WWYD? School and movie situation

[browneyes106]

I remember watching The Lottery in school. Talk about trauma. I can still see the woman trying to run from the stoners. We read the book and then watched the movie. It was part of the lesson.

I also watched that in high school after my English class read the short story.

 

[browneyes106]

When I was in elementary school and middle we usually only watched movies about the last two days of school. We usually watched cartoon movies or kid sports movies. When I was in high school, the teachers organized different activities for students during the last two days of school. Some teachers formed board game rooms where students could go in and play board games. Others organized small basketball and volleyball tournaments in the gym. There were a couple of teachers that offered to show movies in their classrooms to students. They usually showed movies that were PG13.

 

[jodifla]

I remember watching The Lottery in school. Talk about trauma. I can still see the woman trying to run from the stoners. We read the book and then watched the movie. It was part of the lesson.

Us too! It has stayed with me for my whole life!!!

I remember in middle school watching a lot of "classic" movies after/during the time we were also reading the book.

 

[MushyMushy]

I think you handled it okay and should just drop it.

Regarding permission slips, I think the big thing with that is, if it's a movie or book outside the approved list from the school board, then it would need a permission slip -- so The Lottery was probably already pre-approved since it's a common story taught in middle school and/or high school. It's possible The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was already approved, which is why there wouldn't be need for a permission slip.

That's the way it's done in our district anyway.

I'm not too hard on teachers for what they do during the last week of school. Kids are just awful these last couple of weeks. I have friends who are seasoned teachers just ready to go to the loony bin right now.

 

[minniebeth]

OP, I'm glad you are doing what feels comfortable for you and you are probably not the only parent who feels they way you do. Honestly, if you don't bring the subject up about the permission slip, odds are, that another parent will...(Just my experience )

We have a very strict policy about movie guidelines in my kids' school and I'm glad about it, and part of it is that it does need to be tied to an educational experience in some way.
I agree that movies can be a great educational tool, but there is a fine line at the end of the year between showing a movie for enrichment and just to kill time.
When I taught 6th grade, the last few days as hectic as they were, I had kids playing games like chess and other critical thinking games/activities, we had a cultural party with food, music that tied into the year's curriculum, did read aloud books and things like that. No movies, but in many schools w/o AC, a movie is a nice way to cool down and sit still on a really hot last few days...

 

[kafitty]

i definitely think there should have been some sort of heads-up given to the parents...i haven't seen the Boy in Striped Pajamas, i read the movie spoiler, and while i am perfectly aware of what happened during the Holocaust, OMG THAT ENDING?!?!

at age 12, i would have been scarred for life!! My parent's would not have kept me from seeing it (they're all about the tough love and the desensitizing, for better or worse), but i'm sure they would have appreciated knowing their daughter was going to come home a complete mess that day.

i think yoopermom's original suggestion and verbiage was excellent.

 

[sbell111]

I know in middle school I wished they had sent home premission slips before showing "Twister". ...

I've never felt older than I do right now.

 

[luvmyfam444]

HMMMm that's a tough one - I would probably bring it up - I'd just go into the office & tell the assisttant principal or someone with authority that you are gratelful that the other teacher sent home a permission slip, however you wish it was mandantory for all teachers to do so & just say because you dont' agree with the movie your child won't be coming to school until later. So you aren't really blaming anyone - or being ugly - but pointing out so maybe they'll think about doing that next year.

I'm just glad you were told what movies your kid was watching.

My kids watched movies & I had know idea what they were til they came home & told me - I did come to 1 dd's class when they were watching Fox & the Hound & yep that's one I haven't let my kids watch 'cause of the dog dying so I was surprised the teacher put it on for kindergarteners - I said something about it & she didnt' even think about it.

I actually will be sending a note next year with dd about movies because he is HIGHLY sensitive to movies - just so the teacher will have a heads up & will send me a note about the movies. She cries if the movie is too dramatic -the music gets her. We had to leave Ratouille 30 mins into it 'cause she was scared of the underworld rats & lst week she cried @ Hotel for Dogs 'cause the animakls were being chased - she even cried during Kit Kittredge! HA HA And I watched them all with her.

 

[luvmyfam444]

What the heck is with schools showing movies instead of teaching? (I can see if it has to do with the subject teaching)

My girls have seen more movies in school than at home and I am not talking about educational movies (Wall-E for example at Thanksgiving time, many, many cartoons stuff over the school year) God only knows what is coming up this and next week.

AMEN! That's my kids as well! We rarely watched movies (until Red Box hit Walmart stores for $1 movies) so we are just now catching up - we were the once or twice a year kind of movie goers - and usually only Disney

My oldest has seen several this year

 

[luvmyfam444]

I hate to be too hard on teachers, but I kind of agree. I understand that all of the material that needs to be covered is done. But don't teachers have some fun lessons or activities in mind that they never can get around to during the school year? They spend so much time on the mundane, wouldn't these last few days be a great opportunity to do some fun, educational things NOT for grades?

Because movies or not, these are the 5 longest days of a kids life. There HAS to be something else to pass the time. Geez, learn to knit, do pointless science experiments, discuss current events ... something!

