A Curriculum Guide for High Schools
Teach The Rule in your classroom with this FREE Curriculum Guide
Teaching THE RULE
“At Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, we’ve long recognized the value of film in teaching and educating the next generation of medical students. The Rule takes this to another level and should be part of any curriculum that promotes health and wellness.”
~Anthony Tobia, MD, Dept. of Psychiatry
October 21, 2015 THE RULE Curriculum Guide previewed at:
New Jersey Council for the Social Studies Annual Fall Conference
“Invigorating Your Social Studies Classroom”
How can schools help solve social problems like poverty, violence and racism?
In the city of Newark where the poverty rate is 32% and the murder rate is the third highest in the nation, there’s a high school that celebrates a near 100% college acceptance for its young men. What lessons about sociology, psychology and public policy can be learned from St. Benedict’s Prep and the Benedictine monks about fostering success among urban youth using the 6th century guide, “The Rule of Saint Benedict”? In the critically acclaimed, national PBS documentary, “The Rule,” filmmakers Marylou and Jerome Bongiorno explore the philosophy, history and current practices of St. Benedict’s Prep and what it teaches about solving problem in our inner cities. This workshop will present the film’s curriculum guide, written by NJ teachers, which explores the film’s use to illustrate central themes in U.S. History, sociology, government and psychology. Discussion-based lesson plans that promote student thinking on critical, controversial issues will be shared.
Marylou and Jerome Bongiorno
Bongiorno Productions;
Noel Baxter, Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools; and Langdon Wagner, Newark Public Schools
Curriculum Events:
THE RULE Curriculum Guide Team
"The Rule film--and the curriculum--raise a host of important questions related to cities, schooling and what we now call social and emotional learning. There's a lot to learn from in the materials and in the film."
~Dr. Margaret S. Crocco
Professor and Chairperson
Department of Teacher Education
College of Education
Michigan State University
