Pamela Fitzpatrick, NBCT

Orange County Schools (NC)
District-Wide Literacy Coach
PhD student, University
of North Carolina Greensboro

Background

I have always pondered as to why some students loved to write, and others claimed to dislike it.  As a person who feels every teenager has a voice worth hearing, I wanted to learn more about teensí interests in writing. I had many questions:

• What topics would they find most intriguing?

• Would a visual image help their writing flower?

• What about film?

• Would a film clip on something like weather foster more and better writing?

• What about humor?

• Would a humorous film clip or comic strip encourage a more empowered voice?

• How can we help each student find his or her own voice in writing?

How can we help each student find his or her voice in writing?

About my research

My research has focused on questions about the types of writing prompts student would respond to most readily. I used written text, art, and video clips to try to excite a diverse population of students to enjoy writing. 

Implementation

Based on the advice of my ETLP cohort, I decided to conduct my research in a colleagues’ classroom. I wanted to work with students I did not know, so I would not have any preconceived prejudicial notions about their writing abilities.

I worked with two different classes over the course of the 2008-2009 school year. Both classes were heterogeneous grouped. However, one of the classes had a larger number of struggling students, and one of the classes had a greater number of above average students.  

I began my research by giving the students a survey to ascertain their writing interests. Additionally, I wanted to know what they did with their free time, so I could construct lessons that would be of relevance to them.  The class interests included hunting, fishing, sports, skate boarding, computer games, fashion, horsemanship, the natural world, etc.

Writing About the Weather

I started by giving them some very short film clips related to all aspects of weather. I showed them segments about meteorology, as well as clips about extreme weather.  They seemed interested in all of the films and wrote with some willingness to the prompts. The prompts included questions about the weather in different regions of the United States, questions about extreme weather, and questions about whether or not the film clips help them understand weather better. I was trying to find out what they have learned

What About Humor?

To further my study, I asked questions about their ideas on humor and the types of comedians and comedy shows they watched in their leisure time.  Here a problem ensued.  The types of comedy shows they watched included Bernie Mack, Jeff Foxworthy, and Dave Chappell. While I agreed that the comedians that intrigued the students were very funny, I would be unable to show them such film clips in school; the majority were rated R.

Therefore, I decided to collect a variety of comedic film clips that would be funny to the students, as well as acceptable in a public school setting.  I chose The Cosby Show, Gilligan's Island, and F Troop.  Initially I was concerned, because I didn't know if they would find the shows comical. I should not have worried.  They were familiar with both the Cosby Show and Gilligan's Island.

After I gave them a little background, they even found F Troop amusing.  I found that after watching the film clips they wrote enthusiastically and at length.  I wanted to ascertain their immediate reaction to the video text, so I instructed students to respond to the prompts as soon as the film was over.  I asked the students questions concerning the following:

• Is writing about humor the same or different than writing about weather?  Which do you prefer?

• What did you find funny or not funny about each film clip? 

• What was your favorite type of humorous text?

• Did you connects with any of the humor, if so why?

• What did you like or not like about each type of humor?

When we finished watching and writing about the film clips, I gave students collections of comics and humorous quotes.  As the students worked in small groups, they evidenced excitement in this aspect of the lesson. They all wanted to share a portion of the comic that they thought was particularly funny.

Initial findings

My initial findings indicate that students enjoy any type of film clip ñ no matter how dry. Our young people are familiar with extracting meaning from film, and this was evident in my research. 

Additionally, I found that students reacted particularly well to humorous written text, comic art, and film. The humorous text energized the students, and I found them regularly bursting with interpretations about comical text. Furthermore, their writing was more genuine; they seemed eager to write.

Thoughts for the future

While my initial research questions related to the types of prompts students would best respond to, what I found was that their writing is enriched by artistic and film text. 

I think this is valuable information. If we as teachers want to help each child develop a passion for writing, maybe we should look to art and film to jumpstart our students thought processes. 

As I analyze my data in more depth, I will be adding more information to this site.

Further Reflections

After spending a number of days in the classroom and collecting a variety of writing samples, I conducted a post survey.  The results were clear: the students enjoyed any kind of film clip, and they enjoyed writing about humor. However, it was obvious to me that the students most enjoyed watching and writing about the Cosby Show.  In fact, they would quietly cheer when I turned it on!

Furthermore, I discovered that children develop writing that is richer in detail when a short five or seven minute film clip is introduced before they write.  When I think of all the time some teachers spend introducing writing prompts, well, I do not think that is time well spent. A film clip, however, can be a wonderful way to jumpstart student writing and help our young people find the excitement in their voices as writers.

Some Final Thoughts

I made the pleasant discovery that children respond well to writing prompts after watching The Cosby Show.  It is wholesome and can at times be inspirational.  If teachers want to include film in their lessons they might want to look back to film, like The Cosby Show, that was not spiked with sexual references, obscene situations, and vulgar language. The Cosby Show introduces a real family dealing with real problems.  While it may show a family that is too perfect, it clearly shows young people solving problems in moral ways.