Learning and Teaching History

Words and Phrases to use When Writing Film Reviews (This website will help you develop vocabulary by which to evaluate films. Always know who the targeted reading audience is for a film review.)

Positive Personality Adjectives (useful list but watch out for the pop up ads; always be sure you know the meaning of words before you use them)

Negative Personality Adjectives (useful list but watch out for the pop up ads; always be sure you know the meaning of words before you use them)

Doing Research to Evaluate Claims to Historical Veracity

Dr. Goody Memo Assignment Guidelines (revised and updated 29 March 2017) (pdf)

Dr. Goody Draft Holistic Rubric (draft, pdf) In this rubric, criteria are listed for each category and represents minimum accomplishment. No distinctions are made between what might be A-level work in comparison to average or failing.

Evaluating Claims to Historical Veracity (pdf) Reminds students about the goals of the assignment and why you are being asked to do your research in specific databases.

Sample of a Dr. Goody Memo using the film Conspiracy (pdf) This was my first full draft. The comment boxes are used to explain why I made my choices, areas where I need to improve or expand.

Sample of an ineffective Dr. Goody Memo (this draft will require major revisions in content and composition) (pdf)

Searching Subscription Research Databases (Screenshots/PPT Slides to Accompany Videos) (pdf)

Finding the Library Course Guides and BU Pilot (5 minutes)

Academic Search Complete (8 minutes)

Lexis-Nexis (5 minutes)

ProQuest (7 minutes)

Historical Abstracts (3 minutes)

Hollywood Films about the Holocaust

Filmography & TVography (pdf) (updated 10 April 2017)

Filmography listed by year (Prezi, 2013)

Sample "Documentary" Project in Phases

Miracle at Midnight (1st version) (swf)

Miracle at Midnight (2nd version) (swf)

Miracle at Midnight (3rd version) (swf)

News Stories that Explore How Hollywood "does history"

TV movie Review:'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' (NPR, 20 April 2017)

It's Electric: Novel Re-Creates Charged Rivalry Between Edison and Westinghouse (NPR, 13 August 2016)

"Experimenter" Star Peter Sarsgaard on Stanley Milgrim's Radical Work (NPR, 29 October 2015)

Canadian Envoy Ken Taylor, Who Hid Americans During Iran Hostage Crisis, Dies (NPR, 16 October 2015); part of the story explores the depiction of events in the film Argo.

Immortalized as "The Woman in Gold," How a Young Jew Became a Secular Icon (NPR, 23 June 2015)

In what contexts, if any, is humor about the Holocaust or Nazis appropriate? Check out this episode of Back in Black from Daily Show (aired on 14 May 2015).

Lost Art is Reclaimed in Woman in Gold (NPR, 2 April 2015)

Latin American Icon Simon Bolivar Gets Biopic Treatment in Liberator (NPR, 2 October 2014)

FBI's Abscam Videos are as Unbelievable as 'American Hustle'

For a Rabbi Who Worked with the Nazis, Is Judgment 'Unjust'?

A Heinrich Himmler Documentary, In His Own Words (NPR, 17 February 2014)

'12 Years a Slave' Inspires 'True Conversations' about Slavery (NPR, 16 January 2014)

Death Squads Re-created 'The Act of Killing' for the Camera (NPR, 12 January 2014)

The 'Lone Survivor' Tells the Story of a Tragic Navy Mission (NPR, 12 January 2014)

'12 Years' Gets Story Right but Context, Some Details May be Off (NPR, 23 December 2013)