I taught The Pearl several years ago for the first time. I combined the original text (and tasks attached to it) and the recorded book, for those students who had trouble focusing on the printed page. They all were pretty involved in the story. However, most students were very unhappy with the ending. They were expected a "lottery' ending, in which Kino, his wife, and the baby make it to the capital and cash in. I'm certain that they would have preferred the Hollywood ending--but I'd never teach it. The story, I think, is about capitalist exploitation and how greed can push people to make choices they wouldn't ordinarily make.
I'm teaching Anne Frank right now and you can't believe how frustrating of an experience it's been for me. I feel like that's a book that children should be aware of going into high school (and beyond; I teach 8th grade FWIW). It was a really treasured book for me growing up, but despite doing "anticipatory" work with them, tying it into our social studies unit about World War II and the Holocaust, complementing it with read-alouds of other books, having them work with partners to have "silent discussions" about the book every day in class...teaching Anne Frank has mostly been a horrible experience.
I don't know why. The kids repeat that it's "boring," that it "happened a long time ago" and they can't get involved in it. I try to tell myself that this is my fault, that I need to do more to them involved...I don't know. We made "secret annexes," for example, where the kids had to design their own annexes, choose who would be allowed inside, plan escape routes, pack "suitcases," etc...and yet, again, teaching the book has just been a failure, I think, so much that I'm not sure if I can handle doing it next year.
Yeah, it's tempting to show the movie.
I don't think showing a film is necessarily a bad thing. It's all about how you do it, and using it as an addition rather than a replacement.
I looked up "The Pearl," and the only production I see is one from the late forties co-written by Steinbeck:
http://www.classicfilmguide.com/...=pageA&
item=137
It appears to have been faithful to the book. I wonder if it's possible that an entire class misunderstood both the novel and the film. It seems unlikely, but several of these kids had the same flawed perception of the story.
Aaagh! I hate when students tell me they "read" a novel in high school only to discover that the teacher showed the movie instead.
I have found, however, that it leads to interesting discussions about the difference in the movie and the novel. We use it as a launching point to discuss race, class, gender and other issues (if any of those have been changed in the novel/movie). I think our most important discussions come when we examine the what such changes say about us, our values, etc. The kids have been very receptive to such discussions and knowing that their movie viewing is not going to be poo-poo'd encourages them to read the novel so that they can discuss the differences in class.
I still find it frustrating that reading is not encouraged. I'd almost rather they just read the Cliff Notes rather than sit passively in front of a movie or TV screen to watch a bad (usually) adaptation.
I always prefer a book over the movie version. It seems that the best parts are left out or misinterpreted. It's hard to believe a teacher would mess up a classic like that.
I hate to say it, but the disco version of A 5th of Beethoven was actually really good, and actually got me interested (in my youth) in hearing more of Beethoven. The movie version of books don't usually have that effect on me. It's a common understanding that the book is better than the movie by and large. Good entry.
Today's kids can't take in too many actual facts. It's one of the results of their "Sesame Street" fast thinking and lack of sleep.
I like showing them (I'm EFL in Israel) Remember the Titans and then compare the movie with the real facts from the internet.
What about Chuck Berry doing what he did to Beethoven? I thought that worked...
Do you remember the Seinfeld episode where George joins the reading group to impress some girl but watches the movie version of Breakfast at Tiffany's instead of reading the novel, then looks stupid when he tells the group about how the book ended happily (when it actually ended with a death...)?
I think George Costanza could be in your class, NYC!
Strange as it may seem...With the big push for group work, magic-marker projects, movie watching, and differentiated learning, it's when I give an "opened-book quiz" comprised of quiet reading and questions,(knowing the kids have not read at home), that students take their reading most seriously. Whether it be about vocab. words, plot twists, or just things they have trouble understanding, it's when they call me over and ask questions the most. I don't know if it's because of the calm, quiet setting, all doing it togther, or what, but it works. It shouldn't be done all the time, but the kids do like it and prefer it often.
RBE,
Love Chuck Berry. There'll never be another. And they shouldn't put his stuff to disco either.
Pogue,
If it works, it works. I wonder why no administrator in the history of mankind has ever realized that there's more than one way to do things.
I am teaching Oedipus Rex to the unteachable class of ex jailed, the undercredited, the wanna be rappers, hallway hanger outers and the bra flashers.
This is the class that had one student write "Literary Elements are what parents use to raise their kids" on the ELA regents.
This is the class that announces how their antics got the last teacher fired.
Surprisingly, they loved it. I was asked in the faculty "lounge" if I was using an adapted version. NO! I said I copied the college bound croft classic version, the prose was fine for them, and on the copies I put all of the questions and vocab so they wouldnt lose it. My colleagues shuddered. One asked if the kids could understand the "shakespearean language". I tried to curb my WTF facial expression. One decided to copy the idea of putting the questions on the handouts. Her students lose everything too.
The formerly jailed, bra flasher and rapper fully understood the drama. The rapper screamed "JOCASTA IS HIS MOTHER!! EWW!", and went straight to the internet to look up "the movie". Hysterical. But they were forced to read the original undiluted. Sure they like the grimyness and tabooness of the topic, but I now have a posterboard group project OEDIPUS THE KING BY SOPHOCLES from the unteachables. IF I decide to show a movie version...it will be a supplement.
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