Classroom Discussion Topics for the Language Arts (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781697211856)

Previously published as A Socio-Emotional Program for the Language Arts (The Journal of Secondary Alternate Education, 2005, Summer).

Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC), 2022.

Introduction

The entertainment industry floods earth with movies each year. Many of these movies "entertain" audiences through mindless profanity, gore, and explicit sex. Their gratuitous shock value, in the eyes of many, make them educationally unsound. Teachers who show such movies to their students invite criticism not only from parents, administrators, and school board trustees, but also from students themselves. On the other hand, some movies, not mindlessly gratuitous, offer themselves as wonderful vehicles for socio-emotional learning that can help students cope with themselves and each other-and with unforeseen circumstances (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

The movies described in this program, I feel, offer themselves likewise. I have chosen themes, springing from the movies, for class discussions-themes that seem to touch the adolescent psyche. I have tested all the assignments on my secondary alternate students, and their lively discussions, thoughtful written responses, and meditative gesturings have prompted me to share this program with my colleagues. Written assignments can fit easily into any communications or English, and in some cases social studies, courses. Some themes focus more on literary or political than on socio-emotional exploration, but the suggested discussions, naturally interpersonal, place students in a social constructivist forum that promotes socio-emotional learning. Of course I want students to exit from at least some of these socio-emotional adventures with increased intrapersonal understanding that will help them make responsible choices throughout their lives.

The author

Dan Lukiv, published in 19 countries, is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). As a creative writer, he apprenticed with Canada's Professor Robert Harlow (recipient of the George Woodcock Achievement award for an outstanding literary career), the USA's Paul Bagdon (Spur Award finalist for Best Original Paperback), and England's D. M. Thomas (recipient of the Cheltenham Prize for Literature, Orwell Prize [biography], Los Angeles Fiction Prize, and Cholmondeley award for poetry). He attended The University of British Columbia (creative writing department), the acclaimed Humber School for Writers (poetry writing program), and Writer's Digest University (novel writing program).

Author: Dan Lukiv
ISBN-10: 1697211852
ISBN-13: 9781697211856
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 10/03/2019
Pages: 88
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 11.00h x 8.50w x 0.18d