1. Pre-Columbian America – This six-hour workshop focuses first on the Historical Thinking Skills, as developed by the National Center for History in the Schools. The second portion of the session introduces Pre-Columbian societies in North America. (This unit includes a facilitator guide and short video clips, which are not broadcast. They are available on DVD and on the course Web site.)
2. Mapping Initial Encounters – Columbus’s arrival launched an era of initial encounters between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans that continued for nearly 300 years. This unit examines how these contacts began the phenomenon now known as the Columbian Exchange, profoundly altering the way of life of peoples around the globe. (This unit includes a facilitator guide, video, and online text chapter.)
3. Colonial Designs – As encounter changed to settlement, relations between Native Americans and European colonial powers became more complex. This unit charts the changing interactions between competing European powers and Native Americans, and the increasing reliance on the race-based enslavement of Africans.
4. Revolutionary Perspectives – In the eighteenth century, Enlightenment ideas of freedom and equality swept through the British colonies. This unit traces the effects of those ideas and the impact on diverse groups such as British Loyalists, Revolutionary leaders, Native Americans, yeoman farmers, and enslaved blacks. (This unit includes a facilitator guide, video, and online text chapter.)
5. The New Nation – Following the War of Independence, Americans disagreed – often passionately – about the form and function of the federal government. This unit explores how those conflicts played out as the new republic defined its identity in relation to other nations. (This unit includes a facilitator guide, video, and online text chapter.)
6. Contested Territories – The United States acquired vast territories between the time of the Revolution and the Civil War, paying a price economically, socially, and politically. The unit examines the forces that drove such rapid expansion, the settlers moving into these regions, and the impact on the Native Americans already there. (This unit includes a facilitator guide, video, and online text chapter.)
7. Antebellum Reform – As a response to increasing social ills, the nineteenth century generated reform movements: temperance, abolition, school, prison reform, as well as others. This unit traces the emergence of reform movements instigated by the Second Great Awakening and the impact these movements had on American culture. (This unit includes a facilitator guide, video, and online text chapter.)
8. A Nation Divided – Although the Civil War is viewed today through the lens of the Union’s ultimate victory, for much of the war, that victory was far from certain. By examining the lives of the common soldier, as well as civilians, this unit examines the uncertainty and horrible destruction in the War Between the States. (This unit includes a facilitator guide, video, and online text chapter.)
9. Reconstructing a Nation – Emancipation was only the beginning of a long road to freedom for those released from slavery. Following the Civil War, an immense economic and political effort was undertaken, focused on reunifying the divided nation. This unit examines the successes and failures of Reconstruction. (This unit includes a facilitator guide, video, and online text chapter.)

1. Native Voices – Native Americans had established a rich and highly developed tradition of oral literature long before the writings of the European colonists. This program explores that richness by introducing Native American oral traditions through the work of three contemporary authors: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo), and Luci Tapahonso (Navajo).
2. Exploring Borderlands – Chicana writer Gloria Anzaldua tells us that the border is “una herida abierta [an open wound] where… the lifeblood of two worlds is merging to form a third country – a border culture.” This program explores the literature of the Chicano borderlands and its beginnings in the literature of Spanish colonization.
3. Utopian Promise – When British colonists landed in the Americas, they created communities that they hoped would serve as a “light unto the nations.” But what role would the native inhabitants play in this new model community? This program compares the answers of two important groups, the Puritans and Quakers, and exposes the lasting influence they had upon American identity.
4. Spirit of Nationalism – The Enlightenment brought new ideals and a new notion of selfhood to the American colonies. This program begins with an examination of the importance of the trope of the self-made man in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, and then turns to the development of this concept in the writings of Romanticist Ralph Waldo Emerson.
5. Masculine Heroes – In 1898, Frederick Jackson Turner declared the frontier as the defining feature of American culture, but American authors had uncovered its significance much earlier. This program turns to three key writers of the early national period – James Fenimore Cooper, John Rollin Ridge, and Walt Whitman – and examines the influential visions of American manhood offered by each author.
6. Gothic Undercurrents – What was haunting the American nation in the 1850s? The three writers treated in this program – Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson – use poetry and prose to explore the dark side of nineteenth-century America.
7. Slavery and Freedom – How has slavery shaped the American literary imagination and American identity? This program turns to the classic slave narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass and the fiction of Harriet Beecher Stowe. What rhetorical strategies do their works use to construct an authentic and authoritative American self?
8. Regional Realism – Set in the antebellum American South, but written after Emancipation, Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remains a classic of American literature. This program compares Twain’s depiction of Southern vernacular culture to that of Charles Chestnutt and Kate Chopin, and in doing so, introduces the hallmarks of American Realism.
9. Social Realism – This program presents the authors of the American Gilded Age, such as Edith Wharton, and juxtaposes them with social realists like Anzia Yezierska. These writers expose the double world that made up turn-of-the-century New York: that of the elite and that of the poorest of the poor. Which of these realities is the more truly American?
10. Rhythms in Poetry – Amidst the chaos following World War I, Ezra Pound urged poets to “Make it new!” This call was heeded by a large range of poets, ranging from T.S. Eliot to Jean Toomer. This program explores the modernist lyrics of two of these poets: William Carlos Williams and Langston Hughes. What is modernism? How did these poets start a revolution that continues to this day?
11. Modernist Portraits – Jazz filled the air and wailed against the night. Caught in the sway, American prose writers sought out the forbidden – the slang, the dialects, and the rhythms of the folk and of everyday life.  Writers such as Hemingway, Stein, and Fitzgerald forged a new style: one which silhouetted the geometry of language, crisp in its own cleanness.
12. Migrant Struggle – Americans have often defined themselves through their relationship to the land. This program traces the social fiction of three key American voices: John Steinbeck, Carlos Bulosan, and Helena Maria Viramontes.
13. Southern Renaissance – “My subject in fiction,” Flannery O’Connor tells us, “is the action of grace in the territory held largely by the devil.” One might do well to ask what, if not the devil, haunts the American South in this era between the wars. This program uncovers the revisioning of Southern myths during the modernist era by writers William Faulkner and Zora Neale Hurston.
14. Becoming Visible – This program guides the viewer through the works and contexts of ethnic writers from 1945 – 1965. Starting with the works of Ralph Waldo Ellison, Philip Roth, and N. Scott Momaday, we explore the way writers from the margins took over the center of American culture.
15. Poetry of Liberation – For many, the 1960s mark the true end of modern America. Whereas the modernists remained serious about the transcendent nature of art, the artists of the 1960s wanted an art that was relevant. They wanted an art that not only spoke about justice, but also helped create it. This program explores the innovations made in American poetry in the 1960s by Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, and Adrienne Rich.
16. Search for Identity – Even as the poets were fostering a rebellion, contemporary prose writers began creating a new American Tradition comprised of many strands, many voices, and many myths about the past. This program explores the search for identity by three American writers: Maxine Hong Kingston, Sandra Cisneros, and Leslie Feinberg.
    

