Education Technology


NCTE: Assessing Movie Reviews

Activity Overview

In this activity, student pairs will conduct an unscripted Ebert and Roeper-style conversation about a movie in front of a "live studio audience" (their classmates).

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™ and NoteFolio™ Apps on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.

Provide student pairs a few minutes to read their notes or finished reviews as preparation. Let them know that each pair will get only four minutes to debate a film. Remind students that their discussion is unscripted. Distribute the PEEREVAL.8xv NoteFolio file to the students' devices.

During the Activity

  • Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
  • Distribute the LearningCheck and NoteFolio 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

    Have students turn in any Peer Evaluation Form files and complete a reflection on the lesson. The Reflecting on What You've Done form is available in the Movies.edc file. A paper-based copy is also included at the end of this activity.