Role – movie/book critic
Audience – blog-reading high school students
Format – movie/review review
Task – to critique one movie and one book
Due Date: June 14, 2010
Part I: You are a movie critic. Your editor asked you to review a film that high school students could watch to deepen their understanding of US History. Research movies about 20th - 21st Century (1900+)life in the United States. Watch your selected movie. Write a movie review in which you:
Paragraph 1 – summarize the movie
Paragraph 2 – critique the movie
Paragraph 3 – evaluate the use of the movie as part of a US History course
Post your movie review to the ITC Library blog via the comment link below. Mrs. LeFever will demonstrate how to correctly post to the blog.
Internet Movie Database
Part II: You are a book critic. Your editor asked you to review a book that high school students could read to deepen their understanding of US History. Research books about life in the United States during the 20th - 21st Century (1900+). Read your selected book. Write a book review in which you:
Paragraph 1 – summarize the book
Paragraph 2 – critique the book
Paragraph 3 – evaluate the use of the book as part of a US History course
Post your book review to the ITC Library blog via the comment link below. Mrs. LeFever will demonstrate how to correctly post to the blog.
SCSD Catalog (includes reviews)
**Note: It is a good idea to type your movie/book reviews in word document to make use of the spelling & grammar review tool before posting. Then all you will need to do is copy and paste your reviews to post them to the blog. This also avoids any unnecessary loss of your work if there is a technical difficulty while you are posting to the blog.
Each review posting should include:
1. Title of the movie/book all in CAPS
2. List the director/author
3. Three paragraph review per the directions
4. Correct grammar, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure - no “texting” language
Grading Criteria:
Writing Mechanics
Content/thoroughness
Creativity/authenticity in embracing RAFT format
Media Literacy (accessed books/movies; correctly posted review)
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25 comments:
The Freedom Writer's Diary is a book about a young teacher who is put in a school in California to teach "at risk student's". Erin Gruwell had a vision put into these student's that they could do it. They can go through school and do just as good as the white kids in the good school's. She did what she could to help these kid's and changed their lives around.Through such a segregated period of time she used stories of survivor's like "The Diary Of Anne Frank", to show them there is no use of being racist towards each other. I would recommend this book to every young adult taking history because it shows how racist kids were to each other and how they got through it. This book will ease the tension in the room if you read it in the beginning of the year because the kids will be able to relate to this book. The book was very good.
The Iron Jawed Angel's is about a women suffragist group who do everything in their power to vote. These women are sick of not having a say in anything the country does. To have the job to take care of the kids and tend to the house they want to get a voice too. So a woman by the name of Alice Paul leads this group to get the chance to do that. They picketed the white house and were arrested where Alice Paul was force fed because she went on a hunger strike. This movie is a must see for every young women it shows just what women had to go through for the right to vote. This movie was very moving but it was a great movie. It makes you look at voting a whole different way. Before I saw this movie I though of voting as just a count but after watching this movie it made me see voting as a voice to this country. The women who were brave enough to stand up for their self's and what was right are always going to be respected for that. This movie is a must see for everyone in general.
TEN THOUSAND DAYS OF THUNDER BY:Philip Caputo
This book is about the Vietnam war. This book is a good source of information on the war. This can tell you accurate information on how many people died to how they died.
I think this book is an interesting source of information. This book has a lot of good detail and you can tell a lot of time was put in it. i think this book can help anybody learn about this war.
This book can help anybody study for a test or collect information for an essay.
This book relates is a book based on the Vietnam war. This book holds a lot of information and facts on that war. This book was not a primary source it was a secondary.
The book Hiroshima is a about people from the bomb drop telling their story of what happened during the blast. Form the tragedy and fear to the death toll. I feel that this book is a good source of information on how people moved on and survived the bomb’s blasts. In my opinion of this book I’d say it’s a compelling story of the people of Hiroshima.
The GRAPES OF WRATH by director John Ford is about a guy named Tom how was in jail for murder. He got out of jail and ended up on probation only. This was the period of the dust bowl when the government took control of the owners and their properties. When Tom returned home his family wasn’t there only person that was there his cousin. During this period only person with Tom was his preacher from when he was a kid, Once tom found out that his family and friends were all at is uncle’s house him and the preacher went too find his family to join them again, When Tom found his family there all going to California to look for work and they had to leave as soon as possible and they went together. There trip took many weeks and during the trip Tom lost his grandpa and grandma all during this when reached California they didn’t find no work the y had to get by with a low income and not a lot of supplies. Then the family was able to find a camp where they were able to get schooling and a home to leave in. But the camp was very violent and once you were in the camp there was no way out. Tom and his family snuck out of the camp and when they did Tom left his family and carried on his journey to somewhere better.
I really love this movie it gave very good details, the movie was very good to explain the troubles during this time and how hard things were for families and individuals to survive. I didn’t like this movie because it didn’t give very good details and images about the setting and details of the characters. I also didn’t believe that the owners of the camp could keep you under your free will.
I do believe we should use this movie as a part of our history course because it shows and helps us learn the struggles during this time and it shows us what we had to do to get a better life system and to be able to figure our how to survive with these struggles.
The GRAPES OF WRATH by author John Steinbeck is about a guy named Tom how was in jail for murder. He got out of jail and ended up on probation only. This was the period of the dust bowl when the government took control of the owners and their properties. When Tom returned home his family wasn’t there only person that was there his cousin. During this period only person with Tom was his preacher from when he was a kid, Once tom found out that his family and friends were all at is uncle’s house him and the preacher went too find his family to join them again, When Tom found his family there all going to California to look for work and they had to leave as soon as possible and they went together. There trip took many weeks and during the trip Tom lost his grandpa and grandma all during this when reached California they didn’t find no work the y had to get by with a low income and not a lot of supplies. Then the family was able to find a camp where they were able to get schooling and a home to leave in. But the camp was very violent and once you were in the camp there was no way out. Tom and his family snuck out of the camp and when they did Tom left his family and carried on his journey to somewhere better.
I love this book it give amazing details as if we were Tom and it also shows us that we have different details about back then to the characters that were in the book. Steinbeck has a huge option about the olden days and how hard the times were back then. Also it shows that the dust bowl was a huge period of struggles for people to overcome through. The book is also to explain that the times of people have many details,
I would teach history using this book cause it doesn’t show the dust bowl it explains that immigration and the dust bowl was hard because it mad people hard to live and it was economic hard.
TITANIC
It is about how 2 different people find each other and fall in love on the fabled ship. Also it is about how the TITANIC was hit by an iceberg and sent thousands of people.
This movie showed how much a person will go for their loved ones. It also showed how the ship was destroyed and how everyone got killed.
I believe that this movie is perfect as a part of U.S. History because it could show how ships could be destroy and how geography matters.
UNITED 93
This Movie is about the story on 9-11. The movie was about how, the terrorist planned their attack on the Twin Towers and The Pentagon. They got on three planes, United 93, United 175, and American 11. Two planes hit the Twin Towers and the last plane, United 93 was intended for the Pentagon but didn’t reach its target. The people on that plane fought for their lives and the plane ended up crashing in Pennsylvania.
This was a very great movie. It was very informative. It had a lot of details on 9-11. It even showed the planes crash into the towers. The movie also had a lot of killing and was very sad.
9-11 is a very big part in history. It is very important to know about 9-11. 9-11 has a chain of events leading up to that day. But people thought it started with the Berlin Wall. A lot of people thinks it is Osama Bin Laden. Do the CIA is doing investigations, even up to this day.
I watched CINDERELLA MAN. This Movie is about a man fighting to save his family that he loves. During the Great Depression Cinderella Man becomes one of the most surprising sports legends in history. By the early 1930s, he gets beat up, and loses his job. His electricity got cut off and he had to go find some money to get the electricity back on. He went to his old job telling everyone what was wrong, why he needed the money and a lot of his old co-workers gave him some money. James J. Braddock’s old boss paid him a visit and gave him his job back. He blew people’s perspective and starting winning most of his fights. I like this movie because it shows how people fight for what they love and do anything to keep it.
The story “Belle” is about a black girl that is 15 and escaped from slavery to the north. She has no family so when she gets to the north she is alone and has nobody. I liked this story because since she was alone she had to learn how to survive. I don’t like that there was a lot of boy problems and hard living. The exposition is when she gets to the north and doesn’t have nobody. The rising action is when she meets The Bests, a free family and Daniel a boy she likes. The climax was when she finds out Daniel didn’t like her as much as she thought. The falling action is when she got over him but now she is lonely. The resolution was Daniel started liking her and the Best family took her in. I would suggest this book to students because it tells us how it feels to be alone with no family.
My book is about Malcolm X. The book im reading is based on Malcolm X always had enemies but this time was different it was now men how he used to call his brothers. The book had a lot of details about Malcolm x and what he did to get wear he was at. My consign is that the book was vary good and it could tell you about his life and what he had to do. I think that this book will be good to learn about Malcolm x. I think that 9th grade students will love to read it.
The book I read was DUST TO EAT by Michael L Cooper. This movie was about the Dust Bowl during the 1930s. Through this massive event many things happened to people and everything around them. The Dust Bowl tore everything apart for many families. It took out homes and made many people homeless. The Dust Bowl originally started to happen in Oklahoma but during this time, when the Dust Bowl started to happen, many families moved to California. One major event that was in the book was when in Armarillo, a city in north Texas, had a complete blackout in 1935 for over 908 hours because of black blizzards. They were over a month in darkness. This book explains what the people went through and what they had to go through to survive the Dust Bowl.
