaged throughout.
• Social relevance – The film addresses topics and concerns that matter to youth and young adults, including issues of identify, self-esteem, friendship, goals and quests, citizenship, the environment and current events. Such films connect issues to students’ own lives, and encourage them to examine their own values and choices.
• Generative Jewish content – The film’s content and message provides access to the rich and diverse resources of our tradition, culture and community, allowing us to draw new meaning from age-old texts and customs.
• Adequately complex and subtle themes – Strong films often present a world that is gray, not black-and-white. Such films demand that we view characters and situations from a variety of perspectives, and that we respectfully explore and debate issues with our peers.
• Multi-layered meanings – Well directed films provide numerous avenues through which we can understand a story. Location and scenery, sets and costumes, movement and gesture are some of the many elements that help tell the tale and build on our ability to understand verbal dialogue.

Increasing Teachers’ Skills, Motivation and Interest

Including film more deliberately in the curriculum has major implications for the delivery and content of teacher training and ongoing professional development. Teachers often use films and incorporate media literacy principles in their classes without having had any formal training in media literacy themselves. As Renee Hobbs (2004, p. 56) states, “most teachers simply have not had the time (or the perceived need) … to understand how to use film or media issues to promote critical thinking.”

Toward that end, Avoda Arts organizes and collaborates with other institutions to present topical workshops, seminars and other professional development opportunities for classroom teachers. Our training courses are designed to be inclusive – building confidence with film theory and media literacy principles, and covering practical classroom application for teachers of all subjects and grade levels.

Conclusion

Groundbreaking research in the general education community over the last 25 years has expanded our thinking about how people learn, communicate and understand the world. These findings help explain why the arts and media can play a vital role in improving students’ abilities to learn. We know that schools that incorporate film, photography and the visual arts provide a range of ways for young people to access content and express understanding of ideas.

Integrating film more deliberately in the classroom provides alternative tools, frameworks, and lenses through which to explore important content and concepts. It adds an affective and sensory layer to learning and can enhance a student’s capacity for creativity, collaboration and interpretation. These benefits can only increase a Jewish educator’s ability to reach more students more deeply and more effectively. In the words of Dr. Elliot Eisner: “Life is a multimedia event, and the meanings that we secure from life are not simply contained in text; they yield their content through a wide variety of forms” (Eisner, 2002, p. 154).

Furthermore, because films function as cultural and historical texts, a media-rich approach can help students connect with their own Jewish identity and appreciate the diversity of the worldwide Jewish community. Thus the media arts do not only serve an instrumental role; film in a variety of forms is a prominent dimension of both historical and contemporary Jewish civilization. A media-rich educational setting creates opportunities for students to engage with this rich tradition of Jewish creative expression while offering a chance to bring contemporary Jewish filmmakers more fully into the mainstream.

Simply put, film brings fullness, nuance and connection to the classroom. When used effectively, it can serve as a literal gateway – or entry point – to more inspired, thoughtful and committed learning.

References

Goodman, S. (2003). Teaching youth media: a critical guide to literacy, video production and social change. New York: Teachers College Press.

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The Arts and the creation of mind. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Hobbs, R. (2004). “A Review of school-based initiatives in media literacy education.” American Behavioral Scientist.

Levisohn, J. (2009). REEL learning (web log comment). Retrieved on April 4, 2009 from http://mjbhaheadmaster.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/reel-learning/

Reid, M. (2006). Moving shorts. London: British Film Institute.

Teasley, A. and Wilder, A. (1997). Reel conversations: reading films with young adults. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers.