We recently decided to show a movie to our 6th, 7th and 8th grade students on the last day of school. But when we started brainstorming ideas we had some difficulty coming up with movie titles that (a) the students would like and (b) we thought would be worth showing.
Listed below are the movies we came up with after consulting a variety of experts including: current middle school students, former middle school students, middle school teachers from across the country, lots of family movie websites, and random people on twitter and facebook.
Do Your Homework
Don’t Take My Word For It. Always preview any movie before you show it. Just because a movie appears on this (or any other) list doesn’t mean that it works in your situation. For instance, I included Stand by Me in this list and it is rated R. If I were actually going to show it, I would look for an edited for television version. If a movie is rated PG or PG-13, offer some guidance to the students before you watch it. Explain to them what good things they can take away from the movie even though there might be some language that isn’t appropriate at school.
Incorporate it into the curriculum. We’ve shown The Karate Kid when we’re talking about bullying as a school. One teacher shows Newsies in social studies classes when she’s talking about immigration and industrialization. I’ve shown Searching for Bobby Fischer before I teach students how to play chess.
Stay Legal
You may be required to obtain a Public Performance License to show your movie. Movie License USA offers these guidelines for schools to use when determining if they need to purchase a license. Generally, you do not need a license if:
- A teacher or instructor is present
- The showing takes place in a classroom setting with only the enrolled students attending
- The movie is used as an essential part of the core, current curriculum being taught. (The instructor should be able to show how the use of the motion picture contributes to the overall required course study and syllabus.)
- The movie being used is a legitimate copy, not taped from a legitimate copy or taped from TV
Movie License USA also serves a clearing house for many movie studios, so it is a good spot to look to obtain a license if you need one. They offer single license for $75.00 which is good for one showing of a single movie on a specific date.They also offer site licenses that are good for all of the studios that they represent for one year (as many showings as you’d like). Site license prices are based on the number of students in your school.
About the List
The list is sortable. Click on the heading to sort it by run time, rating and so forth. The title link goes to the Internet Movie Database listing for the movie and the rating link goes to the IMDb Parents Guide for the movie. Additions to the list are welcome. There aren’t actually 50 movies listed yet, so feel free to suggest some in the comments below. If you think a movie on the list is especially good or bad choice to show at school, lets hear that as well.
The List
What do you think?
- Suggest another movie? (what did we miss)
- Any poor choices on the list? (you can’t show that in school)
- What are your top 3? (two thumbs up)
- Suggest another movie? (what did we miss)
- Any poor choices on the list? (you can’t show that in school)
- What are your top 3? (two thumbs up)
We just let our 7th & 8th graders watch The Day After Tomorrow. They LOVED it! We have a pretty tough group and it really kept their attention.
There are two reasons why I would hesitate to add The Day After Tomorrow to the list. One is that it is just and action/adventure movie. I tend to think that if I’m showing it in school that it should have some worthwhile message for the students.
The second reason is that I wouldn’t want to put myself through the wrath of our science teachers by showing a movie with such bad science.
Great list! What about A Knight’s Tale? It’s got fun music, is visually interesting, and has a good message. For the girls, there’s a romance, and for the boys, there are swords and jousting. Plus it’s got some great humor.
Oddly enough, I’ve never seen the whole movie. I’ve seen parts of it on several occasions, but not the whole thing. I don’t think it came up in any of the discussions we had. Probably an oversight. Maybe it can be one of the movies that round us out at 50.
Knight’s Tale is great, but the full rear view scene would have caused so much chaos if they showed it in my old middle school.
The Knights Tale may be a little objectionable due to the naked Geofry Chaucer scene. Just a thought.
I don’t see “The Nightmare Before Christmas” on your list. I always get a good response with that one.
I know why The Nightmare Before Christmas isn’t on the list. We were originally trying to come up with a movie to show on the last day of school, and so it just didn’t occur to us.
I would consider that a “standard” as well.
How could Stand and Deliver not be on this list? Also does anyone know an Aztec/Maya movie. I don’t think Apocolyto is appropriate for grade 7. Is it? Keep in mind school should not be a Cinaplex.
Yeah, that’s a good suggestion. In fact, we don’t have any movies that are like it on the list. I wonder why that is. Are there any other similar movies that were missed.
I agree that Apocolyto wouldn’t be a good choice. Apart from the nudity, I didn’t think it was a good movie.
Every time I have an opportunity to show a movie as a reward or something like that I always bring in a few choices. By far the one that has stood as the “crowd pleaser” is Napoleon Dynamite.
I think I’d have a little trouble showing it to middle schoolers. It’s mostly harmless, but the breast enhancing cream bit just doesn’t seem like the right direction to go in middle school.
My students loved Lean On Me!
Hey, that’s not me. Or is it? I do have dementia, y’know. Lean On Me is a great movie. A great song, too.
At our middle school, the whole eighth grade reads Freak the Mighty, by Rodman Philbrick…the kids love the book for it’s wonderful plot, excitingly characterized narration, and overall themes. The movie based on it, The Mighty, is also very well done…they love both!
is Nacho Libre safe?
