Writing Lessons From the Silver Screen
Yes, we can use film to teach our students about the writing process
Welcome to From the Teacher’s Desk, where we take turns further reflecting on our episodes and applications to the classroom.
Our students have a very particular view of the writing process. They don’t believe that professionals face crippling writer’s block. They dread group projects and collaboration because they don’t want to be left doing most of it themselves. They don’t understand the concept of drafting and writing until they find the answer. Many truly believe that one must be born a writer and they personally will never learn how to be a good writer.
While I went into teaching because I loved reading and literature and I idealistically believed I could transfer this love to all of my students, writing instruction keeps me in teaching. My favorite instructional task is sitting down with each individual student to discuss their writing. I love asking them to tell me about their research or story and showing them how they can move around parts of their paper to strengthen the overall structure. While writing conferences do not solve all of their problems and many choose to just stick with their original plan, those who do make changes see their writing transformed over the course of a school year.
So why am I talking about writing instruction in a post about media? Because, even in a writing classroom, it is possible to bring in movies, documentaries, and television shows to help our students see that writing is not just some academic English task. We can keep our eyes out for media that helps our students see writing as a life skill not reserved for the gifted few.
Writing is a process
While it admittedly has potential issues from a 2020s perspective, I still love the movie Finding Forester. Jamal Wallace, a skilled basketball player and naturally gifted writer, strikes an unlikely friendship with an old recluse who turns out to be the nationally acclaimed William Forrester. I’ve always loved the scene in the movie when William has Jamal sit at a typewriter and just write until something good comes out. The keys click at an increasing pace and eventually, Jamal produces his best work ever. How many times do we tell our students to freewrite until we say stop and they respond with “I don’t know what to write”? But that’s the point. If they just keep writing eventually they will make sense of it. The goal isn’t perfection in the early stages, it’s producing a volume of ideas.
Finding visuals of the writing process can be tricky but are incredibly helpful. While the entire film is not appropriate for high school audiences, Shakespeare in Love brilliantly shows both the writing process and the creation of a public performance. Another good movie that teaches about process is The Freedom Writers. Alicia and I have both used this movie when we are teaching personal narrative to highlight the importance of being the expert in your own story and finding your own voice. And Hamilton lovers can always bring out clips of Alexander Hamilton writing “like he’s running out of time,” because sometimes we just need to write.
Writing doesn’t happen alone
Alicia and I are both writers and we frequently share our writing with each other. She is one of my first readers when I really need a second eye on an idea that I’m not sure will work. The fact that we work together on the podcast and now this blog shows just how much we value the idea of collaboration.
I have never perfected the practice of writing groups, but it is a teaching goal that I keep pursuing in different contexts and forms. It is important for students to understand that a lot of writing, even if only one person’s name is on the final product, is about collaboration. This is one of the reasons I loved our discussion about Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana. From the writing teacher’s perspective, it is a perfect display of the drafting process, collaboration, revision, and publishing. It is a documentary that is, at the very least, clip worthy.
Hey, maybe I can use that to inspire my students to embrace writing groups.
Writing isn’t just for professionals
In fact, writing is more than just words on the page. Diary of a Wimpy Kid shows how junior high students combine writing and pictures. This upcoming podcast season we will be discussing Ms. Marvel, in which we see a teenage girl use words and comics to express her love for all things Marvel. I personally cannot wait for the film adaptation of Angie Thomas’s On the Come Up because the novel so beautifully demonstrates the writing process of creating poetry for a listening audience.
It is also important to find pieces that show that even professionals struggle, and there are a lot of films out there about famous authors. While it might not be classroom appropriate, I even found a movie like The Lost City entertaining and possibly clip-worthy because it shows a fictional professional writer who has seen better days. Just because a writer hits gold once, it doesn’t mean it will last them a lifetime.
When I started teaching I couldn’t possibly see how I could use media to inspire my students to be better writers, but now I know better. What kinds of media do you use to inspire your own writers?
You can access our episode about Miss Americana here.
And get ready for new content from Lit Think soon! We’ll be dropping our first episode of season 3 in August, complete with a new template and all the pop culture lit thinking your heart could ask for! 🧠📚
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