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MT Suggestion
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10 thoughts on “MT Suggestion”
I know you don’t target but since this is a mashup and has no plot – nothin’ really happens, how are you talking about it w/ the kids in francais?
I love the clip so much and sometimes watch it (alone) for fun as a pick-me-up.
…this is a mashup and has no plot – nothin’ really happens….
See this is where I disagree. You know where Fred Astaire tosses the ball up on the tarp and it rolls down back into his hat? We got ten minutes out of it. Last week we had done a story about a ball, by chance, so these 6th graders immediately started saying things in response to my questions like “He is nervous up there. The man threw him up there and now he wants to come down.” So that was a little story.
Got about 150 reps on turns around bc of all the spin moves by all the dancers.
It was like the kids had this deep need to describe everything they saw. I just listened to them and tried to keep order. I worked so hard and succeeded to keep all their French slow enough for my barometers (three in that class).
I must be weird. No plot is just fine. No targeted plan is just fine. I don’t know why I need a plan. Should I worry about that? Everybody seems to think I need to worry about that. I really don’t get that.
By the way and I know lots of people do this but just to confirm that what Linda does is make screen shots and discuss them before showing the complete clip. (Diane just sent me an updated version of Look and Discuss for the Big CI Book and I’m sure she talks about that in there as well.)
Also as you know Alisa I am all over comparing my kids w what is going on in the story or in this case the MT. My goal is to include them in a way that there is no distance between the clip on the screen and their hearts.
So that response was all over the place. But the MT on those dancers was a joy, a sheer joy. I just froze the clips and we talked. Am I doing something wrong? To me each little clip there, a little five second image of a dancer or Groucho Marx, that funny little clip, is story in itself. What am I doing wrong?
And yeah, I also watch that clip all the time to make me happy. Specially when those three run to and over the chair. And those guys with the hair looking to their left all at the same time while doing what looks like an Irish jig. What is better than that?That’s good stuff. Uplifting. Now I want to do a lot more MTs. We actually high fived on their way out, we had enjoyed ourselves so much. Dude this stuff is so cool!
Doing something wrong? No. There are at least five elements in a story (character, setting, conflict, plot and theme). The story moves forward with plot and conflict. But we create interest with description of the characters and the setting. We do not usually develop a theme. So between action and description it sounds like you discussed action for Fred Astaire and describe the frozen images.
But thanks for the Q and Explanation. It helps us a lot. We learn so much through modelling and description of the process.
It makes a lot of sense. Describe what is visually before us.
This is a reason that I like using images & video clips fairly often: they provide so much fodder for discussion and questioning. If the students can/will speak more, there’s plenty to allow them to say (including funny things like the backstory they make up about the characters, and what each one is thinking/feeling, and comparing to the kids in the class & what they would do in the same circumstances).
I don’t think there’s any right way to use them, but myriads of possibilities. It also seems to take some pressure off of me. We can go on tangents or stick closely to the original video and its meaning.
“It also seems to take some pressure off of me. ”
Agreed. I see MT as a treat though. My story are my bread and butter. However, this can be an incentive (if teachers use those).
At times we all need a break from doing everything.
I realize on reflection that by “fairly often” I mean perhaps 3 classes in a month per level (except when using full-length films with an upper level — then it’s one or two days a week).
I keep a chart of options so that I won’t get in a rut & so I don’t have to remember what’s been good before, or come up with something new necessarily. I also pick activities somewhat based on the language I wanted to introduce, and how they might work better with a story, or images, or a video clip.
Lately I’ve had fun occasionally doing sort of polls of students with discussion as sort of modified PQA. Make a chart right then & there & talk about them. Who likes what music (and whether their parents like the same) was a good one.
Terry Waltz just posted a blog which says what you just said, Steven (and you too, Diane). It is called “MovieTalk: Dessert only, please.”
I am totally good with NOTHING HAPPENING plot-wise – thanks for adding MT to that list of options. I guess I was only thinking of it narrowly, for mining plot. But it could be a cooking demo, a how to-video, a music video – no plot necessary.
Today w/my 2nd graders we played with Switchzoo.com – you start w/a photo of an animal then kids can come up and select/substitute a different animal’s head, legs and tail. We’d been talking about animals before so it tangentially related.
We ended up w/ some funny images of like a bison with a monitor lizard’s tail and the head of a panda.
Lotsa silliness, lotsa reps, a fun visual focus…
This terrific clip inspired me to look up Singing in the Rain (one of my favorite movies from my high school years). This clip seems like a great follow-up to the mash-up, with some similar (non-targeted 🙂 structures, just add the rain and umbrella. I’m banking on my students not knowing what it’s from and letting them come up with reasons for this silly man singing and dancing in the rain. Even if they’ve seen the movie, I’m sure they’ll be happy to come up with some other reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZYhVpdXbQ
Oh yeah, I’m going to skip the first part of the clip (the kissing part) to leave more space for imagining why Gene Kelly is dancing in the rain.