This short film stitches together educators and learners from the reweave community, each answering the same unasked question: what does a film with no words actually do?
A learner calls the video a giant question mark you have to figure out. An educator points out that with no narration, the viewer does all the heavy lifting: the inferences, the hypotheses, the meaning. Another describes the moment the emotional connection forms, and what that does for engagement.
If you have never watched one, start with any film in find a story, or read why wordless films work in every classroom.
"The video is like a giant question mark. You have to figure it out."
A learner, on wordless filmsLightly cleaned for readability. Bracketed lines describe what is on screen.
I like these empathy lessons because it teaches us all these big subjects in one video, like writing, math, and reading, and kindness, and we get to explore around the world without leaving our classroom.
A video with little to no narration at all. I think that changes a lot of things for them, because now they're doing all the heavy lifting.
By taking out the dialogue and just having the music and the moving image, it's just a perfect way to connect that part of our brain that does the emotional growth and development. If the student has a more emotional connection to the lesson, then they would be able to be more engaged. They can connect with something outside of just a textbook.
So the video is like a giant question mark. You have to figure it out. And then you realize that the skills you need to use to figure it out, and interact with this interesting new world, involve getting better at math and writing and reading, and learning more about the world around you.
I liked using the videos to learn math because it showed, in other people's perspective, how they use math.
I feel like I've changed, kind of, from what I'm used to, from the empathy videos. I feel like I'm a better person than I was before. Because it kind of shows what you can do to change the world.
Both times today that they were doing a math problem, I walked around, and every single student was engaged. Then you look at all the big problems we face. The tools that they need to fix those problems, they're getting them in school. Being able to teach empathy lessons, and having these lessons available, gives us, the teachers, the tools to give kids the tools. And that's super powerful.