I think this book is very informational and can help with learning about the Dust Bowl. From a 1-5 I would give it a 4. I rate a 4 because it had a lot of pictures in it, it gave a lot of information and it explained a lot about what happened in this major event. I would recommend this to any students/teachers who need to teach and/or learn about the Dust Bowl. DUST TO EAT is a great book.
I think this is a great book for US History. It has a lot of information and good details for every picture and event during the Dust Bowl. It teaches you a lot and helps you visualize how everything happened with all the pictures. It helps you understand how the things happened and what the people went through during this time. I think this book should be used to help teach students about the Dust Bowl.
Anne Frank in the world
By Anne Frank
The book is about how Anne Frank’s family did and what she did during and before WW2. It also talked about how the NAZI took people to the concentration camps. Also it had mostly pictures.
I liked how the book showed a lot of pictures. It had just the right information with every picture.
This is a good book for U.S. History because it has pictures and information.
The movie Titanic is a tale about two lovers that find themselves by chance when one gets their ticket off a lucky poker game. The other is rich so she bought her own ticket. But later on they find each other and its love at first sight. So moving on with the story the two are now further in love when tragedy strikes the ship has hit an iceberg and has started to sink the male lover has lock up in the bottom of the ship and the water is rising fast. So are female role rushes down to save him then they make a mad dash for the top. The crew and other passengers are getting in to the life boats. Most make it but then the boat snaps in half and falls into the water. The two lovers now in the freezing water secretly say their goodbyes without saying it hours later one is saved and the other had fallen into the ocean dead. In my view the movie was very good first time I had ever seen it. I’d give it 8 out of 10. It does have great amounts of historic information which would be great a study of money class value in our nation.
The novel “ The Malcolm X stories” was about a young black man named Malcolm . Malcolm was grew up with a father until he was eight years of age and they sent his mother was sent to the crazy house. Malcolm was sent to then live with a white family after being kicked out of school he then went to go live with his sister that’s when the problem started in Malcolm life. Like drug , money ,and girls.
This novel should get five stars because this novel gives a lot of information on Malcolm X life. It told more and more exciting facts about Malcolm x life in drug, Money, and women. This book is so crazy with facts about Malcolm x life. That’s why this book is great.
This book is great for people in school because it tells the life of a black man during the great depression and the thing that the black and white people had to do to survive on the street. This book also tells the life of drug .money, and women. That is why this book is good for school.
I watched the movie “Queen” featuring Halle Berry and written by Alex Haley. It was about a woman that was a slave and her lover was a slave master’s son and they cared about their slaves. They ended up having a baby. The baby was messed with by black children and adults and white ones for being mixed. Five facts I learned was if you were mixed you were looked down upon by blacks and whites. Some people in the South had slaves but didn’t whip them. Black people had tried to speak to blacks and whites about rights. Jews also were looked down upon around this time. At black weddings blacks and whites were separated when they all attended. What I liked about it was the story about a mixed gurl in her life as she got older.
EXTRAODINARY AFRICAN AMERICANS
Author: Susan Altman
Extraordinary African Americans was about famous African Americans who fought through slavery and worked for civil rights. This book included the important things African Americans achieved during slavery and civil rights movement. This book had famous African Americans who help our country. The abolitionist who fought for their freedom and rights.
I think this was a good book because it talks about the famous African Americans who helped our country. This book included all the famous things African Americans Accomplished. This book had important events that African Americans fought through. This book gives important facts about what happened to African Americans during slavery and after slavery. This book tells you about what happened after Reconstruction to African Americans.
I would recommend this to a US History class because it gives important facts African American history. Someone who likes history would enjoy reading this book about history. This can help a teacher with new info about African Americans during the 19th Century. Most students who like us history would enjoy reading this book.
The book I choose was “Meet Rosa Parks”. It’s basically her answering to her fan mail and messages from kids. She doesn’t hold back she answer every question she gets. It’s good because these are elementary kids asking these questions. She tells her whole life story and more that people don’t even know.
I would give this book a good review because she mainly wrote it herself about herself. She did a good job and did not have to edit it. The only thing wrong is people kept asking the same question and she had to give the same answer. But other than that the overall was perfect.
This would b a great book to read in class. Especially if we are talking about civil rights. And if we are talking about her.