1. Introducing Arts Education – This program includes three segments: What Is Arts Education? (14 min.) shows a montage of insights from teachers and administrators, plus examples of successful arts instruction in classrooms across America. What Are the Arts? (5 min.) presents teachers, administrators, students, and parents who offer thoughtful and sometimes humorous comments on what the arts mean to them. In How Do You Know They’re Learning? (4 min.), educators from several schools tell how they know if their students are “getting it.”
2. Expanding the Role of the Arts Specialist – Three arts teachers work with colleagues around their schools, using collaborative techniques that go beyond the traditional work of arts specialists. Kathy DeJean is a dance artist at Lusher Alternative Elementary School in New Orleans; Mary Perkerson is the visual art teacher at Harmony Leland Elementary School in Mableton, Georgia; and Amanda Newberry is the thearte specialist at Lusher.
3. Teaching Dance – Two teachers with contrasting training and approaches to teaching bring rich dance experiences to students at their arts-based schools. Kathy DeJean, the dance specialist at Lusher Alternative Elementary School in New Orleans, promotes inquiry and self-expression in a multi-grade dance class. Scott Pivnik, a former physical education teacher at P.S. 156 (The Waverly School of the Arts) in Brooklyn, New York, uses African dance as a gateway to geography, writing, and personal growth for a class of second-graders.
4. Teaching Music – Two music specialists from arts-based schools demonstrate different approaches to serving diverse student populations. At Harmony Leland Elementary School in Mableton, Georgia, all 500 students study the violin. Their classes with Barrett Jackson become lessons in character and discipline. At Smith Renaissance School of the Arts in Denver, Sylvia Brookhardt and a class of fifth-graders explore the Renaissance through choral singing.
5. Teaching Theatre – Two specialists work on basic theatre skills with children of various ages, and use theatre education as a gateway to other kinds of learning. At Lusher Alternative Elementary School in New Orleans, Amanda Newberry’s lesson in improvisation with a third-grade class stimulates students’ imagination, heightens language and listening skills, and encourages critical thinking. At Barney Ford Elementary School in Denver, George Jackson teaches basic movement skills to a first-grade class, invites fourth-graders to take center stage as they explore a script, and works with fifth-graders to create masks that reveal inner feelings.
6. Teaching Visual Art – Two visual art specialist teachers use contrasting interpretations of the human face to explore inquiry-based instruction and various techniques in visual art. Pamela Mancini, the visual art teacher at Helen Street School in Hamden, Connecticut, uses portraits to foster inquiry and self-expression with a class of fifth-graders. At Ridgeway Elementary School in White Plains, New York, Mary Frances Perkins introduces mask-making to a second-grade art class. In making their own masks, students examine the concept of symmetry, study the vocabulary word for the day, and learn that masks are found in cultures throughout the world.
7. Developing an Arts-Based Unit – A team of first- and second-grade teachers at Lusher Alternative Elementary School in New Orleans plans a year-end project that will let students show what they have learned in science, math, and English. The students write and perform an original play, using a painting by Breughel and an opera by Stravinsky as their starting points.
8. Working With Local Artists – Students and teachers at P.S. 156 (The Waverly School of the Arts) in Brooklyn, New York, benefit from the school’s established relationships with artists from local organizations. This program focuses on a first-grade class creating original works with visiting artists – a dancer and a writer.
9. Collaborating With a Cultural Resource – A fourth-grade teacher and a museum educator in New Orleans collaborate to develop a unit of study with ties to language arts, social studies, and visual art. Students explore the work of a well-known artist, visit an exhibition of his work, meet for a drawing lesson alongside the Mississippi River, and create poems and pictures that they proudly display to their parents.
10. Bringing Artists to Your Community – Successful collaborations between classroom teachers and artists who come for a residency enrich the curriculum of this rural school in Idalia, Colorado. A visiting actor brings story-telling and vocabulary to life for kindergarten and fourth-grade students and their teachers, while a musician engages first- and third-grade students in writing songs that relate to subjects they are studying.
11. Students Create a Multi-Arts Performance – A team of arts specialists and classroom teachers at Lusher Alternative Elementary School in New Orleans guides kindergarten and fourth-grade students in creating an original work based on Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam. The program presents highlights of the creative process, including brainstorming about characters’ emotions, creating speech and movement for the characters, constructing costumes, and performing.
12. Borrowing From the Arts to Enhance Learning – To add vitality and context to day-to-day learning experiences, three teachers use techniques drawn from the arts that engage their students’ minds, bodies, and emotions. In Denver, a teacher uses rhythm, color, movement, and hands-on projects to engage her class of fourth- and fifth-grade boys. In White Plains, New York, third-grade students create short skits that help them understand the concept of cause and effect. In Lithonia, Georgia, a fifth-grade social studies unit on family history culminates with students using favorite objects to make visual representations of their lives.
13. Leadership Team – At Lusher Elementary School in New Orleans, principal Kathleen Hurstell Riedlinger works closely with a Leadership Team of classroom and arts teachers. The team’s central role in management is part of a long-term strategy to protect the school’s commitment to arts-based learning. We meet individual members of the team and see them work together on a diverse agenda, including the school’s annual Arts Celebration, the increased demand for enrollment from outside the school’s neighborhood, and orientation of new teaches to the school’s arts-based curriculum.
14. Three Leaders at Arts-Based Schools – Three administrators provide instructional leadership and solve day-to-day challenges at arts-based schools serving diverse student populations. In Brooklyn, principal Martha Rodriguez-Torres describers her role as “politician, social worker, parent, and police officer,” and says that her primary responsibility is to “provide teachers the resources they need to fulfill the program.” And in Denver, assistant principal Rory Pullens uses his own arts background to ensure that the arts play a prominent role in day-to-day learning

1. Stories of Public Engagement: Patrick O’Hearn School – A Boston elementary school has enhanced student success through close cooperation with families.
2. Stories of Public Engagement: Pattonville School District, Missouri – Residents in a school district in Missouri are working with their local schools to tackle emerging educational challenges.
3. Stories of Public Engagement: B.U.I.L.D. – Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (B.U.I.L.D.), a local community organizing agency, has helped urban parents set up after-school learning centers and become advocates for their children’s learning.
4. Innovations in Professional Collaboration: Making Teaching Public – Pasadena (California) High School teachers use a peer-observation process – observing one another in their classrooms, then meeting individually and in groups to offer feed-back – as a way to improve teaching practice and student achievement.
5. Innovations in Professional Collaboration: A Community of Learners - At Souhegan High School in Amherst, New Hampshire, teachers regularly gather feedback on their teaching practice from peers as well as students, as part of a school-wide effort to make Souhegan a genuine community of learners.
6. Looking at Student Work: A Window Into the Classroom – Teachers at Norview High School in Norfolk, Virginia, demonstrate the collaborative examination of student work and discuss its value and implications for teaching practice.
7. Reflecting on Teaching Practice: Student Work, Teacher Work, and Standards, Pt 1 – Math – A tenth-grade math teacher from San Bruno, California, presents a sample of student work from her classroom to a group of teachers, administrators, and a facilitator. The group uses a “tuning protocol” to examine this work, give the teacher feedback, and discuss its implications for her teaching practice.
8. Reflecting on Teaching Practice: Student Work and Teacher Work, Pt 2 – Science – A fourth-grade teacher from Worcester, Massachusetts, shares a sample of work from her science classroom with a group of teachers and administrators in a facilitated “consultancy” that focuses on a question posed by the teacher about the student work and her teaching practice.

