To Be and To Have: The Inquiring Minds of the Subjects and the Spectators

Returning to the questions posed at the beginning of the semester, as I watched “To Be and To Have,” I pondered, “What is children’s media? Is it media for kids? Or about kids? Or both?” I found that it can be appropriate and child-related, but not for the children. “To Be and To Have” seems to fall into that category. Because of my teacher education courses, I’ve started paying a lot more attention to how people teach. This film seems to be an example of one way to go about teaching, a different approach to learn from. For others, the film seems to be a slice of life, an exploration, an inquiry into another’s world. As the audience inquires about a primary school in rural France, we also observe the students acts of inquiry in the classroom.

The form of the film lends itself to a study by the audience. Shots are still and many are wide allowing us to observe and analyze the space.  There is a reverse of this as well with the students. They are not accustomed to being filmed. They experiment with the form by being the subjects of it. There are several shots where kids react to the camera whether they’re looking directly at it or acting differently because of it.

With my teacher education lens, I learn different teaching and classroom management methods. For example, Mr. Lopez allows them to cook and make mistakes. It’s a safe environment where they feel they can fail and try again. With an integrated class, he assigns tasks appropriate to their age level—with younger children cracking eggs and older children using the hot pans to flip the crepes. I also observed his invitation to let the students be accountable. He respected them, and expected mature behavior in return. When one of the children is pushed, he asks the other why he did it. He doesn’t punish immediately, but allows for learning through taking responsibility. He also allows the students to correct each other. On one occasion they analyze each other’s cursive, which provides not only the tactile experience of writing it themselves, but also a verbal experience with critique and feedback.

With my “normal” film viewer lens, I learn more about the nature of children and a school environment different from the one I encountered. I see the natural curiosity of the kids like when the one little girl looks out the window on her way to school at the snowfall.  I see their innocence and lack of experience as they cry about seemingly unimportant things, and admire their passion and process. I learn about learning as I see it happen.

These nuances captured by the viewer and the educator may go unseen by a child audience. They are meant to be out in the fields, on field trips, in libraries, and kitchens going through these processes. The adult is perhaps meant to view this process and have a renewed sense of wonder about the world, and then go out and be a kid again. The inquiry that occurs on the film viewer’s part is geared toward adults, while the inquiry that occurs for the film subject’s presents a pattern to be learned from and enacted in the lives of children and adults.