Our Town Movie/Stage Viewing Unit, Questions/Activities, Lesson Plan

This pack of activities is an excellent way to add rigor and interest to your viewing of any movie or stage version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. You may use one or all of the enclosed NO PREP activities to focus your studies, and they would work with the play as well.

Student Experience: Your students will get the most they can out of this text as they work through the activities in this teaching pack. While Wilder's Our Town may seem like an outdated or overly nostalgic choice at first, after a careful reading/viewing of this classic, students today will be able to see the importance of family and home - wherever that is and whatever that looks like. From the viewing guide with thoughtful questions about content and stage production, to the interactive human plot puzzle for review, to an analysis of gender roles, to a paired song analysis, to a variety of prompts, your students will be able to analyze and thoroughly evaluate and enjoy the text. Then, you can conclude the unit with the short research project where students "visit" small towns across the US and create a brochure or billboard to share their findings. They will also demonstrate their understanding of MLA formatting with this project, too. I love using movie guides as students watch films because they require students to apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts beyond the written word.

Included:

-Background notes

-Active viewing graphic organizer

-Human Plot Chart

-Expository prompt

-Analyzing women's roles

-Paired Poetry/Song Analysis

-Short Research Project/Presentation with rubrics for content and MLA

-Super Simple Sub Plan Sheet

-All answers

-Link to Google for a ready-made-for-digital version of the worksheets

Getting a copy of the film: You may be able to find a free copy online via Amazon Prime, Youtube, or another channel, but that is not a guarantee. You can purchase it for streaming or buy the dvd online. Either the 1940, 1977, or 2003 version will work. I like the 2003 color stage version.

Looking for more interesting and engaging movie guides to make showing film in class more rigorous? Check out the following titles:

The Great Gatsby

Ransom of Red Chief

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Speak

The Hunger Games

Frankenstein

Beowulf

The Giver

Wonder

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