Documentaries

One of my all-time favorite documentaries is "Born into Brothels". This movie won several Academy Awards and is most renowned for its method of giving children the cameras to shoot their own lives. At the core of this movie are some children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers are prostitutes. In the filmmaker's own words, the movie was created for people who want to be inspired "to feel, to notice, to challenge, to take action." The movie certainly accomplishes all of these things through the multiple techniques of photography, video, music, interviews, and voiceovers. At the core of the movie is an investigation of some very difficult and complex issues, none of which can be answerable in a film but are given a new light when looked at through the eyes of the children battling these issues. The movie, through the use of the children's perspectives and multiple media, certainly accomplishes the mission of portraying the honesty of the lives of these children and the systemic oppression they are facing. Children telling of their own reality while not fully understanding the weight of this reality is what really makes this movie real and compelling.

Activity for using Documentary:
I am currently taking another course in the CI department focused on English Language Learners with Limited Formal Education. The activity of creating a documentary about their communities, their immigration to the US, or their experiences learning would be so powerful to use with these students in a content area classroom. This activity would allow for ELL students to develop social and academic skills while expanding on speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in relation to language development. In a documentary creation lesson, students will need to be very intentional about preplanning who they are going to talk to, what are the core components of the story they want to tell, and, most importantly, WHAT THE STORY IS that they want to tell. The structure and scaffolding of this assignment will allow students to use higher order thinking skills as they critique and analyze the important pieces of the story, searching for the right footage in order to communicate a clear message.