Film Resources Bibliography

Abstract

As English teachers, few of us can admit to having taken a course in film. For the most part, we learn about on our own initiative, relying on our instincts and ingenuity for guidance. More than anything else taught in school, preparation for the teaching of stems from experience outside of classrooms. Like our students, our contact with visual language takes place beyond the confines of academic institutions. We attend conferences and workshops, go out to the cinema, watch TV at home, and read. It's a new way of learning, and those of us who do get it on find a kind of restless joy with colleagues who sense the newness and innovative openness of it all. Now it is true that some teachers cavort around projectors and covet their outlets, tending to sound a bit pompous about the THING they think everyone should experience. Such is the film teacher, who gets the films (which others can't afford or set up properly), and whose course almost automatically attracts a horde of students. The isolation of films (and their caretakers), however, cannot last. There are too many good films and g od teachers arriving on the scene. English teachers are realizing that good films, like good words, can affect young people in a dramatic way. And as a result, schools are becoming learning environments which are more interesting and comfortable for students, and more consistent with