Teacher Guides for every IMAX film are now available

Taking your kids to see a movie, or as us teachers like to refer to it as a 'Visual Text' is a great opportunity to learn about story telling in a far more contemporary manner than simply reading from a book.

Doing this in an IMAX theatre is an experience that cannot replicated anywhere else.  If you are fortunate enough to have access to an IMAX theatre I would strongly recommend considering taking your students to a film there as they have a huge range of educational content but the experience is amazing, especially for first timers.

So going to the movies is fun and all but if you want to continue the learning beyond the cinema you might want to take a look at these huge collections of teacher guides for all the films that pass through IMAX.

These are all of the official IMAX made movies teacher guides.  - Mainly Doco's and educational content.

These are all of the Mainstream film teacher guides that pass through IMAX theatres regularly such as content from Disney, Warner Bros etc.  Big budget films you see in regular cinemas that have been upgraded to work in IMAX theatres.

These guides generally have a great insight to what the film is about and questions to consider before and after viewing.  They would certainly be useful to share with parents who were questioning the purpose of taking kids to the movies in class time.  Enjoy

Comparing and Contrasting the book and films of Willy Wonka

Learning Intention / Overview

This activity will allow students to develop an understanding of how the Venn Diagram can help organize events and other story elements by comparing and contrasting.  Students will discuss comparing and contrasting

Methods / Teaching Strategies

•  Discussion
•  Modeling
•  Graphic Organizer

Assessment of Learning

·         Class Discussion

·         Venn Diagram completion

Click here to download the free lesson plan

An introduction to Digital Storytelling

The university of Houston have put together what is possibly the most comprehensive collection of tools, resources and media to assist teachers and students in better understanding the Educational uses of digital Storytelling. 

My school is a big believer in digital storytelling through podcasting, film, green-screening and digital portfolios.  And this is reflected in the level of enthusiasm the students have towards turning their ideas into a piece of rich media they can share with the world as opposeed to simply writing it in a book.

I might get shot for saying it by many teachers around me but I really enjoy a good film or doco than reading a book as I am obviously a visual learner.  This may have always been the case for many others but the only difference is today it is possible to create a visual literacy on a shoe string budget that I can share with the world overnight.

Be sure to check it out here and I have also included a video below that highlights how important visual texts have been within our lives and how this should impact upon our teaching.  I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with visual texts.