Movies in School at the Expense of Academic Instruction (Wednesday, May 28, 2008)

During a casual conversation with my oldest son when he was in 3rd grade, he recounted a movie he had watched in school. I inquired further and found out that he had watched quite a few movies in school that had nothing to do with academic instruction. This list is just what my son could recount, there were probably more:

• The Wizard of Oz
• Night At the Museum
• Over the Hedge
• Curious George the Movie
• The Muppets
• Snowbunnies
• The Magic Schoolbus
• The Shape of Me and Other Stuff
• Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham and The Sneetches
• A Charlie Brown Christmas
• A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
• A Charlie Brown Halloween
• A Charlie Brown Easter..
  

I believe the Charlie Brown series is shown every year around the holidays, as my son also watched these in 2nd grade.

I have no objection to videos as long as they are directly related to academic instruction. My son also watched academically focused videos about the solar system, friction, the rain forest, pollution and penguins.

After inquiring about entertainment films being shown during academic instructional time, I was informed by my son's teacher and principal, that teachers are allowed to show movies on a "limited" basis for "behavior and/or academic reward". To me, this is clearly excessive and unwarranted on its face.

I noted that rewarding students in this way can have the opposite effect, as students expect to be entertained in school during instructional time, thereby diminishing the time allotted to academic instruction. I suggested other rewards such as academically based games or extra trips to the library, reinforcing academic skills.

One academically based game that I used at home with my son is called Timez Attack. It's a video game in which the player "attacks" monsters by solving multiplication problems. There are many games like this which can entertain while reinforcing academic skills.