 

CONNECTING WITH THE ARTS: A Workshop for Middle Grade Teachers

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 6-8 
8 – 60 minute programs

The workshop includes eight hour-long video programs and a companion workshop guide and Web site. The workshop shows middle school teachers why and how to integrate the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual art) with other subjects (language arts, social studies, science, and math). Extensive classroom examples present teachers working together to create rich integrated learning experiences for their students. A roundtable panel of arts educators discusses each of the classroom examples and shares their own experiences with arts integration. The eight programs guide viewers in discussing key elements of arts integration, enabling them to begin integrating the arts more effectively in their own schools. Participants define what arts integration means, plan collaborations with colleagues, clarify student roles in the artistic process, work on designing instruction that helps students explore connecting concepts and big ideas, and examine assessments to determine what students are learning.

1. What is Arts Integration? – This program presents three instructional models for integrating the arts: independent instruction, team-teaching, and collaborations with community resources. Participants will also explore informal, complementary, and interdependent curricular connections, and see examples of what these different types of arts-integrated instruction look like in the classroom.
2. Why Integrate the Arts? – This program explores how integrating the arts with other subjects raises the level of student engagement, helps teachers address diverse learning styles, establishes the relevance of learning for students, and provides alternative ways to communicate.
3. How Do We Collaborate? – This program illustrates a variety of teaching partnerships. Participants will see how teachers integrating the arts can benefit from collaborating with fellow teachers, partnering with visiting artists, and drawing on community resources.
4. What Roles Do Students Take On? – This program examines the artistic process of creating, performing, and responding. Participants will see students assuming the roles of researcher, writer, designer, director, performer, and critic.
5. What Are Connecting Concepts? – This program presents strategies for planning lessons that integrate the arts with other subjects. Participants will see how teachers organize instruction around themes and concepts.
6. What’s the Big Idea? – This program is about planning and teaching toward big ideas – important understandings that have lasting value. Participants will see how arts-integrated instruction enables students to make deeply personal connections to what they are learning.
7. Identifying What Students Are Learning – This program investigates ways to evaluate student learning in and through the arts. Participants will see teachers using arts-based performance tasks to assess student understanding.
8. Reflecting on Our Practice – This program explores methods for assessing instructional practice. Participants will see teachers reflecting alone and interacting with colleagues to evaluate and refine their planning and teaching. To conclude, the discussion group models a protocol that allows teachers to draw on the expertise of colleagues to refine their practice.

CONNECTING WITH THE ARTS: A Teaching Practices Library

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 6-8 
12 – 30 minute programs

These programs provide windows into classrooms around the country where teachers have already incorporated arts integration strategies into their work. Programs feature extensive classroom sequences and teachers telling their own stories. In each program, arts specialists and subject-area teachers will find ideas and projects they can take back to their own classrooms, as well as insights into planning and implementing an integrated curriculum.

1. Revealing Character – A language arts teacher and a visual art teacher ask eighth-graders to demonstrate their understanding of a novel’s characters by creating unusual ceramic place settings.
2. Breathing Life into Myths – A language arts teacher draws on puppetry techniques and help from her school’s theatre teacher to engage her sixth-graders in exploring Greek myths.
3. Two Dance Collaborations – In a first-time collaboration, a dance teacher and a science teacher combine forces to explore the laws of motion with a seventh and eighth-grade dance class. At another school, a dance teacher and a math teacher work with sixth graders on imaginative interpretations of the idea of circles.
4. Constructing a Community – A visual art teacher and a social studies teacher use the distinctive architecture and history of their school’s neighborhood to help eighth-graders see their community in a new light.
5. Making Connections – Teachers of music, visual art, and theatre build thoughtful connections to topics their seventh-graders are working on in social studies and language arts.
6. Exploring Our Town – Seventh- and eighth-grade students explore Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town from the perspectives of theatre, music, visual art, language arts, and social studies.
7. Creating a Culture - The Story Begins – Sixth-graders develop their own cultures, complete with language, clothing, artwork, and rituals. Weeks of hard work culminate in a surprising twist. This program is the first of two parts.
8. Analyzing a Culture - The Story Continues – Students become archaeologists, analyzing artifacts from other student-created cultures. They then design a museum exhibit from those artifacts. This program is the second of two parts.
9. Folk Tales Transformed – A visiting theatre artist works with a language arts teacher and a visual art teacher to help eighth-graders transform folk tales into original scenes that the students perform.
10. Preserving a Place for the Arts – When faced with budget cuts, the staff of a rural middle school finds innovative ways to keep the arts a viable part of the curriculum.
11. Can Frogs Dance? – A dance teacher and a science teacher ask seventh-graders to compare the anatomy of frogs and humans. Then a language arts teacher coaches the students in a lively debate about whether a frog should be allowed to join a ballet company.
12.  Finding Your Voice – Drawing on themes of conflict and genocide that eighth-graders are studying in their World Cultures class, four arts teachers organize an interdisciplinary unit that encourages students to use their artwork as a form of protest.

 

CONVERSATIONS IN LITERATURE WORKSHOPS

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 6 - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions

In this video workshop, teachers, academics, and authors gather as a “community of readers,” immersing themselves in classic and contemporary literature from Hamlet to works by Langston Hughes, James Dickey, and Alice Walker. These participants, led by Dr. Judith Langer, model the habits of effective readers in an approach known as “envisionment building.” The readers develop interpretations by stepping into and moving through the text using their own unique perspectives. Develop your own reading community using these video programs with coordinated Web site and print guide, and learn how intuition, background experiences, and personal involvement construct meaning for readers. Return to the classroom with inspiration to guide your students toward engaging with literature in the same way.

DEGRASSI JUNIOR HIGH

Use Rights: Loan Only------Gr. 6 - 8
8 – 30 minute programs

Hailed as “groundbreaking,” “powerful,” and “totally authentic,” Degrassi Junior High confronts it all – friendship, puberty, rumors, sports, studies and more – with a refreshing ensemble cast and a unique teen’s-eye-view of life. Sometimes moving, sometimes shocking, but always believable, Degrassi Junior High is a classic for teens of all ages.

DEGRASSI HIGH

Use Rights: Loan Only------Gr. 9 - 12
   4 – 30 minute programs

Hailed as “groundbreaking,” “powerful,” and “totally authentic,” Degrassi High confronts it all – friendship, love, death, stress, pregnancy, rumors, rebellion, drinking and more – with a refreshing ensemble cast and a unique teen’s-eye-view of life. Sometimes moving, sometimes shocking, but always believable, Degrassi High is a classic for teens of all ages.

DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY

Use Rights: Unlimited
26 - 30 minute programs

Highlighting major new developments in the field, this updated edition of Discovering Psychology offers high school and college students, and teachers of psychology at all levels, an overview of historic and current theories of human behavior. Stanford University professor and author Philip Zimbardo narrates as leading researchers, practitioners, and theorists probe the mysteries of the mind and body. Based on extensive investigation and authoritative scholarship, this introductory course in psychology features demonstrations, classic experiments and simulations, current research, documentary footage, and computer animation.

THE ECONOMICS CLASSROOM WORKSHOP

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 9 - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Explore topics from personal finance to global economic theories in this video workshop for high school teachers.

ESSENTIAL SCIENCE FOR TEACHERS:

Earth and Space Science
Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 6 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

The Essential Science for Teachers courses are designed to help K-6 teachers gain an understanding of some of the bedrock science concepts they need to teach today’s standards-based curricula.

