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PROGRAM PLANNING SERIES
Set Goals For Your Classroom Film Program.
It can be daunting to begin a classroom film project, when you don’t know where to start. This worksheet will help
you set manageable goals, and create a program that matches your teaching agenda and the skill level of your
students. You may use this worksheet collaboratively with your teaching team, or fill it out individually in advance
of a classroom film project.
Where to start?
The best way to approach media arts lesson plan design is actually to start at the end and work backwards.
Consider the following questions:
• What will students have produced by the end of the project?
• What is the process by which they will reach this end goal?
• Ultimately, what will students learn?
Inquiry Question(s)
It can be useful to structure your classroom film program goals around a “how can” question. Remember this can
be refined over time. For example:
• “How can we use a filmmaking project to enhance engagement in the ethnic studies curriculum?”
• “How can we use a filmmaking project to help students document their learning in our health and nutrition unit?”
Your Inquiry Question(s):
Learning Standards:
Filmmaking lessons may provide an entry point to the Common Core’s framework of creativity, collaboration,
critical thinking, presentation and demonstration, problem solving, research and inquiry, and career readiness.
What specific common core and state learning standards are you addressing with this project?
Program Goals:
How will you measure success in the program? What will a successful media program look like in your classroom?
List several realistic goals that you hope to achieve in your classroom film program. These may apply to student
learning and/or to professional development for both teachers and visiting artists.
Goals for Students:
• You may include concepts that students will master
• And art/artists they will examine and discuss
Goals for Teacher(s):
Goals for Filmmaker(s):
Assessment Strategies:
Will students be graded on their work? What criteria will be used to judge success? How can you make these
criteria transparent to the students?
Rough Timeline:
In order to shape the program, you’ll need to identify how much time you have and how filmmaking lessons will
interact with your other classroom activities and curricula.
• Agree on a weekly schedule
• Agree on a start and end date
You can further develop your timeline in the calendar worksheet.
Culminating Product and Events:
Make a list of what products (e.g., films, scripts, storyboards, etc.) will be created during the course of the
program, highlighting the program goals/creative skills acquired as well as the number of pieces created and
revised. Again, work from the final projects back through the students’ learning trajectories.
This list will help you to build your individual lessons and to link them to the larger architecture of your curriculum.
Film Screenings
List the films or film clips you intend to screen. You can continue to build this list as you go. If you can’t think of
specific films that you’d like to show, begin by identifying concepts, genres and styles that are important to your
curriculum. For instance, if you are making documentaries about environmental change around your school, you
will want to show students several documentaries that address environmental issues. You can find a list of
recommended films in the Appendices section of the FilmEd. Teaching Tools.
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Additional Comments, Questions, Thoughts: