Films - Ms. Baptiste (https://tinyurl.com/MichellePadlet) by Michelle Baptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL Films I Review en-us 2021-07-25 04:39:09 UTC 2026-04-15 17:29:13 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f3ac.png Intro Video: Ms. Baptiste michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1660167133 What do you wonder about me?]]> 2021-07-25 04:54:11 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1660167133 "Erin Brockovich" Mini-Review michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1667321775 Though many have written--and even Director Steven Soderbergh has asserted--that the film is Julia Roberts ("[S]he’s essentially the whole film"), to me the docu-drama Erin Brockovich is  not just about Erin herself but about how she interacts with others--especially the power dynamics.  She is the one who knows how to build relationships of respect and empathy with the families in Hinkley.  And she is the one who knows how to humble the stuck-up lawyer Teresa brought in on the case.  Erin and George, as well as Erin and Ed, shift back and forth in terms of who is in power at any given moment in their rough "partnerships"--the work relationship with Ed seeming to be the one where both jockey for power but end up with a shaky but equal respect for one another. We never see enough of Erin and George to know what kind of connection they have, if any. In many ways the movie is very "Hollywood," but it does not end with Prince Charming coming to the rescue -- though she does need George (to care for her children) and Ed (to run the law firm).  Rather, the rough-around-the-edges "commoner" princess ultimately prevails largely on her own merit.  


]]> 2021-08-03 02:39:45 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1667321775 Pray the Devil Back to Hell michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1670243380 In this succinct and moving documentary, the focus is not on individual heroines but on the women's MOVEMENT for peace in Liberia during the 1999-2003 civil war that ravaged the country(side).  Though there was tension in the movement--over religious differences, tactical approaches, and power dynamics, the film focuses on unity.  Choosing not to side with one warring faction or another, the women promoted a simple yet powerful apolitical message: We want peace.  Alongside the vision of Producer Abigail Disney, USA-based Director Gini Reticker compiles archival footage and her own retroactive interviews to put the focus on what happened after the diverse leadership of the movement--including Leymay Gbowee mentored by Etweda "Sugars" Cooper--overcame all the tensions within to draw women together from across the socioeconomic spectrum... to use the one source of power they all had: their bodies.  Unlike Erin Brockovich, who also used her body to empower herself, the Liberian women--most of whom are mothers too--chose NOT to wear any make-up nor stylish clothing; instead they chose to wrap their hair in white cloth and wear white t-shirts; they prayed and fasted together; they held a sex strike to urge their husbands to do everything in their power to end the war; they created a human blockade looping arms to ensure the peace negotiations became serious--and when it was high time, activist Leymah Gbowee (who would later be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize) started to strip in front of the security guards who threatened to arrest her for the deeply ironic charge of "obstructing justice" at the peace talks.  Using tactics similar to Dolores Huerta & Cesar Chavez in organizing farmworkers for their rights, the Liberian women's powerful EMBODIED presence, solidarity, and strength in numbers--along with the culture's profound respect for mothers--finally ensured the women's nonviolent victory.  ]]> 2021-08-05 17:39:46 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1670243380 michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1671953050 Frozen River is a film that sears my soul every time I watch it.  I can never tire of watching the incredible acting performances by Melissa Leo & Misty Upham, with even supporting actors putting in impressive performances--so believably understated.  I sense that in such a cold, harsh, unforgiving climate, no one can spare too many words.  We know Ray is prejudiced against the people of the Mohawk Nation, as is her older son TJ; both use derogatory terms and sneers to describe the Mohawk people, but we see this racism transform as Ray gets to know Lila--initially calling her, dismissively, condescendingly, a "babysitter" to later describing her to the same US police trooper as a "friend".  The tribal police officer also ensures that TJ sees Irene Three Rivers face-to-face, human-to-human when he (seemingly half-heartedly) apologizes for scamming her.  Ray Eddy presents a contradiction with her seemingly masculine name and role as the gun-wielding head-of-the-family (TJ even reveals in a fight that she once shot her husband in the foot), because we also see the scenes with her face revealing a trace of tears, her body in various states of undress, and her aspirational bottles of bubble bath for when she has a proper tub and not just a rusted-out shower head to bathe in -- "Live Your Dream" the trailer brochure proclaims.  The (Dodge) Spirit, the Creator, is present amidst it all--when and where life and death so closely edge up against each other.  The closing song "Ray's Echo" is piercingly summative: "Fast as it comes, it rushes away, sometimes it takes everything with it...Leads me across, river so deep, it always leads, I always come back (4x)."  I feel hope for their future because of the friendship these two women have forged.  The baby seems to come back from the dead: Is that a sign of hope? I still have to wonder and fear what becomes of the immigrants--forced into indentured servitude or sex work, potentially deported--the ones who spent their life savings, as Ray puts it, "to get here? No f#$%ing way!"--a dream Ray cannot fathom.  ]]> 2021-08-08 07:38:24 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1671953050 michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1676066318 2021-08-11 23:21:47 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/1676066318 michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2321622557 How to Create a free Padlet website 
  1. Go to padlet.com and create a free account using any email address.
  2. Click on "Make a Padlet" to create one of your 3 free Padlet sites now that you have an account!
  3. Go to SETTINGS (click on the gear in the top right corner).
  • Choose the design, layout, color, background wallpaper, etc.
  • Under settings, turn on "allow comments."
  • Enable reactions, specifically "like" with a heart. 
  • Change the second half of the url address to name your website as you'd like--the first part of your email address will be automatically the first part of the url, but then you can replace the random assortment of letters and numbers after that.  Here's mine:
https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL
If you need to change your website name at all, click the avatar on the top-right corner of the page (any page is fine as long as you've logged in), then click the "Settings" and you can change your name, email and username! Note: Altering username changes the URL as well.

