Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Text to Film (Fantastic Mr. Fox)


Below is my proposal for a tie in between the text of Fantastic Mr. Fox and the film adaptation.  I believe there is a major benefit of using the film (which is PG) as a teaching tool.  We live in a modern digital era, and film is steadily rising as an art form.  I believe that this lesson would start to give my students the tools needed to begin looking critically at film as a medium for storytelling.  While the first lesson below is the text to screen, it is actually the final lesson in a sequence.  The overview of this mini unit revolves primarily around read aloud and accompanying mini-lessons to build my second graders’ understanding of literature and character/story analysis.  After this lesson plan is are a few of the activities I intent to use in conjunction with reading Fantastic Mr. Fox aloud to my class (as well as their correlations to the CCSS)




Note: The lesson ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox: Text to Film - Compare and Contrast’ was adapted from the FANTASTIC MR FOX CURRICULUM PACKAGE, developed by Lindsay Flute HBA, ED. and Bryan Goldmintz HBA, ED.
 and created exclusively for AlliedIM - @ 2009 all rights reserved The Directorʼs Cut



Fantastic Mr. Fox: Text to Film; Compare and Contrast

Grade Level:         Second Grade
Children’s Book: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Author(s):          Roald Dahl
Film:                  Fantastic Mr. Fox
Director:                 Wes Anderson (20th Century Fox)


Objective: 

     The intent of this lesson is to explore the topics of adapting a text to the medium of film, the differences between various versions of a story, and discerning the artistic implications of those differences.  The major difference being focused on is why an event or character is present in one version, but not the other.  This often comes in the form of creating a character or backstory for the film adaptation.





Objective written in age-appropriate language
     Today we are going to learn how to compare and contrast books and their film adaptations using our read aloud Fantastic Mr. Fox.



Related CCSS Standard(s)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.9     Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.


Materials
Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox
A copy of Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox)
Post-It notes
Chart Paper
Writing tools for each student (pens, pencils, paper)
Read journals and completed “Elements of Story” graphic organizer  


Lesson Outline 
Write the objective on the board.

Use our transition signal to get student attention and direct them to come quietly to the carpet.

After all students are on the carpet (in their own square), introduce the lesson by reading/explaining the lesson objective.  

Ask a student to repeat to the class what we will be doing in this lesson.  This repetition can help students in their remembering and processing, as well as allows for the information to be presented in the voice and language of a peer.

Write in large print the word “Film Adaptation” 

Direct students to Think-Pair-Share what they think this term means.  Be sure to remind students to pay close attention to what their partner shares, because if called upon, they will be asked to share their partner’s thinking.

Call upon a few students to share, writing up the definition below the word.  Try and either elicit the definition.  [It may be beneficial to use words like: adapt, adjustment, alteration, transform, etc. to probe their responses.]

Think-Pair-Share: Examples of film adaptations
Have them share.  Possible examples are: Harry Potter, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Where the Wild Things Are, Coralline, The Cat in the Hat, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Twilight, etc.

Hang up pre-made chart (or ven-diagram).  It should have three columns:        In the Book/In Both/In the Film.

Explain that after the movie they will be working together to fill out this chart. 

Ask students to grab their Reading Notebooks to use during the movie so that they can take notes on any differences from the book.

Release students to grab their notebook and find a comfortable spot on the carpet or at their desk to watch the movie.

After students are quietly in place, start the movie

Note: Since this movie is long, it may need to be watched in segments.  If the film is broken up, be sure to spend a few minutes having students Pair-Share their thoughts and observations and write them in their Reading Notebook (this is to make sure that they can still come to the main activity of the lesson with details fresh in their minds)

After the film, bring students back to the carpet.

Allow them some time to talk with their neighbors about the movie.  If there is a need for more structure, have them Pair-Share their immediate impression of the film.

Pair-Share and discuss: “Why do they think film adaptations are created or made?” Some possible responses could be:
- Because the book was very popular, and there would be a lot of people who would go and see the movie. 
- Because some people would rather go see a movie, than read a book.
- Because the story is loved or favored by the director, and it was a dream of his/hers to turn it into a movie.

Bring student attention back to the chart.

Ask students to open up their reading journal to any notes taken during read aloud or the film.

Inform students that they will be working in their “Elements of Story” pairs [put the list up on the board to remind students]

Direct students to the post-it notes.  

Ask student to remember any detail, event, or character from the STORY Fantastic Mr. Fox (push the focus to the story and not just the book or movie.  This allows for a more broad view the story, and the specifics between the two mediums will come through.  If the scope is too wide for a student, then direct them to focus on details from the text or film).

After enough time for students to work and complete at least one post-it note (around 15 minutes), [Clap*Clap*Teach] and transition students to the carpet.

Have pair groups come up and read/share their post-it notes

Begin a Pair-Share discussion comparing and contrasting the two mediums using the probing questions and the chart.  These questions would make good writing prompts to be used after the discussion.  Because they will be discussed, it will allow for deeper writing due to students having the time to process through peer to peer discussion [be sure to write up points that reoccur during discussion for reference later]:
- Is the film similar to the book? If the film different from the book?
- Did the director (Wes Anderson) stay true to Roald Dahl`s novel Fantastic Mr. Fox?
- Did the director leave out any important information from the book, in the movie?
- Did the director add anything to the movie that wasn`t in the book?
- Why do you think the director added/removed some details, events or characters when making the movie?
- Do you think the director of Fantastic Mr. Fox should of changed Roald Dahl`s story? Do you think this is right?

Based upon the quality of discussion (i.e. whichever one or two questions elicited the most in depth discussion and exploration of content] choose the prompts to be written on later in the class.  Allow for some processing time between the discussion and writing.  This could be later in the day, or even the following day.  When having students write, be sure to put up the compare and contrast chart and any notes taken during the discussion.


Provisions for students
For students who are ELL or have reading/writing difficulty:  
Pair students with the consideration of peer-to-peer teaching and support
Provide sentence frames, visuals, and graphic organizers to assist in writing
The pair-share, think time and class discussions allow for reiteration of content and extra time for processing.
Allow for opportunities to draw as an alternative form for showing comprehension of content.

For a few students who have issues either staying on task or getting started:
Pair-shares offer a sense of peer responsibility and opportunity for active participation of all students.
This lesson is meant to be engaging and fun while presenting important content, which stimulates and promotes active participation of students.
Offer students small choices (e.g. where in the room to work) because “having opportunities to make choices in academic tasks can provide the environmental predictability needed to minimize inappropriate behaviors" 

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