Earth and Space Science consists of 8-one hour video programs accompanied by print and Web materials that provide in-class activities and homework explorations. Real-world examples, demonstrations, animations, still graphics, and interviews with scientists compose content segments that are intertwined with in-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand. Each program also features an elementary school teacher and his or her students exploring the topic using exemplary science curricula.

ESSENTIAL SCIENCE FOR TEACHERS:

Life Science
Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 6 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Life Science consists of eight one-hour video programs accompanied by print and Web materials that provide in-class activities and homework explorations. Real-world examples, demonstrations, animations, still graphics, and interviews with scientists compose content segments that are intertwined with in-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand. Each program also features an elementary school teacher and his or her students exploring the topic using exemplary science curricula.

ESSENTIAL SCIENCE FOR TEACHERS: Physical Science

Use Rights:
Unlimited
Grade: K - 6 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Physical Science consists of eight one-hour video programs accompanied by print and Web materials that provide in-class activities and homework explorations. Real-world examples, demonstrations, animations, still graphics, and interviews with scientists compose content segments that are intertwined with in-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand. Each program also features an elementary school teacher and his or her students exploring the topic using exemplary science curricula.

THE EXPANDING CANON: Teaching Multicultural Literature in High School

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 9 - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop for high school teachers is an exploration of the richness of multicultural literature shown through four pedagogical approaches to teaching it.

FRENCH IN ACTION

Use Rights: Unlimited 
52 - 30 minute Programs

This series uses active participation to increase fluency in French, while introducing French culture. Pierre Capretz’s proven language-immersion method is presented within a humorous teleplay with native speakers of all ages and backgrounds. The storyline of an American student and a young Frenchwoman’s adventures in Paris and the French countryside is reinforced by Dr. Capretz’s on-camera instruction. The series is also appropriate for teacher professional development.

1. Orientation – An introduction to French in Action; its creation, its components, and its functioning. How to work with the video programs and how to integrate them with the audio and print components. This is the only program in English; the others are entirely in French.
   
2. Planning and Anticipating I – Greeting and leave-taking; talking about health; expressing surprise; planning and anticipating; expressing decisiveness and indecisiveness. Subject pronouns; masculine and feminine adjectives and nouns; definite and indefinite articles; immediate future; agreement in gender and number; aller; être; present indicative of –er verbs.
   
3. Planning and Anticipating II – Greeting and leave-taking; talking about health; expressing surprise; planning and anticipating; expressing decisiveness and indecisiveness. Subject pronouns; masculine and feminine adjectives and nouns; definite and indefinite articles; immediate future; agreement in gender and number; aller; être; present indicative of –er verbs.
   
4. Planning and Anticipating III – Greeting and leave-taking; talking about health; expressing surprise; planning and anticipating; expressing decisiveness and indecisiveness. Subject pronouns; masculine and feminine adjectives and nouns; definite and indefinite articles; immediate future; agreement in gender and number; aller; être; present indicative of –er verbs.
   
5. Names and Origins – Numbers; expressing age; giving commands; necessity; negation. Numbers 1-29; avoir; avoir in expressions of age; ne … pas; imperatives of –er verbs; il faut and infinitives.
   
6. Physical Characteristics I – Reality and appearance; describing oneself; talking about sports. Numbers 30-100; faire; aimer and faire with sports; questions with intonation, inversion, and est-ce que.
   
7. Physical Characteristics II – Reality and appearance; describing oneself; talking about sports. Numbers 30-100; faire; aimer and faire with sports; questions with intonation, inversion, and est-ce que.
   
8. Kinship – Talking about family relationships; asking the identity of people and things. Numbers 100-999,000,000; dates, partitive; possessive adjectives.
   
9. Describing Others I – Describing others; talking about games; expressing agreement and disagreement; talking about time; talking about the weather. Present tense with il y a … que and ça fait … que; possessive and demonstrative adjectives; stressed pronouns; venire; savoir verses connitre.
   
10. Describing Others II – Describing others; talking about games; expressing agreement and disagreement; talking about time; talking about the weather. Present tense with il y a … que and ça fait … que; possessive and demonstrative adjectives; stressed pronouns; venire; savoir verses connitre.
    
11. Encounters I – Starting a conversation; talking about seasons and time of day; exclamations; talking about studies; referring to lack and abundance; expressing approval and disapproval; reacting to compliments; expressing politeness. Immediate past with venir de; direct object pronouns; reflexive verbs; imperative and pronouns; demonstrative adjectives and pronouns; interrogative adjectives and pronouns; parler versus dire; imperfect; imperfect of être and avoir.
    
12. Encounters II – Starting a conversation; talking about seasons and time of day; exclamations; talking about studies; referring to lack and abundance; expressing approval and disapproval; reacting to compliments; expressing politeness. Immediate past with venir de; direct object pronouns; reflexive verbs; imperative and pronouns; demonstrative adjectives and pronouns; interrogative adjectives and pronouns; parler versus dire; imperfect; imperfect of être and avoir.
    
13. Encounters III – Starting a conversation; talking about seasons and time of day; exclamations; talking about studies; referring to lack and abundance; expressing approval and disapproval; reacting to compliments; expressing politeness. Immediate past with venir de; direct object pronouns; reflexive verbs; imperative and pronouns; demonstrative adjectives and pronouns; interrogative adjectives and pronouns; parler versus dire; imperfect; imperfect of être and avoir.
    
14. Encounters IV – Starting a conversation; talking about seasons and time of day; exclamations; talking about studies; referring to lack and abundance; expressing approval and disapproval; reacting to compliments; expressing politeness. Immediate past with venir de; direct object pronouns; reflexive verbs; imperative and pronouns; demonstrative adjectives and pronouns; interrogative adjectives and pronouns; parler versus dire; imperfect; imperfect of être and avoir.
    
15. Occupations I – Talking about work; degrees of assent; days and months of the year; buying and spending; approximating; talking about years and centuries. Aller versus venire; prepositions; contractions of definite article with de an á; adverbial pronouns y and en; vouloir, pouvoir; c’est versus il/elle est; ne … plus, ne … jamais; pronoun on; indirect object pronouns; formation of adverbs.
    
16. Occupations II – Talking about work; degrees of assent; days and months of the year; buying and spending; approximating; talking about years and centuries. Aller versus venire; prepositions; contractions of definite article with de an á; adverbial pronouns y and en; vouloir, pouvoir; c’est versus il/elle est; ne … plus, ne … jamais; pronoun on; indirect object pronouns; formation of adverbs.
    
17. Occupations III – Talking about work; degrees of assent; days and months of the year; buying and spending; approximating; talking about years and centuries. Aller versus venire; prepositions; contractions of definite article with de an á; adverbial pronouns y and en; vouloir, pouvoir; c’est versus il/elle est; ne … plus, ne … jamais; pronoun on; indirect object pronouns; formation of adverbs.
    
18. Occupations IV – Talking about work; degrees of assent; days and months of the year; buying and spending; approximating; talking about years and centuries. Aller versus venire; prepositions; contractions of definite article with de an á; adverbial pronouns y and en; vouloir, pouvoir; c’est versus il/elle est; ne … plus, ne … jamais; pronoun on; indirect object pronouns; formation of adverbs.
    
