EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE
The Bad Kids
Lead Sponsor
Exclusive Education Partner
Additional support is provided by the Andy and Beth Burgess Family Foundation,
Charles H. Ivey Foundation, the Hal Jackman Foundation, CineSend and through
contributions by individual donors.
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The Bad Kids
Directed by Lou Pepe, Keith Fulton
2016 | USA | 101 min
TEACHER’S GUIDE
This guide has been designed to help teachers and students enrich their experience of The Bad Kids
by providing support in the form of questions and activities. There are a range of questions that will
help teachers frame discussions with their class, activities for before, during and after viewing the
film, and some weblinks that provide starting points for further research or discussion.
The Film
The Filmmakers
In a remote desert community, Black Rock Continuation
High School offers an oasis for at-risk students confronting
challenges well beyond their years. Facing addiction, abuse
and early parenthood, these young people stand at a
crossroads: complete their high school educations or risk
falling into a cycle of poverty. Every day the indefatigable
principal, Vonda Viland, acts as a one-woman support
system, offering wake-up calls, transportation to school and
counselling to scores of students who would otherwise go
neglected. We follow several students who are poised for
success but who teeter on the edge of dropping out and
surrendering to external pressures. Despite overwhelming
odds, Black Rock offers the tools they need to push through.
A skillful work of slice-of-life filmmaking, both gripping and
emotionally raw, this Sundance Award winner presents
urgent issues with singular insight and sensitivity.
Eli Horwatt
Keith Fulton (producer/director/sound) and Lou Pepe
(producer/director/cinematographer) are award-winning
filmmakers of both documentary and fiction films, among
them Lost in La Mancha, which was nominated for the
European Film Award for Best Documentary, shortlisted
for the Best Documentary Oscar, and winner of the Evening
Standard’s Peter Sellers Award. Lost in La Mancha stands
as the first and only vérité chronicle of the collapse of a
major motion picture and was an international theatrical
success. Fulton and Pepe also directed the narrative feature
film Brothers of the Head, which won the coveted Michael
Powell Award for Best British Feature in 2006. As Low Key
Pictures, the directing team received numerous documentary
commissions from the Gates Foundation’s Teaching Channel,
for which they produced a series of short films about
excellent teachers and practices in California public schools.
For Participant Media, they created I Am Education, a web
series that explored pressing issues in education entirely
through the voices and perspectives of school children. Fulton
and Pepe are also the authors of numerous screenplays,
including The Wizards of Perfil, which made the Hollywood
Black List in 2007. The team also created Malkovich’s Mail,
one of the first original documentary programs for AMC.
Fulton and Pepe hold MFAs in film production from Temple
University and are alumni of the Sundance Institute’s Writing
and Directing Labs. With The Bad Kids, they were invited
to participate in the 2014 Sundance Catalyst Forum and
have recently become recipients of the Sundance Institute’s
Documentary Film Program Grant.
Source: http://www.hotdocs.ca
Educational package written and compiled by Raneem Azzam
[email protected]
1
VIEWING THE FILM WITH STUDENTS
The following three subsections are intended to provide you with a range of Pre-Viewing,
Viewing and Post-Viewing activities. They are followed by a set of questions based upon the
film’s larger thematic domains, some follow-up questions and quotations, sample curricular
outcomes and a page of weblinks for further investigation.
Pre-Viewing Activities
As a class, have students brainstorm what comes to mind
when they hear the term “bad kids.” Have them predict what
a film entitled The Bad Kids might be about.
Explain some of the meanings of the terms “at-risk student”
and “alternative school” to the class. Ask students if they
have any other understandings of these terms.
Ask students to privately reflect on whether they have ever
thought about leaving school temporarily or permanently
(“dropping out”). Ask them to think about people they know
who have left school. What are the main reasons they think
young people may leave school before graduating?
Have students work in pairs to brainstorm what kinds of
teenagers are typically viewed as “bad kids” in society. Have
them discuss what they think are the roots of stereotypes
about “bad kids.” Discuss as a class.
Have students work in pairs to brainstorm what their ideal
school experience would be like. Ask them to write down
adjectives and characteristics that would describe their ideal
school experience. Discuss as a class.
Show students the Meet the Artists featurette here (http://
www.traileraddict.com/the-bad-kids/featurette-meet-theartists). Ask students to write down a list of the themes or
main ideas of the film that stand out to them in the directors’
comments. Ask them to keep their themes in mind as they
watch the film.
