What is appropriate to show in the classroom? There are some obvious things that are off limits and that list grows as the grade lowers. A movie like Charlie Wilson's War depicts the activities during the cold war very effectively but should high school students be allowed to watch it? (for this purpose I am assuming that I have the TV version without nude bodies) What about documentaries about war photographers, these show images of blood and graphic violence but are very informative? Where is the line? In my 8th grade class we watched Dead Poets Society and the teacher held but a piece of paper over the screen when the image of boobs appeared. Is this appropriate for a classroom? Would the movie we watched about the My Lai massacre ok for students? Even though they play violent video games?

What is Appropriate to show in the classroom?

totally. I think it's a good idea to clear any videos with the board; more importantly if you feel it's going to be controversial material (for your students if they're under 18) to get permission slips signed by their parents - regardless, these are good even if some may be forgeries. The movie is going to be better if the students gain something from it too. And too, personally editing any key points in the movie is noble!

On another note, about the movie we watched about charlie company: I was telling Sean I recalled a scene from "Natural Born Killers" when a Native American invites the fugitives in for warmth by the fire, and tells them a story of a woman coming across a snake, frozen in the snow. When she brought the snake inside to thaw by the fire the snake came back to life and bit the Indian woman. As she lay there dying, she asked the snake, "why do you bite me?!" And the snake replied, "look lady, you knew I was a snake!" The fugitives woke from their nightmare and mistakenly killed the Indian who allowed them into his ti pi. (It's been a long time since I've seen the movie, so my recap might not be entirely accurate.)

My point is, the obedience and militial preparation for war is not dissimilar to the snake in the native american story told in the movie. Or I might say the frozen snake is an unloaded weapon with bullets somewhere to be found - so to speak - and the fire is the loading of the weapon; it would be nice if we could uninvent weapons of destruction. (personal opinon; i hope no one finds offense to it)

I am glad that the subject of showing videos was brought up in the forum. I actually stayed after class to ask Dr. Turner if she thought that if would be appropriate for me to show the video on Vietnam to a high school class. My first instinct was that I would definitely show that video and others of the same nature to my future students. I sincerely believe that adults underestimate what a high school student can handle being exposed to. I think that this video is important to expose high school students to because we often offer a sugar coated glimpse into important historical events due to the difficult nature of them. It is not fair to students to simply act like bad things do not happen in the world. This does not mean that every class period you have to show graphic videos or talk about genocide, but it is something that should not be avoided simply because it is a difficult subject to talk about. If I were showing this video in class I would probably warn the students about the graphic nature, but also remind them that this is what really happened.

I would have to agree with what everyone has said so far. If the material of the video has any question of being a little graphic, sending slips home to the parents would be a great idea. Video is a great tool to have as an educator and if we have the resources to use video we should use it. Because we can talk about the material we are teaching all we want but A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS! I remember one time in school we watched a video on the holocaust. It had alot of video from the camps and the pictures were really eye opening and graphic. The teacher did stress how graphic it was and she did send slips home to our parents. I also believe too that Tessa brought up a good point on how we shouldnt sugar coat everything for these high school students. We tell them that they are to delvelop into responsible young adults, well we as teachers, if teaching high school, need to stress the maturity level that is expected from them when watching these types of videos.

A picture/video is worth a thousand words. Violence is good. Children need to see that the world isn't all sweet and nice. Depending on the age of the students and the maturity level, I say yes on harsh movies and sending a permission slip home. Using the scare tactic on videos is sometimes appropriate and sometimes not. I say just do whatever you think is right. Common sense.