Overview/Purpose:
In preparation for taking informed, creative action, students will study one documentary film and the story of its development.
Guiding Questions:
- What human rights issues am I compelled to learn more about?
- Why do I feel compelled to learn about specific issues?
- What compels me to take action and how can I be a megaphone to tell the story?
Recommended Time:
90 minutes
Common Core State Standards:
Materials:
Technology Required:
1. Computer with internet access and projection capability or television with DVD player
Lesson Design:
- Explain to students how film is one medium that has an incredible power to touch us, transport us, and motivate us.
- Read producer Kathy Treat’s story, “The Birth of After the Fall: HIV Grows Up.” Discuss the following quote, “I left that trip with one image— a megaphone. I wanted to be a megaphone so that a larger audience, perhaps even the world, could hear this story—the one that they, themselves, were telling. This is where the idea of the documentary first came to be.”
- Select certain focus questions from the After the Fall Viewing Guide for students to consider during and after viewing.
- Show the film trailer or the first few minutes of the film. Using selected focus questions from the After the Fall Viewing Guide, model writing a response including collected information, thoughts, feelings, and questions in response to the question.
- Show the entire film as students take notes on their thoughts/ observations about the story.
- Discuss the impact that both Kathy Treat’s story and the film has on them as viewers.
- Students reflect on how Kathy’s story, the film and the people presented in it may inspire them to be a megaphone.
Rock Your World is a program of Creative Visions
Rock Your World is a Program of Creative Visions, a 501(c) (3) organization that supports creative activists - individuals who use the power of media and arts to create positive change in the world.