   4. Go to SHARE --> top right corner
  • Click on CHANGE PRIVACY & select your choice of publishing options -- Choose "secret" (only those with the url can view it) or "public" (anyone on the Internet can search it up)
  • Under CHANGE PRIVACY Switch Visitor Permissions at the bottom to "CAN READ" if you don't want others "WRITING" or posting on your page (It's up to you!)

   5. As soon as you create it, please paste your Blog url on  the bCourses Page for classmates and me to access 
your site.

  6. Get started posting: Add a text box (hit the lower left 
corner "+" sign in a pink circle) and click on the 3 dots  
(...) and select file type, such as a live video recording. 

]]> 2022-09-30 21:21:58 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2321622557 Comment Table Tally Tool michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2321629772   I hyperlink the names to each student's Padlet. Here students kept track of whose post they comment on to ensure that they reply to 3 peers' posts biweekly and also that they reply to each classmate at least once during the term. I collect this on the last day of class to confirm activity & assign students credit for Padlet participation.]]> 2022-09-30 21:36:47 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2321629772 PADLET pros & cons michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2321631215 Pros: 
  1. free
  2. easy to use
  3. fast to set up
  4. intuitive posting
  5. simple interface
  6. fun design options
  7. no firewall - available in China & worldwide
  8. can password-protect if desired
  9. timestamp for last post
  10. no pop-up ads
  11. promotes creative interaction

Cons: 
  1. fewer affordances than other websites
  2. episodic structure
  3. limited layout options
  4. no "infinity" canvas design
]]> 2022-09-30 21:39:53 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2321631215 Bolstering Student-to-Student Engagement: Peer Participation via Padlet, University of California, Berkeley michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2321814209
Teaching an intensive 3-week online summer course, College Writing Programs’ “English Through Film” for the first time with a wide range of students -- from local to international, first-years to seniors, I decided to combine the UC Berkeley Canvas bCourses site where I posted weekly homework modules with student-created Padlet sites where they could post their own work: an introductory video, biweekly movie reviews, and a final persuasive presentation, as well as comment on one another’s posts. Padlets enabled my diverse students with different skill sets, English proficiency levels, and familiarity with film studies to joyfully interact with one another around course material in a more vibrant student-to-student environment.

]]> 2022-10-01 05:54:59 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2321814209 Courses Syllabus: English through Film/The Journey: The Road to Justice michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2322270777 JOSEPH CAMPBELL: … And this is the threat to our lives; we all face it, we all operate in our society in relation to a system. Now, is the system going to eat you up and relieve you of your humanity, or are you going to be able to use the system [for] human purposes?
BILL MOYERS: Would the hero with a thousand faces help us to answer that question, about how to change the system so that we are not serving it?
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: I don’t think it would help you to change the system, but it would help you to live in the system as a human being…
BILL MOYERS: Unlike the classical heroes, we’re not going on our journey to save the world, but to save ourselves.
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: And in doing that, you save the world. I mean, you do. The influence of a vital person vitalizes, there’s no doubt about it. ... People have the notion of saving the world by shifting it around and changing the rules and so forth. No, any world is a living world … and the thing is to bring it to life. And the way to bring it to life is to find in your own case where your life is, and be alive yourself...(Bill Moyers.com, 1988) 
]]> 2022-10-01 21:23:31 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2322270777 Example of a Student Padlet michellebaptiste https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2322370280 Here is Katie Hui's Padlet shared with permission. I made a (wiki) Page on Canvas (bCourses) where each student posted his/her/their Padlet url, and I then linked each Padlet on the Table Tally Tool with each student's name, as well, for ease of interaction.  Students could choose to "favorite" each other's Padlets to streamline reading & replying.  On my own Padlet I modeled each assignment -- the initial video post, the mini-movie review, and final recommendation presentation.]]> 2022-10-02 03:19:25 UTC https://padlet.com/michellebaptiste/CW5C_FilmESL/wish/2322370280