Viewing Activities
Have students complete the PBS viewing guide on
documentaries (http://www.pbs.org/pov/docs/Copies%20
of%20Viewing%20Guide.pdf). Students can revisit their
completed documents as a Post-Viewing Activity.
Have students jot down three to five ideas for discussion, or
questions that the film raises in their minds. As an Extension
and/or Post-Viewing Activity, students can enter their
questions into an online response or polling system and can
vote on the questions or issues they would like to explore in
further detail. Encourage students to use multiple levels of
Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Have students take notes about one or more students
in the film. What are the challenges they face? Describe
their experiences, personality traits, talents and other
characteristics shown in the film.
Have students take notes about the principal of the school
and other staff members. What do they do that seems
different from educators at a traditional public high school?
Have students take notes about Black Rock Continuation
School. Have them compare and contrast the school with
schools they’ve attended or schools that are familiar to them.
Post-Viewing Activities
Discuss with students their initial reactions to the film, the
featured individuals, the themes of “at-risk” students and
alternative schooling. Did their feelings evolve over the
course of the film?
What were students’ initial perceptions of “bad kids” and
ideal schools? How does this compare and contrast with
their perceptions about these themes after viewing the film?
Using this questions as a prompt, have students write a twoparagraph written response.
Have students participate in a Socratic discussion on the film.
Guidelines for Socratic discussions can be found here: http://
www.authenticeducation.org/documents/WhatSeminar04.pdf
Have students look at their notes from the Pre-Viewing
Activity and see if their opinions were changed, altered or
enhanced by the film.
2
Black Rock runs based on the philosophy that the number
one reason students drop out of school is that they don’t
have a relationship with a caring adult. Organize a debate in
which student take sides about what they think are the main
reasons students drop out of school.
Have students choose one of the events or stories from the
film and write a diary entry as if they were part of the event.
The principal says to Joey early in the film, “Most things that
you do here probably won’t apply to your life. It’s all just
playing a game. And I know because you’re gifted musically,
you don’t yet realize the importance of the diploma, but I’m
telling you there are more homeless, talented people out
there because they didn’t fit into the societal expectations.”
Have students write a personal reflection about the ways
in which school is a “game” that teaches you to fit societal
expectations. What do you think about this view of schooling?
With the audience teachers or administrators in mind,
write an essay about how high school can be more useful or
relevant to students.
Have students complete an exit note. The exit note should
contain one idea that demonstrates what they learned from the
film, as well as one question that they still have about the topic.
3
WEBSITES AND ONLINE RESOURCES
About the Film
http://www.thebadkidsmovie.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/badkidsmovie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebadkidsmovie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebadkidsmovie
Additional Resources
Filmmaker Magazine: “DP and Co-Director Lou Pepe on
Direct Cinema and the High School Doc The Bad Kids” is an
interview with Lou Pepe about the artistic goals of the film.
http://filmmakermagazine.com/ Type the title of the article
into the search function of the website.
Statistics Canada: “Early Indicators for Students at Risk
of Dropping out of High School” is data compiled by the
Government of Canada about who was most likely to drop
out of high school in 2008.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ Select English, select All Content
and type the title of the article into the search function of
the website.
article about the US Department of Justice’s proposed
alternatives to zero-tolerance discipline policies in schools.
http://www.theatlantic.com/ Type the title of the article into
the search function of the website.
Various Links for Lesson Plan Ideas,
Media Awareness, Critical Literacy
and Documentary Films
Center for Media Literacy: A US website which provides
resources for making, understanding and criticizing media.
http://www.medialit.org
Media Awareness: A Canadian non-profit media education
and Internet literacy resource library.
http://www.media-awareness.ca
NFB: Valuable education resources for the classroom.
http://www.nfb.ca
POV: Media literacy questions for analyzing films.
http://pov-tc.pbs.org/pov/docs/POV_medialiteracy.pdf
NPR: Anya Kamenetz’s “Delinquent. Dropout. At-Risk.
When Words Become Labels” (April 2015) is an article
that explores the impacts labelling students has on their
educational opportunities.
http://npr.org/ Type the title of the article into the search
function of the website.
TED Talk: In the TED Talk “How to Escape Education’s
Death Valley” from April 2013, Ken Robinson suggests that
alternative education programs, with their emphasis on
personalized education, strong support for teachers, close
links with community, and broad and diverse curricula should
be the norm not the exception.
https://www.ted.com/ Type the title of the video into the
search function of the website.
