Syllabus: Film and Society: Race in American Films

Professor Jennifer Hardacker, Pacific University

“This section of Film and Society will focus on the representation of race in American films. Students will interrogate both narrative structures and visual codification of race in Hollywood films. This class is more about developing analytical skills than it is about memorizing history or facts. As such, class discussion will be the most important element of this class.”

These materials include a learner-driven grading scheme to allow for a variety of different ways to engage in the course:

“I use these strategies as a way to actively engage more students in the class by leading a variety of in-class activities that allow students with different learning styles the opportunity to contribute in ways that are more comfortable to them than just contributing to class discussion, and I want students to take ownership of their progress in the class by earning points and badges for completing assignments and activities to get to the grade they want for the class. These strategies allows students who want to more meaningfully engage with film analysis to do so, while allowing others to do reading quizzes and other assignments at the “knowledge” level of learning. You can see on the grid below that I indicate the Blooms Taxonomy level of learning that each assignment engages students in.”

Download the syllabus and grading plan below.

Keywords: analysis, assessment, discussion, race