Author Biography: Colette Marie Bennett is the English and Social Studies Department Chair at Wamogo High School,

a combined college prep and vocational agriculture school (Regional School District #6) in the Northwest corner of Connecticut. Bennett has 20 years of experience teaching in parochial and public school systems from grades 6-12. She has presented how technology is incorporated in her English classroom at the Connecticut Computers in Education Conference (2010), the National Council of Teachers Annual Conference (2010), and the Advanced Placement Annual Conference (2011). She blogs about how she has increased her classroom libraries and what she does with these books at http://usedbookclassroom.wordpress.com/ Activity Summary
Movies are wonderful resources in education, but they are usually associated with passive learning. To keep students active and engaged during movies, we have used a free live-blogging software program called G-snap (http://gsnap.com/). G-snap is a free website that allows anyone to set up a live blogging event; access to the event can be posted by a link or directly embedded on a webpage. There is no registration required, comments can be saved, and the event can run for several days. During an event, student questions can be posted and most importantly, all participant responses can be moderated before they are shared. The use of G-snap as a live blogging platform engages all students silently while the film is playing, and provides a record of responses for discussion after the film. Class or subject area: English/Language Arts Grade level(s): 7-12 Specific learning objectives: Participate in a written discussion with other students while watching a film Respond in writing to questions posed during a film (EX: the characters journey) Post their own questions for sharing after the film is completed

Anniversary Book Project

5th

Live Blogging The Wizard of Oz

By: Colette Bennett Creative Commons License: CC BY Author contact: @teachcmb56

Movies are wonderful resources in education, but they are usually associated with passive learning. To keep students active and engaged during movies, we have used a free live-blogging software program called G-snap. G-snap is a free website that allows anyone to set up a live blogging event; access to the event can be posted by a link or directly embedded on a webpage. There is no registration required, comments can be saved, and the event can run for several days. During an event, questions can be posted and most importantly, participant responses can be moderated before they are shared. The most recent success was with MGMs classic The Wizard of Oz which we used as an introduction to a 9th grade unit centered on the universal elements of stories. The film was chosen because of its illustration of the steps or stages in a Journey seen in most stories. Some of these steps have been labeled as the Call to Adventure, the Refusal of Call, the Tests, Allies and Enemies, and the Return with New Knowledge; all of these steps or stages are easily matched with Dorothy Gales adventure from Kansas to the land of Oz and back to Kansas. When the Wicked Witch of the West locks Dorothy in the tower, the confrontation could be called a Supreme Ordeal. One specific lessons objective was to have students identify a characters weaknesses or strengths, a preparing for the journey step Tests, Enemies and Allies. We wanted students to recognize the qualities that character thinks he or she lacks is exactly the unrecognized quality the character possesses. Of course, Frank Baums story is all about motivation and character qualities. Our students are fortunate enough to have the use of net books in class but other digital devices can be used to access the materials used in class. Using the G-snap software, I posed a series of questions at critical moments in the film What motivates Glinda to place the ruby slippers on Dorothys feet? Is this in Dorothys best interest? What happens when one strays off the path of The Yellow Brick Road? What qualities does the Scarecrow exhibit? How is this connected to his motivation? I also wanted them also to reflect on the motivations of the Wicked Witch of the West and the intensity of her dialogue. For example: those slippers will never come off . . . as long as youre alive! or The last to go will see the first three go before her. I posted: Is this film appropriate for children? Is the film too scary? Their responses were mixed. Many felt the film was fine for children, but some students considered that the dialogue was really much more frightening then they had remembered: I do think some parts are scary for children. I think I was about 5 years old and I remember hiding under a blanket when the flying monkeys came on TV. No I dont think that children should be protected from watching this movie. There are many violent movies that children shouldnt see but this movie is classic. I saw this film when I was a little kid, and I was frightened for days, I had nightmares about this horrible witch, so I think it might be a little extreme for little kids. I saw it when was like 4 and no its not that bad, they will get over it. Its not like a death threat, well it kinda is but never mind. I dont think its that bad.

The use of live blogging allowed students to stay focused character motivation in the film. In answering the lessons objective to recognize the qualities that character thinks he or she lacks, the students responses included: The Tinman does have a heart. He is the most emo character of them all! Scarecrow has a brain and when Dorothy says she will miss him the most she means being smart is what people should look for in friends. The companions represent different things: Lion-Courage, Tin Man-Heart/Love. So it shows that even though you dont think you have it you still do because the Lion still stood up for himself. And Tin Man loved his friends, so they just thought they did not have them when they really did. The power of live blogging with G-snap made watching the The Wizard of Oz an active and engaging lesson, and character motivation is only one of the lessons that can be learned. We have since used the software to live-blog the film Gallipoli as comparison to the message in All Quiet on the Western Front and have posted questions about dramatic irony during the film Othello. At every grade level, students enjoyed live-blogging and reading each others comments. G-snap removes the stigma of passive learning from movies and allows students the opportunity to talk during the movie without hearing a teacher shhhhh!