Compelling Nonfiction Documentary Suggested Film List

Hi. Before you view any of these, get parental consent. As always, the views expressed in the film do not necessarily reflect my views, nor those of anyone associated with Canyons School District:

-The Last Lecture (view on youtube)
-The Armstrong Lie, Icarus, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Inside Man, Bigger Faster Stronger, Who Killed the Electric Car - all go great with Freakonomics Chapter 1 and Dishonesty: The Truth About Lies.
-Michael Moore's Sicko goes well with Chapter 2 and So Much So Fast. Also recommended is his film, Bowling for Columbine.
-Undefeated and Kicking It are great films about football and soccer respectively, and go well with Chapter 3 and Hoop Dreams and Spellbound. Also recommended, King of Kong.
-The Thin Blue Line is a great film to pair with Chapter 4 and Murder on a Sunday Morning.
-My Kid Could Paint That and Born Into Brothels are great to pair with Chapter 5 and 6 and Buck.

Some other films I like: Supersize Me, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden, The Beauty Academy of Kabul, An Inconvenient Truth, Man on Wire, Grizzly Man, and Chasing Ice.

Monday, May 21

English 12B: Today we began presentations. Today is your last opportunity to upload your research paper to Canvas. If you do not do that today, you will not receive credit for your research paper.

Wednesday, May 16

English 12B: Time is almost up on your Capstone Projects. They are due on Monday. Presentations will begin that day.

CNF: We continued to read from Freakonomics and The Tipping Point. 

Monday, May 14

English 12B: Today in addition to the usual Capstone, Elements, and HCPP work, we also looked at poems written in response to art, just in case that was something you wanted to try for your project. I also distributed rubrics to include in your bound project, which is due in exactly ONE WEEK!

CNF: We continued to learn why crime declined in the 1990s, and watched at Ted Talk by Stephen Pinker who showed us that violence has, in fact, decreased dramatically over the past several centuries.

Friday, May 11

English 12B: Today, Mr. Andersen came into our classroom and taught us a bit about how to create a website for the Capstone Project. We appreciate his time very much. We also did Day 45 of The Elements of Style packet as well as The Hero Catch-Phrase Project.

CNF: Today we talked a bit about Spellbound, and then delved into our study of crime, why it rises and falls, and what happens once a crime has been committed and a person charged. To begin with, we read an article from the desnews.com website about how crime in Utah has risen 17% the past few years, watched a scene from the Freakonomics movie, and began reading Chapter 4 from Freakonomics and a passage from Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point; each text deals with a different theory regarding the drop in crime rates in the mid-1990s.

Thursday, May 10

English 12B: We continued to work on both The Elements of Style and The Hero Catch Phrase Project. We also discussed more techniques to try during the presentation component.

CNF: We finished Spellbound. Man, what a film...

Wednesday, May 9

English 12B: Today we focused on attributes of an effective presenter. See the list compiled on the previous post.

CNF: How do you spell "dramatic," "emotional," and "compelling"? S-P-E-L-L-B-O-U-N-D!

Elements of an Effective Presentation (as defined by periods 1, 3, and 5):

1. Use objects.
2. Speak clearly, loudly, and slowly.
3. Interact with the audience.
4. Use humor.
5. Use statistics.
6. Make eye contact with the audience.
7. Use pictures or other visuals.
8. Quote experts.
9. Tell stories.
10. Use gestures, smile, and move.
11. Be concise.

Tuesday, May 8

English 12B: Today, in addition to the usual, we focused further on your projects. The rest of this week will be spent on the presentation component and the website.

CNF: Today we finished Hoop Dreams and had a discussion about it.

Monday, May 7

English 12B: Today we talked about the way you are going to bind up, publish, and present your work in its final form (see page four of your Capstone packet for more details). We also did more work on The Hero Catch Phrase Project and read from The Elements of Style.

CNF: Today we were all heart-broken while watching Hoop Dreams when William missed that potential game-winner in the state tournament, but Arthur and the Commandos didn't let us down, finishing third in the state. In the words of Arthur's mom, they're "Still Number One!" We'll finish the film tomorrow.

May the Fourth (Be With You)

A long time ago, in a classroom far, far away...

Episode XC (that's day 40, FYI)

A NEW FRIDAY

It is a period of writing. Striking from hidden Chrome Books, students of English 12B, won their first victory against the evil GALACTIC CAPSTONE PROJECT (or at least some of you are close to finishing your research paper).

During the class, a small band of rebel writers read Style Rule 5 in The Elements of Style and drew inspiration from another entry in Mr. Baird's ultimate activity, the HERO CATCH PHRASE PROJECT.

Pursued by the CAPSTONE'S sinister deadline, the students raced home after discussing the various artistic and statistical responses available to them in their final Genre Response as they hoped to graduate and restore freedom to the galaxy...


And in CNF we continued to watch Hoop Dreams in conjunction with Chapter 3 of Freakonomics.

Thursday, May 3

English 12B: Today we did Day 39 of your packet for The Elements of Style, discussed some free verse poems and their elements, and worked further on your project. It is due in 18 days...

CNF: Today we continued to study the idea of "winning the tournament" by watching Hoop Dreams.

Tuesday, May 1

English 12B: Today we focused on Day 37 of your packet for The Elements of Style. We also read Chapter 9 of They Say I Say which can be found here: https://www.iss.k12.nc.us/cms/lib/NC01000579/Centricity/Domain/2741/They%20Say%20I%20Say%20Full%20Text.pdf (starting on page 149 of the PDF). We then took the advice contained therein and worked on our research paper.

CNF: Today we finished watching So Much So Fast as we concluded our study of information asymmetry and began discussing the notion of "winning the tournament," the topic of study in Freakonomics.