Teaching with The Twilight Zone

I'm going to be honest, one of my biggest challenges this year has been getting my freshmen interested in, well, anything.  It's a HUGE class and, as I've mentioned in previous posts, the combination of Honors, Regular, and ESL all in the same room is not always easy.  I've really struggled to find texts, stories, poetry, etc. that "fit" all levels.  

Another wonderful teacher on my hall has told me that she often shows her freshmen episodes of The Twilight Zone for Bell Work on Fridays.  I decided to give it a try and show my children an episode called, "The Howling Man."  

To my shock and COMPLETE DELIGHT my freshmen LOVED IT!  They were absolutely hooked from the first 30 seconds!  I seriously cannot believe I've waited this long to use this teaching tool.  I discovered that I can do SO MUCH with a single episode.  Even though the episodes are short, I can review many different literary elements/analysis skills in the 30 minutes I'm given.  

For "The Howling Man", I made a viewing guide that can be folded like a menu.  I asked my students to analyze things such as: how mood was created, symbols in the show, why certain phrases were continually repeated, how the director achieved his purpose, etc.  

100% of my students were truly engaged - from ESL to Honors, they all enjoyed it.  We even spent time at the end discussing ideas about the show - they had so many different theories!  The show also taught them a valuable lesson about how appearances can be deceiving.  They were shocked that evil could be cloaked in such beauty.  Of course this led into a discussion about theme and which elements refined the theme - which made my teacher heart so happy. :)  

I've now decided to use The Twilight Zone as a weekly treat for my freshmen.  They LOVE it and look forward to it.  The special effects are so bad they're good, and the knowledge they're reviewing and learning is actually staying with them.  There are SO many episodes that I've been able to find something that relates to every piece of literature or unit of study that we're completing - and, ADDED BONUS, THEY ARE ALL ON NETFLIX! 

I've added my viewing guide for, "The Howling Man" to my TPT store.  You can grab it for free! :)  Try this show with your children!

Grab the viewing guide for FREE here: Click!