70.010 - Film Expo: The Watsons Go To Birmingham

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This 2013 film, based on the 1995 Newbery Medal story by Christopher Paul Curtis, goes beyond the novel to include essential background knowledge on a civil rights movement landmark, the Children’s March of May, 1963, both through documentary footage and expanded historical fiction. For the screen, “Watsons”, adapted by screenwriter, producer, Tonya Lewis Lee, premiered nationally September 2013, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the milestone 1963 summer in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama.

Invited speaker, Professor Robert L. Selman and doctoral student, Tracy Elizabeth, (Harvard Graduate School of Education,) co-created the open-sourced Educator’s Resource for the film, building upon evidence-based practices in literacy and social studies, as well as developmental research on historical understanding, ethical reflection, and youth civic engagement.

http://www.walden.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/The-Watsons-go-to-Birmingham-Educational-Resource.pdf

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chairs

• Jonathan I Gayles, Georgia State University

• Robert L. Selman, Harvard University