Students often groan at the thought of facing another poetry unit. “This is stupid.”, “It doesn’t make sense.”, “Why do I have to deal with this?”. These are common remarks often spilling out of the students at the thought of dealing with poetry. In an attempt to get them to grasp some of the poetry that they will face throughout their education, this teaching unit attempts to use a movie scene as a way of hooking the students. The unit hopes to make enough thematic connections to allow the students the opportunity to more closely examine and explicate a poem by exposing the conduit between it and an individual's biography. In addition to the thematic connections, this unit will also reveal common elements of poetry in a non-threatening environment. Students will learn about concepts like metaphors, allusions and other elements of poetry by first discovering them in the film. At the same time they upgrade and extend their vocabulary with words, terms, idioms and the vernacular that is used within the dialogs around the poem. Their newly acquired knowledge enables them to articulate both personal discernments and popular apprehensions on the vicissitudes of life (and may even trigger the desire in one or the other to start writing his or her own poem in English, whether it be in a more traditional form or in a rap or a song) and thus serves the primary target of foreign language education: intercultural communicative competence (cf. Council of Europe 2001: 43). Cinema is a vital and powerful medium, and the hope is that it can be used in an effort to hook the students and bring them closer to the enjoyment of poetry. The presentation of poetry in a form that combines four aspects, namely the visual (or optic), phonetic (or sound), kinetic (moving in a visual succession) and emotional aspect is of great significance to the analysis of what is perceived. Watching a movie is probably the easiest and most comfortable way of knowledge transfer that the students are familiar with. The visualization of a plot in a film offers more challenging potential for what contemporary literature educationalists call the personal response approach (cf. Nünning/Surkamp 2006: 64) than a book (ibid. 247). The learner gets emotionally involved almost immediately and throughout the scene.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Framework
3. Analysis of the Material and Didactic Considerations
3.1. Dead Poets Society: The Frame Story
3.2. The Carpe Diem Scene
4. Teaching Unit
4.1. Getting warmed up
4.2. Completing the script
4.3. The emotional roadmap
4.4. Post-viewing activity: dubbing the script
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
7. Appendix
7.1 Gap text with emotional roadmap
7.2 Thesaurus
7.3 Scene script
7.4 To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time
Objectives and Core Topics
The primary objective of this teaching unit is to increase students' engagement with poetry by utilizing a key scene from the film "Dead Poets Society" as an anticipatory hook. By connecting the film's "carpe diem" theme to Robert Herrick's poetry and their own lives, the unit seeks to lower barriers to literary analysis and foster intercultural communicative competence through creative, film-based exercises.
- Integration of cinema as a pedagogical medium to teach poetry.
- Exploration of literary themes such as evanescence, mortality, and the "carpe diem" philosophy.
- Development of vocabulary, idiomatic understanding, and textual analysis skills.
- Creative application of language through scriptwriting and dubbing activities.
- Promotion of personal resonance and critical thinking regarding individual biography.
Excerpt from the Book
3.2. The Carpe Diem Scene
This scene is probably the most popular scene of the whole movie. The new English teacher of the school, Mr. Keating, enters the classroom, walks around whistling and exits again leaving behind a puzzled class. He peeks back into the room, tells them to “come on” and takes the students down to the hallway to give them their first lesson. He introduces himself with an excerpt from the Walt Whitman poem Oh captain, my captain. Walt Whitman admired Abraham Lincoln and was saddened by his death when he wrote the poem after Lincoln's assassination. It is an allusion to the Dead Poets Society where Keating was a member of when he attended Welton which is not revealed until later later in the film. He offers the boys to call him Mr. Keating or, “if you're slightly more daring” (DPS 1989), Oh captain, my captain. The focus of and key to the scene however is Robert Herrick's poem “To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time” and its first stanza respectively. The first line “gather ye rosebuds while ye may” and the Latin term for that sentiment, carpe diem, is used to explain the need of seizing the day. The whole meeting takes place in front of the school's trophy cabinets and Keating turns towards one of the trophy cases, filled with trophies, footballs and a team picture. He asks them to step forward and peruse some of the faces of their predecessors. The students slowly gather round the cases and Keating moves behind them from where he emphasizes the striking similarities.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Presents the motivation for using film to overcome student resistance to poetry and outlines the goal of fostering intercultural communicative competence.
2. Theoretical Framework: Discusses the educational value of visual and kinetic media in literature lessons and explains why "Dead Poets Society" is an effective tool for teaching.
3. Analysis of the Material and Didactic Considerations: Provides context on the film's production and history, and analyzes the specific "carpe diem" scene as a pedagogical focal point.
4. Teaching Unit: Details the practical lesson plan, including brainstorming, script-based activities, emotional mapping, and a creative post-viewing dubbing task.
5. Conclusion: Reflects on the effectiveness of using film-based dialogue to make poetry relevant and meaningful to students' lives.
6. Bibliography: Lists the academic and media sources utilized throughout the unit.
7. Appendix: Contains the instructional materials, including the gap text, the thesaurus, the scene script, and the original poem by Robert Herrick.
Keywords
Dead Poets Society, Carpe Diem, Poetry, Foreign Language Teaching, Film Analysis, Didactic, Robert Herrick, Walt Whitman, Intercultural Competence, Scriptwriting, Classroom Activity, Adolescent Education, Literature, Emotional Roadmap, Teaching Unit
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this teaching unit?
The unit focuses on using the "carpe diem" scene from the movie "Dead Poets Society" to introduce students to poetry in an engaging, non-threatening, and relevant manner.
What are the primary themes explored in the work?
Central themes include the concept of time and mortality, the significance of individual biography, and the philosophical idea of "seizing the day" as expressed through literature.
What is the ultimate goal of this research/teaching project?
The primary goal is to foster intercultural communicative competence by helping students overcome their aversion to poetry and enabling them to find personal meaning in literary texts.
Which scientific/didactic methods are employed?
The author uses a "personal response approach," top-down strategy for vocabulary activation, and interactive activities such as script completion and emotional roadmap construction.
What does the main body of the work cover?
It provides a theoretical basis for using film in the classroom, a detailed analysis of the film's frame story, a breakdown of the pedagogical lesson plan, and necessary teaching materials.
Which keywords best describe this publication?
Key terms include "Dead Poets Society," "Carpe Diem," "Poetry," "Foreign Language Teaching," "Film Analysis," and "Didactic."
Why was the "carpe diem" scene specifically selected for this unit?
It was chosen because it is rich in symbolism and imagery, uses clear and distinct vocabulary suitable for 10th or 11th graders, and serves as an excellent emotional hook for discussing life and death.
How does the "dubbing the script" exercise work?
Students rewrite the dialogue of the scene using only words or phrases derived from Robert Herrick’s poem, provided they maintain grammatical correctness, which encourages creative language practice.
What role does Robert Herrick’s poem play in the classroom setting?
The poem serves as the intellectual anchor of the unit, helping students understand the transient nature of life and connecting the academic study of poetry to their own personal experiences.
- Quote paper
- Richard Grünert (Author), 2008, Seize the day, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/129646
