The development of critical analysis skills and habits of mind is significant in this particular era of education when students are growing up with a greater volume and frequency of daily media inputs. Short clips peppered throughout childhood and adolescence make it more difficult to distinguish the value between virtual and in-person experiences and constantly compete for attention and influence regarding identity formation (Haidt 9). Foundational systems-theories of child development, which placed media at the outermost circle of human interaction, have seen transformation and critique in recent years (Navarro and Tudge). Media content today can be as influential on the socio-emotional development of children as family, teachers, and members of a faith community. When we give students the tools to interact with and understand media, they engage in a process not only of critical thinking and expression but of formation as well.

The Ontario curriculum offers a practical and well-structured framework known as the “critical analysis process” (Ministry of Education 23) designed to guide learners through thoughtful, deep engagement with artistic works, including digital media works such as movies. This article describes how K–12 teachers within Ontario and beyond might apply this process in connection with drama curriculum expectations, based on movie scenes, which can foster critical thinking as well as active engagement in dramatic arts.