I haven’t seen it, and I wouldn’t show anything that I haven’t seen. But judging from the parents guide at IMDB and parentPreviews, I don’t think previewing it would be a waste of time. Maybe someone who’s seen it can offer more specific advice.
I wanted to show my students “Radio”.
Would that be safe and appropriate for middle school/
We show Radio as part of our “Celebrating Uniqueness” celebration. It provokes a lot of discussion on compassion and understanding.
I just showed Iron Will to my 7th graders and they enjoyed it. Most have never seen it since it was made in 1984. Being a period piece makes that immaterial.
There is a place in the movie where Will is a bar and the men in the race are plying him with cigars and alcohol which he doesn’t handle well. There are a few incidences of violence that are very much part of the rugged theme of the movie and necessary to the plot.
Our school has a policy of only showing G movies unless a note home is sent on a PG movie. When we send such a letter home, we go to the IMdb website to list what was determined to be the objectionable parts resulting in the PG rating so parents can decide.
I’ve never seen Iron Will. I’ll have to add it to the NetFlix queue.
Iron Will is a great movie. I recommend it.
I love showing Iron Will, especially as part of our Survival Unit. The bar scene and violence are not at all objectionable for my 7th graders- they see worse on regular televeion. Then again, our school allows up to PG without a permission slip.
Another suggestion, maybe for units involving environmental concerns, could be Hoot. Based on a book at the MS level and very well done- all about kids saving endangered owls.
Correction: Iron Will was made in 1994.
Akeelah and the Bee is fantastic for middle school students, especially in English/Language Arts class!
Um, Lauren deleted your comment, but here’s the answer. The info in the Stay Legal section comes from the company Movie Licensing USA. Considering that they have a vested interest in teachers buying license from them, they provide a very balanced and concise summary of copyright law as it pertains to teachers. Their information corresponds with what Stanford says, except that they leave off the provisions for using television shows within 10 days of broadcast. If you can find a broadcast of Stand By Me within 10 days of when you need it, you’re probably fine.
I would also think it unlikely that you would get in any trouble if you bought a copy of Stand By Me and then showed the taped version instead. But keep in mind that I am not a lawyer, and taking anything I (a random person on the internet) say as legal advice isn’t a good idea.
Your safest bet (but not your cheapest) would be to purchase one of these Clear Play devices that takes a purchased DVD (which you would need a license to show in your class if your use wasn’t protected as fair-use under copyright law) and edits out any sort of content that you don’t want to see. Looks like they only cost around $100.00, but require a yearly subscription. I wonder if any schools buy these?
Also – I am sorry.
Any ideas for an urban middle school Math Party? Our math team just could not think of any???
There’s a new version of Flatland that is well done. It’s only 34 minutes long, so it would fit in a period. It invites some nice discussion. It only covers portions of the book, so you could use it as a segway into the book.
I’ve never seenDonald Duck in Mathmagic Land but everyone who I’ve talked to who has seen it really liked it.
This probably isn’t what you’re after, but looks like it might be worth checking out.
‘i just watched ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ with Charlie and Jacob. Very good movie for kids.
We have shown Wall-E and the kids love it – great for all areas of the curriculum. We worried a bit about the lack of dialoge but our kids were totally engaged. Also, our team just showed Up! Fantastic and the kids loved it!
Awesome list. I came across it while looking for some fresh ideas for movies to show on a week long road trip with our kids next month. Our school has a pretty specific ‘movie’ curriculum with films that correspond to different values and character themes that we spend a long time discussing. Basically the rule at our school is… if it’s not being shown for a deliberate reason, we don’t watch it (unless it’s for something special like our trips or for some relaxation after a long day of state testing) There are definitely some questionable films on the list, but with a lot of pre-teaching and pre and post discussion, we’ve never had problems or inappropriate reactions from our kids.
Not a complete list… but we show:
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the older one with Gene Wilder) (5th – Good things happen to good people, mistakes can be learned from)
Akeelah and the Bee (5th – desire and discipline)
Roots (5th – during history class)
Radio (5th – tolerance, differences)
Remember the Titans (6th – teamwork, coming together to work towards a goal)
The Great Debaters (6th – same as above)
My Side of the Mountain (6th – self-reliance, independence, before 10 days of camping)
Rocky (7th – desire, going the distance, defeating personal giants; before trip to Philadelphia and running the Rocky Steps)
Philadelphia (7th – humanity, integrity, tolerance; requires parental buy in and lots of prep but has always been extremely powerful)
The Outsiders (after reading) (7th)
The Alamo (7th – Texas History at our school)
Lord of the Flies (after reading) (8th)
To Kill a Mockingbird (8th – integrity, doing the right thing because it is right)
Miracle (8th – hard work and determination, defying the odds)
Pursuit of Happyness (8th – self-determination, taking control of your future)
Dead Poet’s Society (8th – self-reliance, standing for what you believe in, freedom of thought)
It is also tradition to show Stand and Deliver every year to the entire school right before we start state testing. (also perfect for the middle school math team question) Jaime Escalante is an icon at our school and we lead a whole school discussion on it before and after the movie. (This year we added an additional tribute as he passed away right before we showed the movie
)
I just realized how much I wrote. Apologies for the long-windedness!