19. Education I – Identification and description; talking about occupations; talking back; excusing oneself; expressing incredulity. Passé compose and direct object pronouns; savoir and infinitives; agreement of past participle with avoir.
    
20. Education II – Identification and description; talking about occupations; talking back; excusing oneself; expressing incredulity. Passé compose and direct object pronouns; savoir and infinitives; agreement of past participle with avoir.
    
21. Education III – Identification and description; talking about occupations; talking back; excusing oneself; expressing incredulity. Passé compose and direct object pronouns; savoir and infinitives; agreement of past participle with avoir.
    
22. Getting Around I – Using the telephone; receiving invitations; expressing optimism and pessimism. Passé compose of reflexive verbs; Passé compose with être; agreement of past participles; future.
    
23. Getting Around II – Using the telephone; receiving invitations; expressing optimism and pessimism. Passé compose of reflexive verbs; Passé compose with être; agreement of past participles; future.
    
24. Food and Drink I – Talking about food and drink; ordering in a restaurant; thanking hosts. Future of irregular verbs; relative pronouns qui and que; imperative with direct and indirect object pronouns; position of en with object pronouns; ne … que; expressions of quantity; vowel change e/é.
    
25. Food and Drink II – Talking about food and drink; ordering in a restaurant; thanking hosts. Future of irregular verbs; relative pronouns qui and que; imperative with direct and indirect object pronouns; position of en with object pronouns; ne … que; expressions of quantity; vowel change e/é.
    
26. Food and Drink III – Talking about food and drink; ordering in a restaurant; thanking hosts. Future of irregular verbs; relative pronouns qui and que; imperative with direct and indirect object pronouns; position of en with object pronouns; ne … que; expressions of quantity; vowel change e/é.
    
27. Transportation and Travel I – Expressing fear; insisting; talking about means of transportation; talking about cars; expressing admiration; making suggestions. Pluperfect, conditional; conditional and imperfect; past conditional; compound tenses and past participles; agreement of past participles; expressions of time.
    
28. Transportation and Travel II – Expressing fear; insisting; talking about means of transportation; talking about cars; expressing admiration; making suggestions. Pluperfect, conditional; conditional and imperfect; past conditional; compound tenses and past participles; agreement of past participles; expressions of time.
    
29. Transportation and Travel III – Expressing fear; insisting; talking about means of transportation; talking about cars; expressing admiration; making suggestions. Pluperfect, conditional; conditional and imperfect; past conditional; compound tenses and past participles; agreement of past participles; expressions of time.
    
30. Transportation and Travel IV – Expressing fear; insisting; talking about means of transportation; talking about cars; expressing admiration; making suggestions. Pluperfect, conditional; conditional and imperfect; past conditional; compound tenses and past participles; agreement of past participles; expressions of time.
    
31. Transportation and Travel V – Expressing fear; insisting; talking about means of transportation; talking about cars; expressing admiration; making suggestions. Pluperfect, conditional; conditional and imperfect; past conditional; compound tenses and past participles; agreement of past participles; expressions of time.
    
32. Habitat I – Asking one’s way; talking about housing; protesting; expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Imperfect and passé compose; irregular imperatives; causative faire; faire versus render; en and present participle; ni … ni.
    
33. Habitat II – Asking one’s way; talking about housing; protesting; expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Imperfect and passé compose; irregular imperatives; causative faire; faire versus render; en and present participle; ni … ni.
    
34. Habitat III – Asking one’s way; talking about housing; protesting; expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Imperfect and passé compose; irregular imperatives; causative faire; faire versus render; en and present participle; ni … ni.
    
35. Habitat IV – Asking one’s way; talking about housing; protesting; expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Imperfect and passé compose; irregular imperatives; causative faire; faire versus render; en and present participle; ni … ni.
    
36. Entertainment I – Talking about entertainment; calming others down; expressing restriction; expressing reservations; expressing doubt; expressing enthusiasm. Indefinite expressions; subjunctive; subjunctive of irregular verbs; subjunctive with falloir and expressions of doubt; position of souvent, toujours, jamais; verbs in –yer; personne and rien as subjects and objects.
    
37. Entertainment II – Talking about entertainment; calming others down; expressing restriction; expressing reservations; expressing doubt; expressing enthusiasm. Indefinite expressions; subjunctive; subjunctive of irregular verbs; subjunctive with falloir and expressions of doubt; position of souvent, toujours, jamais; verbs in –yer; personne and rien as subjects and objects.
    
38. Entertainment III – Talking about entertainment; calming others down; expressing restriction; expressing reservations; expressing doubt; expressing enthusiasm. Indefinite expressions; subjunctive; subjunctive of irregular verbs; subjunctive with falloir and expressions of doubt; position of souvent, toujours, jamais; verbs in –yer; personne and rien as subjects and objects.
    
39. Entertainment IV – Talking about entertainment; calming others down; expressing restriction; expressing reservations; expressing doubt; expressing enthusiasm. Indefinite expressions; subjunctive; subjunctive of irregular verbs; subjunctive with falloir and expressions of doubt; position of souvent, toujours, jamais; verbs in –yer; personne and rien as subjects and objects.
    
40. Entertainment V – Talking about entertainment; calming others down; expressing restriction; expressing reservations; expressing doubt; expressing enthusiasm. Indefinite expressions; subjunctive; subjunctive of irregular verbs; subjunctive with falloir and expressions of doubt; position of souvent, toujours, jamais; verbs in –yer; personne and rien as subjects and objects.
    
41. Getting and Spending I – Talking about money; buying and selling; announcing good and bad news; expressing indifference; talking about good and luck; expressing preference. Subjunctive in conditional sentences with conjunctions in relative clauses; personne and rien with compound tenses; position of déjá and encore; plus rien, jamais rien; comparatives and superlatives; superlative and subjunctive; relative pronouns ce qui, ce que; demonstrative pronouns.
    
42. Getting and Spending II – Talking about money; buying and selling; announcing good and bad news; expressing indifference; talking about good and luck; expressing preference. Subjunctive in conditional sentences with conjunctions in relative clauses; personne and rien with compound tenses; position of déjá and encore; plus rien, jamais rien; comparatives and superlatives; superlative and subjunctive; relative pronouns ce qui, ce que; demonstrative pronouns.
    
43. Getting and Spending III – Talking about money; buying and selling; announcing good and bad news; expressing indifference; talking about good and luck; expressing preference. Subjunctive in conditional sentences with conjunctions in relative clauses; personne and rien with compound tenses; position of déjá and encore; plus rien, jamais rien; comparatives and superlatives; superlative and subjunctive; relative pronouns ce qui, ce que; demonstrative pronouns.
    
44. Getting and Spending IV – Talking about money; buying and selling; announcing good and bad news; expressing indifference; talking about good and luck; expressing preference. Subjunctive in conditional sentences with conjunctions in relative clauses; personne and rien with compound tenses; position of déjá and encore; plus rien, jamais rien; comparatives and superlatives; superlative and subjunctive; relative pronouns ce qui, ce que; demonstrative pronouns.
    
45. Getting and Spending V – Talking about money; buying and selling; announcing good and bad news; expressing indifference; talking about good and luck; expressing preference. Subjunctive in conditional sentences with conjunctions in relative clauses; personne and rien with compound tenses; position of déjá and encore; plus rien, jamais rien; comparatives and superlatives; superlative and subjunctive; relative pronouns ce qui, ce que; demonstrative pronouns.
    
