Education Technology


NCTE: Collaborating on Movie Reviews

Activity Overview

Students will write movie reviews to serve two purposes: to produce a piece of expository writing and to prepare students for Activity 3. In Activity 3, students will participate in an Ebert and Roeper-style discussion.

Before the Activity

See the attached Activity PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity.

Print the appropriate pages from the Activity for your class.

Install the LearningCheck™ App on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.

Begin class with a brief discussion about the movies the students watched for homework. Preview the rubric you will be using to grade the piece of writing.

During the Activity

  • Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
  • Distribute the LearningCheck file(s) to your class using TI Connect™ and the appropriate TI Connectivity cable
  • Follow the procedures outlined in the Activity


  • Students will:
  • Draw on a broad base of knowledge about the universal themes of literature such as initiation, love and duty, heroism, illusion and reality, salvation, death and rebirth, and explain how these themes are developed in a particular work of literature.
  • Develop, explain, and defend interpretations of complex literary works.
  • Explain how details of language, setting, plot, character, conflict, point of view, and voice in a work of literature combine to produce a dominant tone, effect, or theme.
  • Examine, explain, and evaluate, orally and in writing, various perspectives concerning individual, community, national, and world issues reflected in literary and nonliterary texts.
  • Write a coherent argument that takes a position, accurately summarizes an opposing position, refutes that position, and cites persuasive evidence.
  • Write essays demonstrating the capacity to communicate knowledge, opinions, and insights to an intended audience through a clear thesis and effective organization of supporting ideas.
  • Demonstrate confidence and poise during presentations.
  • Speak fluently with varied inflection and effective eye contact, enunciating clearly at an appropriate rate and volume.
  • After the Activity

    Instruct students to study their notes and finished reviews in preparation for Activity 3. Student pairs will be participating in an unscripted Ebert and Roeper-style conversation before an audience of their classmates.