Before showing the movie to the students, print out the poetry that is found in the film. While there are a multitude of poems, include: "Oh Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time," by Robert Herrick and "The Prophet" by Abraham Cowley. Ask the students to read through each poem and select the poem that means the most to them personally. For homework, instruct the students to write a short essay about why the poem is particularly important. The essay should also include their interpretation of the poem. The next day in class ask the students to share their work aloud, first reading the poem as they interpret it in terms of cadence and emphasis on phrases or words. Following the lesson, reward students by showing by the movie. In discussion, ask if their interpretation of the poem has changed after watching the film.
Aside from the main character of Todd Anderson there are several other major characters taking Professor Keating's class in the film. Knox Overstreet, Charlie Dalton, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks and Gerard Pitts are all characters who are prominently featured. Show the film to your class. Discuss the arc of each of the main characters, inclusive of how they start the film and how they change because of their experiences. As a creative writing exercise, ask your students to pen a journal entry for one of these characters. Allow your students to choose at what point in the film that journal entry occurs. The journal entry should attempt to mimic the voice of the character and point of view of his experiences at the prep school and in Professor Keating's class. Ask that the entry be one to three pages in length so the students really have room to embody the character.
Professor Keating is the driving force behind the movie; it is the experiences in his classroom that inspire changes in each of the main characters. After viewing the movie, start a discussion about Professor Keating as a character. Ask open-ended questions such as "Was he an effective teacher?" or "Why were the students so drawn to his method of teaching" or "Do you think that method of teaching is still effective?" This discussion not only explores Keating as a character, but further explores the dynamic of the teacher-student relationship. As an alternative to an open discussion, create a worksheet with 10 questions about Keating where students must answer in paragraph form supporting their arguments.
Part of understanding art is the time in which it takes place. "Dead Poet's Society" takes place in 1959. This is over a decade after World War II, several years before Vietnam and America has not even been to the moon yet. In 1959 alone, Castro came to power in Cuba, Japanese Americans officially regained their citizenship, the television show "Bonanza" premiered and "Raisin in the Sun," the first play by an African-American woman, opened on Broadway. Discuss how the historical context effect the choices of characters in the film. As an assignment, instruct the students to write about how the students choices might be different if they were living in present day given our current historical context.