46. Geography and Tourism I – Talking about countries and regions; exaggerating; confirming; insisting; expressing perplexity. Conditional in intentional expressions; dont; pronoun tout; possessive pronouns; irregular subjunctives; subjunctive in subordinate clauses; future in past; penser de versus penser á; articles and prepositions with geographical names.
    
47. Geography and Tourism II – Talking about countries and regions; exaggerating; confirming; insisting; expressing perplexity. Conditional in intentional expressions; dont; pronoun tout; possessive pronouns; irregular subjunctives; subjunctive in subordinate clauses; future in past; penser de versus penser á; articles and prepositions with geographical names.
    
48. Geography and Tourism III – Talking about countries and regions; exaggerating; confirming; insisting; expressing perplexity. Conditional in intentional expressions; dont; pronoun tout; possessive pronouns; irregular subjunctives; subjunctive in subordinate clauses; future in past; penser de versus penser á; articles and prepositions with geographical names.
    
49. Geography and Tourism IV – Talking about countries and regions; exaggerating; confirming; insisting; expressing perplexity. Conditional in intentional expressions; dont; pronoun tout; possessive pronouns; irregular subjunctives; subjunctive in subordinate clauses; future in past; penser de versus penser á; articles and prepositions with geographical names.
    
50. Geography and Tourism V – Talking about countries and regions; exaggerating; confirming; insisting; expressing perplexity. Conditional in intentional expressions; dont; pronoun tout; possessive pronouns; irregular subjunctives; subjunctive in subordinate clauses; future in past; penser de versus penser á; articles and prepositions with geographical names.
    
51. Getting Away I – Referring to destination; levels of speech. Negative infinitive; imperatives and pronouns.
    
52. Getting Away II – Referring to destination; levels of speech. Negative infinitive; imperatives and pronouns.

G E D Connection 2002

Use Rights: Unlimited 
39 - Programs    30 minutes

GED on TV, is a proven instructional program that helps adults prepare for the GED exam. Viewers learn to analyze and interpret reading passages, write clearly and effectively, and solve everyday problems using principles of basic math, including algebra and geometry. The series was produced in consultation with local, state, and national experts in adult education.

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GROWING OLD IN A NEW AGE

Use Rights: Unlimited
13 - 60 minute programs

Learn about the impact of aging on both society and individuals as 75 diverse elders relate their experiences. The four ways that age is measured – chronologically, biologically, psychologically, and socially – are the basis for discussing the quality of life in later years. The series examines common misconceptions about aging and provides a springboard for analyzing new roles for elders, intergenerational alliances, resource allocation, and artificial attempts to prolong life.

1. Myths and Realities of Aging – The common myths surrounding aging are compared with today’s realities. Experts and elders describe how we learn about aging and how knowledge can help us debunk myths.
2. How the Body Ages – Experts describe the universal physical changes that accompany aging and explain how deterioration can be prevented. Researchers describe advances in cellular studies and the search for biomarkers of aging.
3. Maximizing Physical Potential of Older Adults – Considers ways to develop the greatest physical potential in an aging individual while compensating for the effects of aging. Elders describe how lifestyle choices have helped them maintain an active, healthy life.
4. Love, Intimacy, and Sexuality – Examines the sources of love and affection in old age and describes how aging may affect sexual and reproductive functioning. Older adults discuss their continuing need for companionship, intimacy, love, and sex.
5. Learning, Memory, and Speed of Behavior – Explores what happens to our mental capacities as we age. Techniques used to maintain and augment mental functioning are examined. Elders explain why lifelong learning is crucial.
6. Intellect, Personality, and Mental Health – Examines intellectual function and the nature of personality. Gerontologists describe longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs to study intellect and personality over the lifespan. Elders discuss mental health and stress-reduction techniques.
7. Social Roles and Relationships in Old Age – Looks at how family, friendship, work, and leisure roles evolve as we age. Elders discuss coping with role losses resulting from retirement or death of a loved one. The pioneering of new roles is explored.
8. Family and Intergenerational Relationships – Profiles older people as spouses and grandparents and looks at how elders sustain family traditions and culture. Older adults describe the satisfaction and stress of caring for spouses and frail parents.
9. Work, Retirement, and Economic Status – Explores labor force trends, early retirement, and new job opportunities for older workers. Retirees describe community service and leisure activities. Social Security, pensions, and other income sources are discussed.
10. Illness and Disability – Examines chronic health problems and availability of supportive services. Older people discuss how they cope with physical and mental illness and face tough decisions regarding institutionalization and costs of long-term care.
11. Dying, Death, and Bereavement – Discusses the services older people need to deal with dying and death. Elders describe their views on widowhood and management of grief. Experts examine the ethical dilemmas posed by terminal illness.
12. Societal and Political Aspects of Aging – Considers individual and governmental responsibilities for the health care and financial support of older citizens. Experts and elders examine the political clout of advocacy groups, older women, and minority elders.
13. The Future of Aging – Explores generational conflicts, resource needs of a growing population of elders, and the role of technology in improving quality of life for older adults. Experts describe how aging will be different in the twenty-first century.

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THE HABITABLE PLANET: A Systems Approach to Environmental Science

Use Rights: Unlimited
13 - 30 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This course is for high school teachers and undergraduate students in environmental science. The content course will help teachers of biology, chemistry and Earth science to provide more content in their classes. The course components include 13 half-hour video programs, a coordinated Web site which includes the streamed video programs, the course text online, five interactive simulations, background on the scientists who created the content and those whose research is documented, a professional development guide (also available in print form), and additional resources.  This course begins with an overview of the Earth’s systems – geophysical, atmospheric, oceanic, and ecosystems – as they exist independently of human influence.  Following this introduction, the course explores the effect that human activities have on the different natural systems. Topics include human population growth and resource use, increasing competition for fresh water, and climate change. Each of the 13 programs features two case studies following top scientists in the field.

INSIDE WRITING COMMUNITIES

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 3 - 5 
8 - 30 minute Workshop programs
8 – 30 minute Classroom programs
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop for elementary school teachers uses classroom footage to demonstrate how a writing workshop approach motivates intermediate students and helps them become proficient and independent writers. Ten teachers from across the country model teaching strategies and share reflections on their practice. Six nationally known experts in writing instruction comment on teaching and using the writing workshop approach with upper elementary students.

INSIGHTS INTO ALGEBRA 1: Teaching for Learning

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 6 - 12 
8 - 60 minute programs
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Insights Into Algebra 1: Teaching for Learning is an eight-part video, print, and Web-based professional development workshop for middle and high school teachers. Participants will explore strategies to improve the way they teach 16 topics found in most Algebra 1 programs. In each session, participants will view two half-hour videos that showcase effective strategies for teaching mathematical topics. Then, led by the workshop guide, participants will engage in activities designed to help them examine their teaching practice, incorporate what they are learning into their practice, share their experiences with other teachers, and reflect on their ongoing development.

IN SEARCH OF THE NOVEL

Use Rights: Unlimited
8 – 60 minute programs
Grade: 6 – 12
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Covering 10 of the most commonly taught novels, this video workshop for middle and high school teachers demonstrates ways to effectively teach the novel to students.