This comment just needs to be forwarded to all school districts - especially the pointless science experiments!

Yep my dd's kindergarten teacher (year long sub) was watching movies for the last 1.5 week - she told me she had nothing planned for the last week guesses she'd just show movies - so I showed up for 4 days & painted with the kids (it wasn't but 1 hr45 mins) but it still was 1 less movie that day

 

[daisyduck123]

I'm not too hard on teachers for what they do during the last week of school. Kids are just awful these last couple of weeks. I have friends who are seasoned teachers just ready to go to the loony bin right now.

Thank you! I am about at my wit's end as well.

I've been teaching almost 20 years. We have 9 student days left & I HAVE YET to show a movie. But believe me....those last 3 days we'll be watching Finding Nemo & whatever else is in our school library. (I only use videos that we have in our school library. That way, I know they're "county-approved".

**And to the OP, I would not do/say anything. You've already handled the situation by keeping your DD out, which is what you would've done even if a permission slip had gone home.

 

[yoopermom]

i think yoopermom's original suggestion and verbiage was excellent.

I just wanted to say thanks for this shoutout. Tomorrow's my last day with my special ed. kids who I love so dearly. I'm being laid off (thanks MI state budget), and I am going to miss them so much I can't stop crying
So at least I'm making sense to someone!

Terri

 

[torinsmom]

Wait til your high school freshman child comes home and tells you they watched "Gladiator" in Honors Geography. It is rated R. They have also watched "Flyboys" and a few others. There was no notice or anything and NONE of these kids are 17 or over. I don't want to raise a stink though; I just left it alone.

At the school I teach at, movies have to be approved by the district. It isn't a simple process, so I just use movies that are in the library collection, mostly Scholastic book movies. We have 9 days left, and I am sure we will watch a few before the end finally arrives.

Marsha

 

[Ephany]

I know when Schindler's List came out permission slips were sent home. We did see that one in the movie theater though, so the permission slips were probably also used for the travel to/from the theater.

However I don't remember my parents being asked about Soylent Green or The Birds when we watched those in school. The Birds scarred me more than any other movie I've ever watched.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

When I taught, back in the Dark Ages, I showed movies. Not a ton, but enough. They were chosen for their usefulness in teaching English.

Star Wars, the original movie, was ALWAYS ALWAYS shown to my students. We could dissect it and find all the major characters and the thematic structure of an epic. Once students mastered understanding character roles and symbolism and story structure and types of literature and even more than a little Jungian/Frazier/Campbell heroic theory with Star Wars, they found it remarkably easy to apply this all to real, written literature.

We watched Hamlet, usually more than once. Then we read it, then we watched it again. At the end of our unit on Hamlet, the kids could say what they thought of various interpretations and give their own views and I suspect that watching Hamlet on TV greatly helped in this understanding and in their ability to read Hamlet, which likely helped them read other Shakespearian plays later in life.

We watched parts - but not all - of Excalibur when we did Arthurian legends. We also read Morte de' Arthur in various translations.

We watched Moby Dick - which is a great work of serious art in and of itself - and used just the movie as our piece of literature. I might have, once or twice, even shown Star Trek II to illustrate how themes and plot devices can be lifted and put into new environments. . .

We watched Schindler's List. (I did send home permission slips for this one.) We discussed the techniques that went into this movie, and we read several works of Holocaust and post-Holocaust fiction.

At the end of school? I might have shown a movie, but I'd be more likely to pull out Literary coloring sheets (Hey, my kids might not have read Midsummer's Night's Dream, but they could name the key characters -they'd colored them!) or play vocabulary Bingo or get the kids up and moving with a literary scavenger hunt or one of several English related physical games. (They didn't know they were learning and I never felt the need to break it to them that "Astronaut" was actually about writing concise directions or that "Figure Me" was actually about using descriptive language effectively.)

There's nothing wrong with TV in the classroom! (And I could grade essays while they were watching. . .I assigned a LOT of essays. . .poor dears.)

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I also watched that in high school after my English class read the short story.

I watched this in Junior High. I can even remember where I was sitting in the classroom. I did not enjoy that movie at all but I read the book so I knew what it was about. I will say though that the movie ingrained that book into my head.
We watched the Barber of Seville in music class in maybe 4th grade too. That is creepy stuff but I am not sorry I saw it. We let our children see many things and don't use the rating system as a guideline. We watch a movie and decide if it is okay.


BTW- I love the Gladiator movie!

 

[*BTMRR*]

When I was in 7th grade, one of my teachers showed several PG-13 movies. Any movie over "G" supposedly required a permission slip but our teacher never sent one. She would always say something to us about how SHE knew we were mature enough to see these movies and that if we told our parents the fun would have to end.
I remember thinking at first how utterly cool that teacher was. A secret from our parents? Wow! Then we saw a movie (I can't remember which one it was) that had a (to me) very disturbing rape scene. I sat there in the dark and cried, and had nightmares for a long time afterward.
I wanted to talk about it with my Mom but I didn't want to be the "uncool" one (who wants to be uncool in 7th grade?).

As I look back on that situation, I really do believe parents need to be given the choice when it comes to these kinds of things, at least until high school.

Some teachers may need to be reminded of the rules.