Popular Film:Inside Out

• Producer: Pixar Animation Studios, Jonas Rivera
• Year: 2015
• Length: 95 minutes (1h 35min)
• Rating: PG

Film Description:

 

This animated movie centers around a little girl named Riley who just moved to a new city with her parents. Riley isn’t happy that she had to move and leave her friends and hockey team behind. The film takes place inside Riley’s head, where her emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust can view and control her feelings and memories. Sadness begins to touch Riley’s memories, causing her to feel sad. Joy tries to combat sadness by isolating her, but sadness comes out and causes Riley to cry in front of her classmates. Soon, Riley is exhibiting signs of depression (losing her personality islands, like her interests and what makes her unique) like a lack of interest in things she loves, isolating herself, having violent or sad outbursts, etc. The movie centers around how Riley’s emotions get her back to feeling happy again.

This is the best popular film to watch in class because it is well-written, it provides insight into the feelings going on in our heads in a relatable way, it’s appropriate and very educational. It helps kids understand what it’s like to have depression and the signs people show when they’re suffering from depression. It also allows kids to understand the feelings and thoughts going on in the head of someone who has depression.

Film Review:

This movie addresses childhood depression because the plot centers around a little girl who is becoming depressed and how her feelings and thoughts change when dealing with depression. Teachers can integrate this movie into their teaching by referring to the movie and the characters when talking to my students about their feelings and thoughts, so they can articulate their feelings better and recognize the signs of depression.

National Health Education Standards (NHES):

NHES 1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health

• PHW1.5.2 Identify examples of emotional, intellectual, physical, and social health.

NHES 2: Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors

• PHW2.5.6 Describe ways that technology can influence personal health.

Learning Objective:

Students will be able to express their own emotions after watching the film using pictures, and express their opinion of the movie by writing a movie review/report.

Core Integration for 5th Graders:

In the classroom, teachers can use this film to inform 5th graders on depression and how to handle it in a healthy way while also giving a writing assignment. After watching the film, students will create an opinion piece, writing a review of the movie. This will be similar to a book report, but on a movie instead. Students will also be asked to draw their emotions that they have and feel after watching the movie. For the movie review, students will be asked to write about if they liked the movie, how the movie made them feel, if they would watch the movie again and recommend to a friend, and what they think they learned from the movie. These review will then be published on a classroom blog.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for 5th Graders:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.1.A: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards:

6: Creative Communicator

• 6d: Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.

Documentary: 

Depression? What YOU Can Do

• Producer: PBS Learning Media and In the Mix
• Year: 2008
• Length: 00:03:40
• Rating: NR

Film Description:

This short video is focused on what students can do to help a friend or someone they know in school who is facing depression. It starts with a school counselor describing what depression is and is followed with a group of teens having a discussion about difficult situations they have been in and what they would do (hypothetically) when they know someone is struggling with depression. In the end of the video it lists ways in which you can help and do’s and don’t does when you are told by someone they are facing depression.

This is the best documentary film to watch in the classroom because in a short span of this video it gives vital information about depression; what it is and what children can do when they know someone who is struggling with depression. This video is also the best because it provides real students experiences when in these situations and discussions on conflicts viewers of the film may be facing. students get to learn from other students which I believe is most powerful when talking about these topics with students.

Film Review:

This video covers the differences between feeling sad and being depressed, reassuring students that it is okay to break promises when someone tells them they are struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide or harming oneself. It provides tips to students on what they can do to help another student facing depression. Most of the video centers around real student discussion when facing these types of situations.

National Health Education Standards (NHES):

NHES 2: Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.

• PHW2.5.4 Describe how the school and community can support personal health practices and behaviors.

NHES 3: Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health

• PHW3.5.3 Describe characteristics of appropriate and trustworthy mental and emotional health services.

NHES 4: Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.

• PHW4.5.6 Demonstrate how to effectively communicate support for others.

Learning Objective:

Students will be able to engage in discussion in groups as well as whole class about what to do and what not to do when someone you know has depression.

Core Integration for 5th Graders:

In our future classrooms, after watching this documentary video we will have our students first engage in small group discussion about what they learned from the video, and what they agree with or don’t agree with. During small group discussion, students will create an infographic, word cloud, or chart to represent what they’ve discussed. These will be displayed for all groups to see. After small group discussion, students will engage in a whole group discussion led by us teachers. The whole group discussion will consist of what they talked about in their small groups, as well as how they want to incorporate what they learned from the video into our classroom. We will make a chart of what we can do, as a class, to help ourselves or one another if they are depressed, sad, or just need help figuring out how they feel.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for 5th Graders:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners, building on other’s ideas, and expressing their own clearly.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards:

6: Creative Communicator

• 6c: Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations (graphs, infographics, word clouds, etc.).