Is there educational value in your Saturday night trip to the cinema? Though some may hesitate to admit it, films are a significant influence on today's students and compete with books as the primary mode of storytelling. In today's society, how often does anyone sit still and focus on one thing for two full hours? That's part of the magic of film! Film can be a powerful educational tool - bringing to life characters, settings, and events that can seem very foreign and remote from a student's world. Films tell stories in images, color, movement, sound, and light - going immediately to the senses. For this reason, it can be argued that students register a stronger emotional intensity from film than from text. The same skills a reader can be taught to bring to a written text are those that a viewer can be taught to bring to a visual text - exploring details of character, theme, plot, mood, conflict, and symbolism.
Local students at Rivermont Collegiate in Bettendorf will be "locked-in" overnight and immersed in the educational value of film on Saturday, May 22nd. Students in grades 9-12 will gather in the auditorium on the Rivermont campus to view Academy Award winners and nominees including Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Sherlock Holmes, Crazy Heart, and Young Victoria. To enhance the educational value of the evening and avoid distractions - all cell phones and electronic devices will be confiscated! Though the value of books and the written text cannot be denied, these students plan to absorb the lessons offered by the best in directing, editing, visual effects, writing, and costume design - and have a little fun, of course!
For additional information on Rivermont Collegiate, contact Cindy Murray at(563) 359-1366 ext. 302 or murray@rvmt.org.
Rivermont Collegiate is the Quad Cities' only private, independent, non-sectarian PS-12th grade college preparatory school. Visit us online at www.rvmt.org!
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