PBS Frontline: Dropout Nation is a 2012 documentary about
the way one school in Texas is addressing the dropout crisis
with students facing poverty and homelessness.
http://www.pbs.org/ Type the title of the documentary into
the search function of the website.
The Atlantic: Jeff Deeney’s “How to Discipline Students
Without Turning School into a Prison” is a January 2014
4
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
Questions for Pre-Viewing
or Post-Viewing Activities
What are the themes and issues explored in this film?
Choose one of the themes that stands out to you and discuss
what this film made you think/realize about that issue.
To what extent do you relate to the students at Black Rock?
What aspects of their stories resonate with your own views
of life, education, graduation and the future?
Describe the ways poverty impacts the educational
opportunities and outcomes of the students in the film.
What were your views about what it means to be an “at-risk
student” or a “high school dropout” before this film? How
does this film reflect or influence your perspective on the
challenges facing high school students?
Discuss what you know about traditional school discipline
policies. In what ways do traditional discipline policies fail
to meet the needs of students leading complex lives like the
students profiled in The Bad Kids?
Black Rock is a school that aims to address student needs
in a way that goes far beyond teaching curriculum or
organizing extra-curricular activities. List as many nontraditional approaches to supporting students as you noted
in the film. To what extent do you think these approaches to
supporting students would be beneficial in any school?
Did the school administrators or teachers ever say or do
things that struck you as unhelpful to the students at Black
Rock? Discuss what you think might be better ways of
helping and supporting students.
Discuss the theme of parenting in this film. What does
The Bad Kids show about the challenges students have
with their parents?
Several of the characters in the film talk about needing to
get out of their town. What geographic (human and physical)
factors seem to make the town a difficult one in which to live?
What do you think would be most challenging for these
filmmakers in capturing and telling this story about these
students and this school?
5
Quotations From the Film to Explore
1. “If you’re looking for a place to hide, this isn’t it. Because
at a traditional high school you can come in and you can
sit in the back of the room and slouch down and let other
people answer the questions and the bell rings and you
get up and leave. At our school, the teachers are going to
watch over your shoulders a lot…. At our school we want
you to demand that we help you. There is no shame in
asking for help.” Vonda Viland
2. “I was never a bad kid. I mean junior high, yeah, but I
just had a lot going on in my life. My mom was on drugs
and my stepdad, well, he was on drugs too. I wanted to
be like him. I decided to break into houses and steal stuff
from everyone. That’s how I chose to survive at that
time. Now I’m on probation.” Joey McGee
between lines that tell you you have to do these certain
things.” Joey McGee
8. “I think there are the tears because you have the weight
of, not just, Can they read the assignment, but do they
have a place to sleep tonight? And do they have food?
And buying gift certificates for the family that the
grandma has taken in all the kids. And buying water for
the boy who didn’t have water at his house.” Vonda Viland
9. “I really want to graduate from Black Rock. You guys
have to understand that. But it’s just, like… but I’m not
going back to my mom’s. I’m not now. I’m just stressed
out. I need to get a job. I need to start paying some bills,
stop being dependent on somebody else.” Joey McGee
3. “Everyone has a kid in them still. I don’t want the little
kid in me to die. I feel, like, stuck in between a man and
a child, still trying to build his way toward becoming
a good man; a man my son can be like, ‘I’m proud of
Daddy, he did it. I want to be like that.’ I’m not just
going to be some deadbeat who drops out and never
goes anywhere in life. I’ll stay dedicated to my girlfriend,
my work and my child, trying to graduate school. That’s
what makes me different as a teen father. I’m not going
around causing trouble, trying to party.” Lee Bridges
10. “I’m always here to catch him if he falls, but it’s like,
you know, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want
to be helped. If he was really in a situation in which
he couldn’t go home, he would come to my house. And
then usually when he doesn’t want to come to my house
and he doesn’t want to go home, that’s just the whole
drugs thing. So at this point, he’s just kind of given up on
himself. It’s his future, you know what I mean?” A.J. Wright
4. “We can’t control the events that happen to us, but we
can choose not to be reduced by them. I’m just going
to be strong, not somebody that lets what happened to
them break them.” Jennifer Coffield
11. “Your choice then is to not play the game that you need to
do?” Vonda Viland to Joey McGee. “What game? The game
where I have to find something to eat every day? Yeah, I
play that game every day.” Joey McGee in response
5. “It’s never the victim’s fault…. You’re the victim. You
were the child. You are not the adult.” Vonda Viland to
Jennifer Coffield, discussing sexual abuse
12. “Students drop out for many reasons but the number one
reason is not having a personal relationship with a caring
adult. High school graduates live longer, are less likely
to be teen parents, are more likely to raise healthier and
better educated children, are more likely to engage in
civic activities like voting and volunteering…. I would
also like to add on a personal note, just for me, without
Black Rock I don’t think I would have put the effort into
even trying to graduate nor have the confidence to be
graduating a year early.” Jennifer Coffield
6. “He was in tears in my office and very embarrassed
about breaking down in tears. His biggest worry is that
this is all he has for life because this is where he started
and he doesn’t want to end up on welfare, he doesn’t
want to live the life that his family lives. And he’s afraid
he’s going to get sucked into it. And he said it’s hard for
him some days to get out of bed because he just can’t
face it.” Vonda Viland, about a student
7. “Everyone thinks I suck at everything I do because I
never commit to it. I don’t care. I hate to sound like a
punk*** teenager but I just don’t care anymore. I don’t
want to live my life by a plan. I don’t want to live in
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CULMINATING ACTIVITY: LEAVING SCHOOL BEFORE GRADUATION, NEWS REPORT
You will work alone or in pairs to create a news report about the reasons some Canadian students leave school before high
school graduation.
