Outside the box (2) – How to integrate learning into daily activities

Since lessons from schools are highly variable, meaning some teachers provide general suggestions and others provide more structured activities with accountability, there is usually large amounts of unregimented time at home that can be used for initial teaching and reinforcement of learned concepts. Please, keep in mind that I am not being judgmental at all. This is a very difficult time in this age of COVID-19, and we are all just doing our best. But here’s an idea.

Who doesn’t like an afternoon movie? Popcorn and/or a root beer float AND a good movie. 

Have your student(s) choose the movie from a choice of three, but the trick here is that you have already selected the three, hopefully a movie that has some content that can lead to good discussions and/or activities. 

Prepare in advance little mini lessons in relation to concepts in the film.I’m not suggesting huge amount of preparations, shouldn’t take a lot of work; otherwise, it takes all the fun out of it. 

Base everything that you do uponthe age and the maturity of the student(s).

For example: The Sound of Music

·     Explain to your student(s) that they will see a great movie, but to understand the movie, they need to know where the movie takes place and something about what was happening in the world at that time. (This should not be a huge research project, something fairly quick and to the point.)   

·     You and the student(s) use the internet to find out information

·     Find a map of the world. Locate your home on the map and show the location of Austria, maybe even calculate the number of miles from one place to the other. 

·     Share a little about Germany and discuss the beginning of World War II and how the Nazis took over Austria. (Remember, this is not a long drawn out thesis.)

·     Talk about how families walked across the Alps to escape and how those families gave up everything they had. Show pictures of the Alps. 

What you are doing is providing some foundational knowledge, in effect prior knowledge, as a background, not only to understand the movie, but also to provide a framework for understanding some of the concepts that will be mentioned in schools, even at some later date In that case, some students may think, “Oh, yeah, I know something about that. We saw a movie about Austria when we were at home.” 

And besides, a movie is a good break for you, too.

I invite comments, suggestions, ideas.

If you have questions that I might be able to answer generally, please email me. Please keep in mind that this blog is for suggestions that may or may not work. Here is the disclaimer, professional advice requires much more in-depth information and contact and is beyond the scope of this blog.  email: gail.coulter@outlook.com