Wow, lots of good options here. And you’re right, some of them would take a lot of prep-work. But since you’re using them as part of your curriculum, that’s all for the best anyway.
Hi Alison – Do you mind if I ask you how big your school is?
Eight Below works for my students! They are riveted.
They also liked Where the Red Fern Grows.
How about the movie Goal?
I teach a high school current events or international affairs class. Any good suggestions on a movie to show? We talk about terrorism and Afghanistan quite a bit, but really any movie dealing with events that are currently happening would be ideal.
My co-worker often shows CNN Student News in class. It’s not a movie, but at least it’s video.
http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/
I use CNN Student News in class pretty often. But I was just looking for a movie for the last couple of class periods of the school year that relates to something in the news such as terrorism, Taliban, etc.
First, thanks for a wonderful list. We invited over some friends and they have middle school aged kids and I thought we might want to have some movies on hand. This is a great list and brought back lots of memories.
A movie that made quite an impression on me when I was young was “The Point”. The movie was animated and had a great music score. The movie could generate a lot of good discussion as everything has a point.
What about the language…some of these movies are great movies but they have a couple words in them that I just don’t see how they could be shown in school….how do you get around that in your school?
Kirby –
If it’s only one or two words, I’ll warn the kids about them and tell them why it’s bad to use language like that. I also explain how bad words might be used in a movie to convey the idea that a person is crass, uneducated, or mean.
Before showing the movie, I practice using the mute button and a piece of paper to block the actor’s mouth. There is a single bad word in Edward Scissorhands and one interchange between characters that is questionable. I’m an expert at censoring them.
I would also suggest Bandslam (PG). Great movie- teaches tolerance.
Thanks,
RS
I show Civics related films after school for extra credit to eighth graders. I have shown 12 Angry Men, Separate But Equal, and Legally Blond II. The first two relate directly to the judicial branch and the third (while a bit of a stretch) demonstrates how a bill becomes a law.
Any suggestions for films that deal with constitutional issues, political campaigns, or the executive branch?
Thanks!
You couldn’t show the whole thing, but there’s a scene in a Melanie Griffith movie about the amendments to the Constitution that’s hilarious and catchy.
Have you ever seen “The Ultimate Gift”? My grade 8′s loved it! It’s about a young man in his twenties who comes from a wealthy family. As the movie opens, they are all meeting to hear the reading of the rich grandfather’s will. Through a series of videotaped messages, gramps gives his grandson a series of tasks in order to earn a gift. There is not one swear word or inappropriate scene in this movie, and it has a great message. In the end, the young man learns a lot about himself, and what is really important in life.
‘The Ultimate Gift’ is a great movie for discussions about the legacy you want to leave behind and how that is determined by the way you choose to live life…Of the 12 gifts, I think the gift of work is my favourite, and certainly illustrates the importance of the satisfaction of a job well done without being too corny about it… it touches on several of the big issues and themes found in literature and because of that it is helpful for unpacking a variety of these using one source. E.g. Love, broken/disfunctional relationships, death, survival, ethical choices, the value of friendship ….. too many to count. As Sharon says there is nothing really unsuitable in it (one very suitable, short and polite kissing scene and a bit of adult themes) – it is a movie with a lot going for it esp. for upper middle school (years/grades 7&8)
Benny and Joon is a good movie
Here are some films that I’ve used with great success over the years with middle school and high school students. (Note that some use subtitles, but these were not too difficult for the majority of kids to follow.)
*Iqbal (there are two of these – one set in India and the other in Pakistan – and both are great)
*Rabbit Proof Fence
*Whale Rider
*Holes
*Walkabout
*Stone Boy
*King of Masks
*Children of Heaven
The Kite Runner
*Fly Away Home
*The Children of Hoang Shi (This had a moment of violence because it takes place during the Japanese invasion of China, but the kids totally love this film!)
*The Power of One (This one is for more advanced, at least high school level, kids.)
*UP
*The Chronicles of Narnia
*Coraline
*Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Thanks for your list. I’ll follow these comments. Anne in Portland
Just thought of another: The Blue Butterfly. Kids liked it very much, although we’d have to say it was a bit on the predictable side. Good for a science bent!
What about A Walk To Remember … I show it to my students when we set life goals for ourselves. Also The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is excellent.
I was also thinking of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas before I discovered this list.
I will be teaching a film appreciation class once per week (extended period) this school year, and would love any recommendations for film appreciation lessons & movie lists (beyond just fun to watch or good for middle school students).
My school has students from grades 4-12, and I’ve been told i can put an age requirement on my class, so I’m thinking middle school and up.
Would love to show Stand by Me, too. Other than swearing and (gasp) showing a “dead” body, isn’t that movie pretty clean? Also considering (at this point) Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (OV, of course), and ET.
Thanks for the suggestions! Whale Rider, March of the Penguins & others are great!