Your news report can be presented as a written article or an oral presentation.
You will use online sources, including media such as CBC.ca and Macleans.ca, or Statistics Canada, to research the reasons
some Canadian students leave school before graduating. Your news report should be based on two or three recent and
important studies about “at-risk students” or students who leave school before graduation.
Your news report should address the following questions (the five Ws):
Who: Which categories of students are most likely to leave school before graduating from high school?
What: What are the factors that lead students to leave school?
When: What have the most recent and important studies shown about the students who leave school before graduation?
Where: Where have these studies been conducted?
Why: Why do students leave school before graduating?
Make sure your news report follows the inverted pyramid structure and is organized in the following way:
•  A headline
•  A lead (the hook and an overview of the five Ws)
•  Information the audience must have to understand the issue (important details, facts, statistics, quotes)
•  Additional information that helps the audience to understand the issue
•  Information that is good to know, but is not necessary to understand the issue
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ACTIVITY RUBRIC: NEWS REPORT
Knowledge and Understanding
2.5 2.9
3.0 3.4
3.5 3.9
4.0 5.0
Student demonstrates
a limited
understanding of
the reasons students
leave high school
before graduation;
much of the required
information is missing
Student demonstrates
a moderate
understanding of
the reasons students
leave high school
before graduation;
some of the required
information is missing
Student demonstrates
a considerable
understanding of the
reasons students leave
high school before
graduation; includes
most of the required
information
Student demonstrates
a high level of
understanding of the
reasons students leave
high school before
graduation; includes all
required information
2.5 2.9
3.0 3.4
3.5 3.9
4.0 5.0
Student demonstrates
a limited ability to
research, synthesize
and organize resources
Student demonstrates
a moderate ability to
research, synthesize
and organize resources
Student demonstrates
a considerable ability
to research, synthesize
and organize resources
Student demonstrates
an outstanding ability
to research, synthesize
and organize resources
2.5 2.9
3.0 3.4
3.5 3.9
4.0 5.0
Student makes
connections within
and between various
contexts with limited
effectiveness
Student makes
connections within
and between various
contexts with some
effectiveness
Student makes
connections within
and between
various contexts
with considerable
effectiveness
Student makes
connections within
and between various
contexts with a high
degree of effectiveness
2.5 2.9
3.0 3.4
3.5 3.9
4.0 5.0
Organizes and structures
ideas for news reporting
Student rarely
organizes and
structures ideas for
news reporting; much
of the information is
disorganized or poorly
structured
Student organizes
and structures ideas
for news reporting
appropriately some
of the time; some of
the information is
disorganized or poorly
structured
Student organizes
and structures ideas
for news reporting
appropriately most of
the time; most of the
information is well
organized and well
structured
Student organizes
and structures ideas
for news reporting
appropriately all of
the time; all of the
information is well
organized and well
structured
Communication of ideas
Student rarely
expresses ideas
clearly or effectively;
report includes
significant spelling or
grammatical errors
Student sometimes
expresses ideas clearly
and effectively; report
includes some spelling
or grammatical errors
Student usually
expresses ideas clearly
and effectively; report
includes few spelling
or grammatical errors
Student always
expresses ideas clearly
and effectively; report
includes no spelling or
grammatical errors
Understanding the
reasons that students
leave high school before
graduation
/5
Thinking and Inquiry
Ability to research,
synthesize and organize
resources
/5
Application
Making connections
within and between
various contexts
/5
Communication
Comments:
/5
/5
Total: ______________/25=______________/100
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EXAMPLES OF CURRICULUM EXPECTATIONS
COURSE
OVERALL EXPECTATIONS
•  generate, gather and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience.