The Secret Life Of Bees
by Sue Munk
This book is about a family that token in two people during the time when the Civil Rights Act. The family took two people in because they were having a very bad time at home. The little girl’s name was Lily and she had a house made by the name of Rosaline. Rosaline was a Negro (Black female) and didn’t have many rights at the time. Lily and Rosaline got away from their home and went to live in a house full of Negro women. They went through some trouble there to but at the time The Civil rights Act was passed and the president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Days went on as the house full of women decreased and came together at the same time.
I think this movie is a good movie because it shows how places were segregated and desegregated. Most of the things that happened in this movie is what we talk about today. I like this movie because The Civil Rights Act was passed and then when our president was token out of this world by someone. I also like this movie because this movie reminds me of a friend’s life.
I would recommend this book and movies to be on the top shelf because it has History facts, president facts, and just other things that were going on in the early 1900’s. This book inspired me to love people more and to respect those around me. I think that the artist of this book probably had a similar life story or known someone that had one. People should really sit down and read and watch the movie and then see if my hypothesis is correct.
Title: Cold War 1945 – 1991
Author: Jeremy Isaacs & Taylor Downing
The Cold War an Illustrated History, 1945 – 1991 is about traveling from the ride of the Iron Curtain to the falling of the Berlin Wall. It’s about the parts that the United States didn’t want anybody to know, from the death of the Kennedy brothers to investigation into Communist movie industry. The book is a narrative thoughts of this world crisis that we were going threw. For 45 yrs the Cold War influenced the lives of millions of women & men. The Cold War book will help its readers understand what really happen in some of the events in the second half on the century. Jeremy Isaacs & Taylor Downing are able to present for the first time what actually happened & the secrets during the most crucial & scary moments of the modern times in history . The Cold War began after World War Two. The main enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold war got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other directly & that’s exactly what it shows in the book. It will have students wondering what’s next.
ANN FRANK DIARY OF A YOUNG WOMAN
In this book Ann Frank was a strong young lady. She went through her life and tried to make the best of it. Ann Frank’s parents gave her a diary on Ann Frank’s birthday in 1942. She wrote about everything in it from her private thoughts to her friends and family. Out of eight people in her family who went to the concentration camp only one survived, Mr.Frank. As Ann Frank was growing up Jewish weren’t really allowed to do many things. They had to be in the house by eight they couldn’t go out to parties. If they went to a party it had to be a Jewish party. They weren’t allowed to date unless it was a Jewish that they were dating. Ann Frank falls in love with a boy named Peter who loves her also. During Ann Frank’s 15th birthday is when the anti-Semitic laws forced Jews into separate schools. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks were forced into hiding.
Movie: The GRAPES OF WRATH
Director By: John Ford
The movie was original a book by John Steinbeck in 1939. Then the movie was made in 1940 .The character Tom Joad is on parole from prison for homicide. On his way back home, he meets an old preacher, who remembers him from his childhood & they begin to travel together. When they get to his childhood “farm home “nothing wasn’t there. While wondering what happen to his childhood home. He finds his old neighbor who takes Tom to his Uncle John’s house. He found his family packing their things that were left b/c of the dust bowl. While on the road, Tom’s family finds other families going through the same thing. Then they begin telling their stories. Then Tom grandparents died while on the road. The family splits up & when their unable to find their other family members at a different spot they gone on w/o them to leave Oklahoma. The get pride & fount jobs at a decent wage, they wanted to join unions. Some of the family members couldn’t b/c of Tom’s attack. Then the family was able to find a camp where they were able to get an education & a home, but the camp was violent. Once you were a part of the camp, you couldn’t get out. The Joad’s family snuck out & when they did Tom left his family, to go on for himself.
The graphic biography and book about Malcolm X is a story about a
black man who is also a political leader and Muslim who seems
to try to find a way to settle down political and racial problems
Between blacks and whites . The author of this graphic biography
is Andrew Helfer and to state an opinion this book seems to be a perfect
way for students or children to learn about Malcolm X and what it’s like
to learn about a muslim going through tragedy. As conclusion, what Malcolm
X did back then was nothing but a solution to end racism.
HIDING TO SURVIVE by Maxine B. Rosenberg. This book is about young children hiding from the German soliders. There were 14 young boys and girls hiding from the Nazis. On January 30, 1933 Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Hitler’s plan was to annihilate all the Jews. Paulette Pomeranz was one of the girls hiding. Kurt Dather was 14 years old and one of the boys hiding. I like the way every person has their own chapter. I also like the way they introduce the book. I don’t like the way they put the peoples government name, why couldn’t they just put their first name?
Ruby Bridges was born as an African American child in between the years of 1950 through 1960 struggling with racism at a young age plus declaring herself into the community church civil rights movement though as she got history started to recognize her. To be known as somebody brave at a young age and join the civil rights movement, Ruby is someone to be recognize about to people or public one way or the other she is apart of black history. In conclusion I think that this movie can really teach young kids about racism.
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