Films are great

I'm watching films with 2 classes at the moment (and studying a film with a third), and it's wonderful. I love watching good films, and rewatching them, and trying to get students interested in more than the most shallow of surface readings. I rambled a bit today about the difference between viewing for pleasure and for study, and how in a classroom context you should pretty much always have a pen in your hand when you watch a film. I think it's a sound practice, given that we lack the luxury of time in which to watch the film multiple times. It's a busy world, and there's always work waiting to be done. Anyways, the films of the day are Shawshank Redemption, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I felt a little bad when a teacher came to visit me during one of the brutal prison rape scenes, but the teacher stayed a good 10 minutes after his questions had been answered, watching the film. It really is 'a corker'. Debating will finish off the day - a subject I'm not hugely knowledgeable about, but which is fun, and inclusive. Here's hoping the kids see it that way!