Grade 9-12 English
Grade 10 Civics
•  demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts.
•  identify some media forms and explain how the conventions and techniques associated with them are used
to create meaning.
•  use the concepts of political thinking when analyzing and evaluating evidence, data and information and
formulating conclusions and/or judgments about issues, events and/or developments of civic importance.
•  describe some civic issues of local, national and/or global significance.
•  communicate their own position on some issues of civic importance at the local, national and/or global level.
•  describe the positive and negative roles of societal agents in the lives of young children.
Grade 11 Raising Healthy
Children
•  identify the personal qualities, skills and attitudes that are necessary for parenting.
•  analyze their own personal understanding of the terms family and parent, and assess the possible biases
that may be inherent in this understanding.
•  describe different parenting styles and how they affect young children.
•  explore topics related to anthropology, psychology and sociology, and formulate questions appropriate to
each discipline to guide their research.
Grade 11 Introduction to
Anthropology, Psychology
and Sociology
•  explain, from a sociological perspective, how diverse factors influence and shape individual and group behaviour.
•  explain, from a sociological perspective, the relationship between prejudice and individual and systemic
discrimination and describe their impacts on individuals and society.
•  explain the ways in which social structures affect individual and group behaviour.
•  explain how structural changes take place in social institutions in response to diverse influences.
•  explore topics related to equity and social justice, and formulate questions to guide their research.
•  explain how power and privilege operate in various Canadian social, economic and political contexts.
Grade 11 & 12 Equity
Studies
•  demonstrate an understanding of a range of perspectives on and approaches to equity and social justice
issues, and of factors that affect inequity and social injustice.
•  analyze, in historical and contemporary contexts, the dynamics of power relations and privilege as well as
various factors that contribute to power or marginalization.
•  analyze historical and contemporary equity and social justice issues and the impact of economic and
environmental factors on these issues.
•  describe the impact of caregiving on family relationships in a variety of contexts.
Grade 12 Families in
Canada
•  demonstrate an understanding of social institutions on the socialization of individuals throughout the lifespan.
•  describe recent demographic trends relating to parent-child relationships.
•  explain the impact of current social trends, issues and challenges relating to the functioning of families.
Grade 12 Personal Life
Management
•  compare the roles of adolescents and adults, and identify responsibilities they themselves will assume and
personal qualities they will require as they take on adult roles.
•  explain how a variety of factors can influence an individual’s decision-making process.
9
•  explain the relationships between poverty, affluence and social change.
Grade 12 Challenge and
Change in Society
•  explain the relationship between social panic about crime and deviance, and the attention given to these
issues by media, politicians and other social groups.
•  demonstrate an understanding of various types of discrimination and their impact on individuals and groups.
•  summarize the statistics on literacy rates nationally and internationally, and assess the impact of low
literacy levels on the standard of living of individuals and groups.
•  explore topics related to human development, and formulate questions to guide their research.
•  describe threats to healthy development and their impact at various stages of life.
•  analyze the role that family plays in socializing its members.
•  analyze the effects of socialization on the social-emotional functioning of individuals.
Grade 12 Human
Development Throughout
the Lifespan
•  assess the impact of marginalization on social-emotional development.
•  demonstrate an understanding of physical development, including brain physiology and development,
throughout the lifespan.
•  demonstrate an understanding of social-emotional development throughout the lifespan and of ways of
influencing such development.
•  demonstrate an understanding of various influences on personality development and identity formation
throughout the lifespan.
Grade 12 World
Geography: Urban
Patterns and Population
Issues
•  formulate different types of questions to guide investigations into issues affecting ecumenes.
•  apply the concepts of geographic thinking when analyzing current events involving geographic issues.
•  analyze the influence of social factors on the characteristics of a selected ecumene.
The Overall Expectations listed above are from the Ontario Curriculum. Complete course descriptions, including all Overall
and Specific Expectations, can be found at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teachers/curriculum.html
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