Recently I saw the Life of Pi with my husband and consider it a great movie to use in my world religions class. I envision it to be a final assessment completed in three parts.
Each portion would be an assignment after a portion of the movie has been viewed in class. At my school we have access to an online class software where we post assignments, the syllabus, and the course calendar. In an attempt to use technology in more meaningful ways I have been using the interactive assignment feature in my classes. It allows for students to complete a variety of types of work such as a quiz with multiple choice answers, fill in the blank and short answer. It allows students to upload images, videos and documents. One of the great things is that it time stamps the assignment so I can always know when they completed it. Once it's graded it automatically syncs with my gradebook and students do not need to print it. They just submit and it's done.
I will ask students to take notes on the movie. Depending on the class, I may put together some graphic organizers, so they know what to look for, but I have not created them yet.
After the first day, I would pose this short answer question to students:
1)Recognize 4 out 5 major world religions in the movie. How does Pi practice them? Why would it be okay for a Hindu to practice so many religions?
After the second day, I will pose this short answer question to students:
2)While Pi is trying to survive he worls through the 4 Noble Truths. Identify the 4 truths and use examples from the movie to support each one.
Finally after the last day of the movie I would give them this essay question, they would need to complete this and submit the document:
3) Pi seems to practice all 5 major world religions in some way. However, to the best of your knowledge which religion is he really. Use examples from the movie to support your theory.
I also considered the possibility of using spinning it to be self reflective so the question I would pose could be:
From your own belief system how would you explain the tiger not looking back at Pi when they finally reach the shore. Use primary sources (such as scripture) to support your answer.