THE LEARNING CLASSROOM

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
13 - 30 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video-based course is an exploration of learning theory – appropriate for grades K-12 and all subject areas – for the training of pre-service teachers and the professional development of in-service teachers. Hosted by Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond, the 13 half-hour programs illustrate a variety of learning theories with applications to classroom practice. A Web site and print guide supplement the videos, with background readings, questions for discussion, and ongoing assignments that bring theory into practice. For more information visit: www.learner.org.

LEARNING MATH: Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
9 - 30 minute sessions
1 – 60 minute session
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Learn the basic concepts of data analysis and statistics with this video- and Web-based course for K-8 math teachers.

LEARNING MATH: Geometry

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
12 - 30 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Learn the basics of geometry in this video- and Web-based course.

LEARNING MATH: Measurement

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
12 - 30 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information) 

Learning Math: Measurement, a video- and Web-based course for elementary and middle school teachers, examines some of the major ideas in measurement. You will explore procedures for measuring and learn about standard units in the metric and customary systems, the relationships among units, and the approximate nature of measurement. You will also examine how measurement can illuminate mathematical concepts such as irrational numbers, properties of circles, and area and volume formulas, and discover how other mathematical concepts can inform measurement tasks such as indirect measurement.

The course consists of 10 approximately two-and-a-half-hour sessions, each with a half hour of video programming, problem-solving activities provided online and in a print guide, and interactive activities and demonstrations on the Web. The 10th session (choose video program 10, 11, or 12, depending on your grade level) explores ways to apply the concepts of measurement you've learned in your own classroom.

1. What Does It Mean To Measure?
Explore what can be measured and what it means to measure. Identify measurable properties such as weight, surface area, and volume, and discuss which metric units are more appropriate for measuring these properties. Refine your use of precision instruments, and learn about alternate methods such as displacement. Explore approximation techniques, and reason about how to make better approximations.

2. Measurement Fundamentals
Investigate the difference between a count and a measure, and examine essential ideas such as unit iteration, partitioning, and the compensatory principle. Learn about the many uses of ratio in measurement and how scale models help us understand relative sizes. Investigate the constant of proportionality in isosceles right triangles, and learn about precision and accuracy in measurement.

3. The Metric System
Learn about the relationships between units in the metric system and how to represent quantities using different units. Estimate and measure quantities of length, mass, and capacity, and solve measurement problems.

4. Angle Measurement
Review appropriate notation for angle measurement, and describe angles in terms of the amount of turn. Use reasoning to determine the measures of angles in polygons based on the idea that there are 360 degrees in a complete turn. Learn about the relationships among angles within shapes, and generalize a formula for finding the sum of the angles in any n-gon. Use activities based on GeoLogo to explore the differences among interior, exterior, and central angles.

5. Indirect Measurement and Trigonometry
Learn how to use the concept of similarity to measure distance indirectly, using methods involving similar triangles, shadows, and transits. Apply basic right-angle trigonometry to learn about the relationships among steepness, angle of elevation, and height-to-distance ratio. Use trigonometric ratios to solve problems involving right triangles.

6. Area
Learn that area is a measure of how much surface is covered. Explore the relationship between the size of the unit used and the resulting measurement. Find the area of irregular shapes by counting squares or subdividing the figure into sections. Learn how to approximate the area more accurately by using smaller and smaller units. Relate this counting approach to the standard area formulas for triangles, trapezoids, and parallelograms.

7. Circles and Pi
Investigate the circumference and area of a circle. Examine what underlies the formulas for these measures, and learn how the features of the irrational number pi (π) affect both of these measures.

8. Volume
Explore several methods for finding the volume of objects, using both standard cubic units and non-standard measures. Explore how volume formulas for solid objects such as spheres, cylinders, and cones are derived and related.

9. Measurement Relationships
Examine the relationships between area and perimeter when one measure is fixed. Determine which shapes maximize area while minimizing perimeter, and vice versa. Explore the proportional relationship between surface area and volume. Construct open-box containers, and use graphs to approximate the dimensions of the resulting rectangular prism that holds the maximum volume.

10. Classroom Case Studies, K–2
Watch this program in the 10th session for K–2 teachers. Explore how the concepts developed in this course can be applied through case studies of K–2 teachers (former course participants who have adapted their new knowledge to their classrooms), as well as a set of typical measurement problems for K–2 students.

11. Classroom Case Studies, 3–5
Watch this program in the 10th session for grade 3–5 teachers. Explore how the concepts developed in this course can be applied through case studies of grade 3–5 teachers (former course participants who have adapted their new knowledge to their classrooms), as well as a set of typical measurement problems for grade 3–5 students.

12. Classroom Case Studies, 6–8
Watch this program in the 10th session for grade 6–8 teachers. Explore how the concepts developed in this course can be applied through case studies of grade 6–8 teachers (former course participants who have adapted their new knowledge to their classrooms), as well as a set of typical measurement problems for grade 6–8 students.

 

LEARNING MATH: Numbers and Operations

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
12 - 30 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video- and Web-based course examines the three main categories in the Number and Operations strand of Principles and Standards of School Mathematics (NCTM).

LEARNING MATH: Patterns, Functions, and Algebra

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
10 - 30 minute sessions

Learning Math: Patterns, Functions, and Algebra is the first of five video- and Web-based mathematics courses for elementary and middle school teachers. These courses, organized around the content standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), will help you better understand the mathematics concepts underlying the content that you teach.

Patterns, Functions, and Algebra explores the “big ideas” in algebraic thinking, such as finding, describing, and using patterns; using functions to make predictions; understanding linearity and proportional reasoning; understanding non-linear functions; and understanding and exploring algebraic structure. The concluding case studies show you how to apply what you have learned in your own classroom.

LEARNING SCIENCE THROUGH INQUIRY

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop for K – 8 teachers shows inquiry teaching and learning in action – how it works and how it benefits students.

LOOKING AT LEARNING…AGAIN, PART I

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions

Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Understanding how children learn best is an important step toward improving mathematics and science teaching. This series features seven leading educators Eleanor Duckworth, Joseph Novak, Hubert Dyasi, Constance Kamii, Howard Gardner, Mitchel Resnick, and William Schmidt – who share their ideas on how children really learn. Explore how technology affects learning, learn to elicit and build on students’ ideas, and develop strategies for inquiry-based teaching.

