Marketing Song of Roland: The Movie

This enrichment and review lesson ties the French epic poem Song of Roland to workforce development marketing skills. It allows students to imagine themselves as entrepreneurs engaged in marketing schemes for Song of Roland: The Movie as they read the epic in English world literature class.

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 English Language Arts

By Betty Eidenier

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Related topics

• Learn more about language arts, marketing, poetry, propaganda, and world literature.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• imagine the events in the reading as if they occurred in a movie.
• discriminate between fiction and historical fact in the epic.
• identify the elements of propaganda in the epic.
• compare events in the epic to contemporary film, including animations, and will discuss how contemporary films are marketed.
• analyze the epic for sources for product opportunities.
• discuss communication problems arising from the nature of propaganda in the text.
• identify an audience for a global marketing plan for their products.
• create an advertising campaign for a potential client.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 weeks

Materials/resources

• Each student needs a copy of The Song of Roland. Selections from the text are available in the state-adopted Prentice Hall world literature textbook.
• Students will be doing independent work for homework, for which they will need a variety of resources including computer internet access, videotaping equipment, tapes, paper and pen, art supplies, etc., depending upon their product choice. The teacher needs to be aware that equity issues do not limit student choice of independent work.
• Class discussions need to take place in a whole-class setting in which there is a means of listing brainstorming ideas large enough for the whole class to see the list. Each class list needs to be visible for all classes. I have classes in the same room all day, so I can just begin a list on the board and add to it each class period. After the second day, I copy the lists to a poster which stays up for the duration of the assignment.
• The best products get awards. The teacher could make medals or certificates for the awards. I use a medallion with a blue ribbon.

Pre-activities

This lesson should be introduced after students have begun to read Song of Roland. The activities are done for homework as students continue their reading. The teacher should plot a reading time line to determine when best to introduce the activity.

Activities

1. The teacher will introduce the French epic Song of Roland and begin the reading following whatever plans work for the class. I generally read the epic aloud with the classes in order to be able to explain the plot and characters.
2. During the class oral reading, the teacher will interject the instruction, “Imagine this is a movie.” Call on students’ prior knowledge and experience of films about heroic actions, animated sagas, and historical fiction. Discuss with the class what the setting would look like, which actors would be playing which roles. Try to make the epic come alive. Suggest that they choose their favorite knight and imagine his role in the movie.
3. As the reading progresses, the teacher will point out instances of propaganda and will invite students to identify propaganda (ex: Archbishop Turpin is pierced by four lances but continues to kill Saracens.)
4. As the reading progresses, the teacher will compare the epic to historical fact. Collaborate with the world history teacher, if possible.
5. After students have begun to identify with the characters and have developed a sense of the author’s point of view, the teacher will suggest that if a movie were made of this epic, there would be communication problems for an international audience. Discuss with the class what those problems would be. (Problems cross ethnic, religious, and cultural bounds.)
6. Have the students reminisce about marketing of movies in their experience. Include time for a discussion of fondness for particular action figures, etc., and be prepared for diversity of opinion on what items were appealing. Discuss with the class how the imaginary Song of Roland: The Movie could be marketed to an international audience. The teacher will tell each class that their “potential client” will be another class which is doing the same lesson. Marketing includes product development, presentation of a quality product, and appeal to the potential client.
7. For homework, students will think of a product which could be marketed.
8. Using two students to write on the board, the teacher will have the class brainstorm and list the products which they have thought up. (My classes listed over sixty products, including film soundtracks, posters, video clips, interactive net page, toothpaste, action figures, sheets and towels, t-shirts, hats, Saracen Bits dog food, movie tickets, Roland Rare Roast Beef sandwiches, bumper stickers, license plates, swords, relics, tattoos, etc.)
9. The teacher will have every class add to the list, so that by the end of the day there will be an enormous shared list. The next day, the teacher will review the list with all classes and then will copy the list and post it for future reference.
10. For homework, students must select a product from the list to make and market as part of the class advertising plan. Each product must be fully developed and edited for accuracy. The teacher will determine a due date. At the discretion of the teacher, students may work in small groups; this might be necessary, for example, if the students are taping a soundtrack or filming a video clip.
11. At the due date, each student will present a product to the class. The class will determine how best to present the product to the potential clients.
12. After each class has completed its product marketing plans, the teacher will present the class portfolio of products to another class which is doing the same thing. (If possible, each class could select a team of students to present the plan to the other class.) These “potential clients” will evaluate the products and select the best for “purchase.”
13. The teacher will display all the products, and will award certificates or ribbons for the products selected by the potential clients.

Assessment

• At the beginning of the period, at roll call, I ask the students who have their homework to come to the front of the class. The students show and tell what they have done. They get pass/fail grade for completing the homework. I post their products in a grouping for all the class to view. After all homework has been collected, I ask the class to vote on which are the best. I put a paper blue ribbon on the ones chosen by every class. Students who complete award-winning products receive the glory of the award.
• Along with the class evaluation, I analyze whether the product demonstrates knowledge of the epic and awareness of the reaction of a potential client; for example, an action figure of a Saracen wearing a shield described in the text shows close attention to reading…a poster advertising the movie which depicts a sword shows close attention to setting. Award points as follows:
  • Project presented to the class for review 50 points
  • Project utilizes accurate information from the text 25 points
  • Project is unique 10 points
  • Project is neat and well presented 10 points
  • Project is intriguing to a buyer 5 points
• Since the homework is assigned before the reading is completed, I listen during sequential lessons for evidence that the students are able to imagine the text as film, in their comments and discussion of scenes in the epic. After reading a passage, ask a student to describe orally how that would be shot as a scene in a film. Extend the student’s answer by asking the student or another student who the actors would be, whether the camera would use long shot or close up, whether special effects would be used, etc. Do this assessment several times daily during the oral reading.
• To assess whether students can identify propaganda in the epic, I question the students orally about each episode. It is important that this aspect of the epic be assessed daily as the students become more and more aware of the author’s emphasis on the Christian Franks as being on the side of right and the Saracens entirely wrong; without constant student-teacher discussion, the epic could become quite disturbing.
• To assess the student’s differentiation of historical fact and fiction in the epic, I have students work in groups to create mapwork depicting Charlemagne’s empire, write biographical information about Charlemagne, and write a report on how Charlemagne set up local government throughout his empire; all of this information is available in the students’ world history text and can be accessed in reference books. Students report their results in group oral reports to the class.

Supplemental information

Charlemagne was of such stature in his day that he was followed by a biographer, much the same as modern personalities are shadowed by the press. It might be interesting for the teacher to read these accounts in order to better imagine the personalities involved, even though Song of Rolandis a fictional account written years later.

Comments

This lesson works well with both regular and honors level classes. The independent nature of the homework is appealing to students at all learning levels and with all learning styles. Sometimes students envision a concept beyond their ability to produce the product; in these instances, I suggest that they draw up a product design as opposed to trying to create the product itself.