Teaching English ELA with a Film as Literature Curriculum

Can movies transform an English Language Arts (ELA) classroom? Yes—when you treat film as literature and pair it with robust production analysis. In this post you’ll see how our year-long Film as Literature & Cinematic Arts curriculum leverages 45 carefully chosen titles to hit every Common Core strand—reading, writing, speaking-listening, and language—while building media-literacy skills often reserved for college-level film studies and cinema studies programs.

• Key Takeaway #1: Eight themed units cover dystopias, heroes, war, biographies, classics, and Shakespeare.
• Key Takeaway #2: 45 movie guides, 23 comparative analyses, and 10 summatives keep rigor high all year.
• Key Takeaway #3: Ready-made pacing guides, workshops, and Google-ready files cut prep to minutes.

Why Use Movies to Teach ELA?

Films combine text, image, and sound—making them ideal for analyzing plot structure, symbolism, and character development. Unlike a traditional “History of Movies” class, this curriculum balances literary interpretation with production techniques. Students learn how camera angles, color palettes, and editing choices change the way a story feels—skills that align with CCRA.R.7 and today’s multimedia literacy standards.

Semester-by-Semester Breakdown

 

Semester 1 (Quarters 1-2)

Nine-week blocks move from dystopian intrigue (The Giver, 1984) to heroic underdogs (The Karate Kid, Rudy) and finally to classic and modern blockbusters (Casablanca, Avatar). Students complete 23 movie guides, 10 comparative analyses, and five summative assessments while mastering logline writing and three-act plot mapping.

Semester 2 (Quarters 3-4)

The spring term starts with wartime resilience (Midway, 1917) and inspiring biographies (Lincoln, Hamilton), then closes with literary classics (The Odyssey, The Outsiders) and Shakespeare on screen (Romeo + Juliet, Hamlet). Students produce 22 movie guides, 11 comparative analyses, and five summatives, plus workshops in cinematography and thematic symbolism.

Lesson Ideas and Classroom Activities

Pre-Viewing Anticipation Prompts

Use a quick “Agree/Disagree” poll on themes such as conformity (1984) or heroism (Rudy). Students predict how the film might address each statement.

During-Viewing Discussion Stops

Pause at key turning points—e.g., the cornfield reveal in The Maze Runner—and ask: “How does camera movement shape suspense?” This ties directly to the cinematography workshop.

Post-Viewing Projects

• Create a comparative infographic showing how Fahrenheit 451 and The Giver depict censorship.
• Storyboard an alternate ending to Romeo + Juliet using the three-act template.

Key Themes, Symbols, and Discussion Questions

From the mockingbird motif in To Kill a Mockingbird to the river imagery in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, each guide includes 10-15 short-answer prompts that move students from literal recall to evaluation. Sample question: “How does lighting in Dunkirk underscore the theme of isolation?”

Standards Alignment

The complete course maps to CCRA.R.1-4, R.7-8, CCRA.W.1-3, W.7, CCRA.SL.1, SL.3, and CCRA.L.4-5. Each lesson plan lists explicit daily objectives and WIDA Key Language Uses for multilingual learners.

Download the Complete Curriculum

Ready-made movie guides, answer keys, pacing calendars, and Google-ready files—all in one place. Get the Full-Year Curriculum →

Final Thoughts

Whether you call it “Film as Literature,” “Movie Literature,” or “Cinema Studies Lite,” this curriculum equips teachers with everything they need to merge textual analysis and cinematic technique. Download the free preview to experience the approach, or dive straight into the full-year bundle.