"A Not-So-Silent Treatment" Inquiry Unit—Year 6
In this lesson, students will research and write a three-page short story “treatment” about a factual event in history for the purpose of pitching it as an idea for a feature film. In doing so, they will learn about cause and effect, chronological events, and historical narrative. read more
Many movies are a fictional retelling of historical events, such as Titanic. Biopics are much in the same vein, based on a true story about a particular person, such as the Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech. These stories would not be possible without cause and effect and an understanding of historical events.
You and your classmates will be researching an event in history. You will choose an event and uncover the cause and effect of that event. What were the circumstances leading up to it? Who was affected and what were the consequences? What actions could have prevented this event from happening? You will be digging deep and uncovering facts about the event.
The purpose of this fact-finding mission is to put together a short story, or what is called a “treatment.” This is a historical fact-based creative work that will be turned into a screenplay for a feature-length film. You will recreate the event you choose in detail and provide examples of its specific cause and effect, its temporal structure or “timeline of events,” and a historical narrative.
Your investigative team will collaborate on writing a two- to three-page treatment on the historical event. The events demonstrated in your short story must be based on fact, and you will provide a bibliography to back up the points you found. Your treatment must address movie producers who could potentially buy the rights to your idea. Make sure you have crafted an entertaining fact-based approach that will grab their attention, and be as persuasive as you can with your idea.
This resource is a digital file in PDF format only.
Pages: 32 full colour
Language: English
