(Diary of Learning) - What kind of stories do we like?

When we want to introduce film and literature in the classroom, the first step we must take to ensure that is a completely fruitful activity will be to attract the interest and attention of students with the stories in which we invite them to immerse themselves.

In order to do this, we must consider an important debate when we are going to decide and select which stories we want to work with in the classroom, and I think that, for this, we must go beyond adopting a teacher's vision, putting ourselves in the place of our students and observe what characteristics the stories have that make them feel motivated to continue with the visualization or to turn to the next page.
 
To do this, me and my classmates have discussed in class about what we believe are the features in a story that particularly attract our attention in a positive way. Among these, I want to highlight the use of the resource known as "plot-twist" in which the story suffers at some point a major plot change, which redirects the entire narrative in a direction not expected and that causes attraction or special interest in it.

 

I think that the main interest of this last resource is the surprise factor that it implies, in fact, I believe that at the end of the day is what we are looking for behind any story, we want films and books that surprise and move us inside as we continue reading, so I think it is interesting to conclude with the idea that, the secret recipe to find a story of interest is looking for the one that surprises those who perceive it (through emotions, values ...).

 

Likewise, I believe that sometimes it can be especially difficult to find a story that fits both the interest of the students and the didactic objective we want it to fulfill. In addition, it can happen that a story that was thought to be interesting for the children, ends up concluding with a feeling of disagreement with the narrative.

 

When that moment arrives, I consider it especially relevant to use strategies in which the students adopt the role of the film directors or authors, letting them exploit their imagination on how to improve the story, some strategies could be the following:

 

--> Rewriting the ending

--> Discussing how they would have acted if they had been a character in the story.

 

In this way, from an experience that does not conclude with the expected positive result, the activity can be redirected, so that students end up with a good feeling towards the work of film and literature in the classroom.