Images and film have the power to engage audiences, inform opinions, and shift perspectives. Using images and films as mentor texts invites every child to make meaning, develop empathy, and think deeply about cultural, social, and personal experiences. Learn about resources that ignite conversation and connected learning in your classroom.

1. Expanding Our Definition
of Literacy: Using Images
and Film as Mentor Texts
By Aliza Werner
@alizateach

2. Who I Am…
★ 3rd Grade Teacher in Glendale
★ Wisconsin State Reading Association’s
Children’s Literature Committee
★ Milwaukee Film:
○ Curriculum Writer
○ Education Committee
○ Children’s Programming Screening Committee
★ Blogger: classroomcommunities.com (@ClassUnity)
★ World Traveler. Reader. Photographer. Dog Mom. Wife.
Twitter: @alizateach
Email: alizawerner@gmail.com

3. The power of images

4. The power of images

5. The power of images

6. The power of images

7. The power of images
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/vietnam-war-photos-that-made-a-difference/
“...the key to understanding Vietnam in its own
time lay not in the battlefield reporting or the
first-time presence of television, and certainly
not in “news analyses” by Washington pundits
and politicians... ‘Dramatic as it was, television
footage...never matched the compelling still
photos that, over and over, revealed the bitter
nature of the Vietnam conflict,’’ said Hal Buell,
who was A.P.’s director of photography in New
York during that era. “The still photograph will
always be part of the historical record.’”
-Article by Richard Pyle (NYT)

8. The power of images

9. The power of images

10. The power of images

12. The power of images
If images and films can have such
powerful effects on us as adults,
think of how influential they can be
on our students.

13. Why should we use
images and film as
mentor texts?

14. Why should we use images and film as mentor texts?
Let’s build a bridge from text to image…
PBs Wordless PBs Graphic Novels

15. Why should we use images and film as mentor texts?
1 - CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY

16. Why should we use images and film as mentor texts?
2 - ACCESS

17. Why should we use images and film as mentor texts?
3 - ENGAGEMENT

18. Why should we use images and film as mentor texts?
4 - CRITICAL INTERACTION

19. Why should we use images and film as mentor texts?
5 - EVALUATION OF (RE)SOURCES
Current Information?
On topic and specific?
Author/publisher reliable and
reputable?
Are statements evidence-based and
fact-checked?
What is the purpose of this
information (entertain, persuade,
inform)?

20. Why should we use images and film as mentor texts?
6 - WINDOWS TO THE WORLD
Zain’s Summer: From Refugee To American Boy
https://vimeo.com/222692007

21. Image & Film Mentor Texts In Action
Topic:
Refugees
Big Questions:
How are refugees different from immigrants?
What is it like to be a refugee?
Who are refugees?

22. Image & Film Mentor Texts In Action
What?
Who?

23. Image & Film Mentor Texts In Action

24. Image & Film Mentor Texts In Action

25. Image & Film Mentor Texts In Action

26. Image & Film Mentor Texts In Action

29. Image & Film Mentor Texts In Action
Story Corps: The Icing On The
Cake (2:44)
Mexican Immigrants Struggling To
Make Ends Meet
Champion for a Cause:
Competing for the First
Olympic Refugee Team (2:06)

30. Image and Film Resources
News:
NEWSELA

31. Image and Film Resources
Image Databases:
NASA Image
and Video
Library
NYPL Public
Domain Digital
Collections
Metropolitan
Museum of Art:
Open Access

32. Image and Film Resources
Short Film/Video Databases:
Micro docs,
cinematic
storytelling
Diverse one
minute docs with
a global view

33. Image and Film Resources
Short Film/Video Databases:
Thought
provoking
documentary
50 web series
exploring art,
science, culture

34. Image and Film Resources
Short Film/Video Databases:
WaPo
investigative
visual storytelling
TED-Ed: Web
series that
answers
curiosities

35. Image and Film Resources
Short Film/Video Databases:
3D animation, 2D
cartoons, stop
motion
(iloveshortfilms.com)
Innovative
stories from
across the world

36. Image and Film Resources
Film Collections & Sets:
Lifehack.org
40 Wonderful Animated
Short Films Which Will
Melt Your Heart
7 free short films
about refugees
rec’d by human
rights educators
New York Times:
Docs from 1-7
minutes on race,
bias, & identity

37. Image and Film Resources
Film Sharing Platform:
Video-sharing website where
users can upload videos/films
*Staff Picks
*Categories & Film (Text) Sets

38. Image and Film Resources
Film (Text) Set:
SPORTS FOR ALL
CHAMPION FOR A CAUSE (REFUGEE OLYMPIC TEAM) (2:07 mins)
FIBA ALLOW HIJAB (14:34 mins)
GNARLY IN PINK (8:05 mins)
A (FOOTBALL) LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (2:42 mins)
SHREDDING ON THE SPECTRUM (2:45 mins)

39. Let’s expand our definition of literacy.
Let’s give kids:
Choice
Access
Time
To
Read. Look. Watch. Think. Feel. Connect. Engage.
In Order to
Analyze. Question. Understand. Empathize. Act.

40. Find Aliza:
Twitter: @alizateach
Email: alizawerner@gmail.com
Blog:
classroomcommunities.com
Slideshow on SlideShare:
bit.ly/2kbuEHl