1. The Many Faces of Learning – In this introductory workshop, you will meet the guest educators featured in the series and hear why they think it is important to continually examine the learning process. You will also have an opportunity to reflect on your own personal beliefs about learning and see clips of classrooms that will be presented in more detail in later workshops.
2. Intellectual Development – Explore the power of the mind and consider the notion that every child can learn everything. Harvard Professor Eleanor Duckworth discusses the importance of teaching for a deep and lasting understanding and explains why it is important to give students time to work through their own ideas and experience confusion in order to achieve such understanding.
3. Conceptual Thinking – In this workshop, the focus is on concept maps as tools for helping students learn. Joseph Novak, Professor of Biological Science, explains how students learn by assimilating new concepts into their already existing frameworks and takes a teacher step-by-step through the design and process of concept mapping. You will see concept maps being used in a variety of ways in mathematics and science lessons and will even have an opportunity to make some concept maps of your own.
4. Inquiry – Science Education Professor Hubert Dyasi discusses inquiry-based learning in science and explains why it is essential in all subjects. In this workshop, you will see several classrooms where inquiry learning is taking place and explore numerous strategies you can use in your own classroom.
5. Idea-Making – Student idea-making in mathematics is the subject of this workshop. Professor Constance Kamii, who studied under Jean Piaget for 12 years, explains how you can adapt your teaching to help students construct their own mathematical ideas. You will see video of students engaged in “mind mathematics” articulate and defend their strategies to classmates, and you will consider the value of using games to facilitate mathematics teaching and learning.
6. The Mind’s Intelligences – This workshop considers Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and shows his theory being applied in a range of classrooms. As Gardner shares his thoughts on educational reform, you will learn how to create learning environments that support the full spectrum of students’ abilities.
7. Design, Construction, and Technology – MIT Professor Mitchel Resnick guides this workshop exploring technology as an aid for learning. He discusses the impact of technology on learning when students design and construct tools to support their own inquiries. Teachers demonstrate technology in their classrooms and provide a sneak peek at Resnick’s newest learning tool – the cricket.
8. The International Picture – This workshop offers an opportunity to investigate various aspects of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), other than the test scores themselves. Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology William Schmidt presents differences in curricula, textbooks, and teaching practices around the world, and a group of community members discuss how the TIMSS results reflect societal and cultural values.

 

LOOKING AT LEARNING…AGAIN, PART II

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions

Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Through personal interviews, teacher discussions, and classroom video footage, this workshop encourages you to analyze existing theories about how children learn, as well as your own beliefs, and then examine how those beliefs might influence your teaching. Each workshop features a different educator’s learning theory and provides the opportunity to discuss, critique, and apply the ideas presented.

1. Behind the Design – With Philip Sadler, Ed.D. Young children are natural designers and builders, but if their interest is not fostered, it may wane as they move through grades. This workshop focuses on the use of simple design prototypes that children are asked to improve upon in order to meet a particular challenge. You will see these design challenges in action in middle school classrooms, as well as hear teachers discuss their experiences using designs with their students.
2. Mathematics: A Community Focus – With Dr. Marta Civil. As teachers, we often make assumptions about the knowledge children are exposed to at home. Sometimes it seems that we focus on only reading and writing. Dr. Civil contends that we need to look more carefully at the mathematical potential of the home and that it is essential that schools learn to be more flexible and knowledgeable about students’ home environments. See and hear from Dr. Civil, the teachers she works with, and a long-standing parent mathematics group, and follow a teacher on a family visit.
3. Learning to Share Perspectives – With Dr. Carne Barnett. Often teachers complain that they do not have ample opportunity to talk with colleagues about their students’ mathematical reasoning. In this workshop, you will learn about professional development based on the discussion of cases in mathematics teaching. Dr. Barnett describes this case approach, and a long-term teacher group is shown at work. The development of cases for children in elementary and middle school mathematics is highlighted as an evolving approach to furthering the development of their mathematical thinking.
4. Conceptual Change – With Dr. Peter Hewson. In this workshop, we explore the role played by prior knowledge in the learning of new science ideas. Only when a new idea is understood, accepted, and found to be useful does it begin to be exchanged for a previously held scientific belief. The workshop examines how teachers’ ideas about teaching and learning may be altered as they engage students in strategies designed to promote conceptual change.
5. Infusing Critical and Creative Thinking – With Dr. Robert Swartz. Teachers can help students become good thinkers. Good thinkers raise key questions and gather and evaluate pertinent information, thus making informed decisions. But how do we teach students to think skillfully? In this workshop, you will see how thinking skills can be infused into science content instruction, contrasted with direct instruction in non-curricular contexts. You will also see classrooms where teachers have restructured their lessons to infuse thinking skills and, in the process, added richness and depth to their students’ learning.
6. Algebra and Calculus: The Challenge – With Professor James Kaput. Professor Kaput of the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, studies children’s understanding of algebra and calculus. Historically, these topics have presented students with significant problems, and we tend to see it as a given that children will struggle with them. Kaput finds many ways of embedding algebra and calculus concepts into the curriculum much earlier in the school experience so that children are no longer asked to think about them as separate from their prior mathematics work.
7. Children’s Ways of Knowing – With Dr. Herbert Ginsburg. Children know a good deal of informal mathematics before they enter school. Clinical interviews help teachers understand what children know. In this session, you will see young children’s natural mathematical inclinations and watch as they construct their ideas. Observe Professor Ginsburg helping teachers of young children rethink the mathematics curriculum based on children’s natural mathematics work.
8. Learning to Listen – With Dr. Wynne Harlen. Formative assessment is a term that has gained prominence as teachers recognize the value of uncovering students’ thinking during the course of instruction. This information is then used to guide the development of lessons as well as provide feedback to students to assist them in their learning. In this workshop, you will see teachers encouraging students to ask questions, thus affording them the opportunity to test their ideas and restructure their own thinking.

MAKING A TV SHOW

Use Rights: LOAN------Gr. 3-12
1-20 minute program

Two students produce a television news report on the environment as a classroom project, modeling the steps necessary to use consumer video equipment, to produce, and to edit videos. Tips include using a tripod, simple editing, camera angles, and lighting.

MAKING CIVICS REAL: A Workshop for Teachers

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 9 - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop for high school teachers illustrates a constructivist approach to the teaching of civics.

MAKING MEANING IN LITERATURE WORKSHOP

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 6 - 8 
9 - 60 minute programs
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Learn techniques for developing active and effective readers in this video workshop for middle school teachers.

MAKING MEANING IN LITERATURE VIDEO LIBRARY

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 6 - 8 
9 - 20 minute programs

This video library for language arts teachers in grades 6-8 shows teaching practices that support unique student interactions with literature.

MATHEMATICS: What’s the Big Idea?

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
8 - 90 minute programs
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

What do quilts have to do with palaces? When is a third more than a half? K-8 teaches of mathematics will contemplate these and other provocative questions in the workshop, which offers motivation and tools for teachers who want to explore new ways of teaching math. Using a variety of models, activities, and video clips, this workshop encourages participants to reflect upon their own practice and discuss ideas for innovation in teaching.

MATHEMATICS ASSESSMENT: A Video Library

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
10 – 30-60 minute programs

This video library portrays the Assessment Standards and Purposes of Assessment of the National Council of Teachers and Mathematics. Showing classrooms where informal and formal assessments are used, the programs help educators sort through many options. They also help teachers see the link between instruction and assessment.

1. Introduction – The short introductory video acquaints viewers with the library and its components.
2. Case Study: Animals in Yellowstone (Elementary) – A fourth- and fifth-grade class uses a field trip to Yellowstone National Park to practice estimation skills and develop an understanding of large numbers. Student groups must agree on a reasonable estimate of the numbers of bison, elk, or pronghorn sheep that live in the park. Their teacher uses various methods to assess their reasoning skills and level of understanding.
3. Case Study: Problem Solvers Fall and Spring (Elementary) – This two-part program visits a combined first and second grade classroom in the fall and the following spring. A fall lesson has the entire class working in groups to estimate the number of seeds in a pumpkin. The following spring student groups solve individual problems, and then write problems of their own creation using informal language to describe mathematical situations.
4. Teacher Insights K-4 (Elementary) – Six elementary school teachers explain the variety of assessment techniques they use. Consulting educators examine the teachers’ comments and strategies within the context of the NCTM Assessment Standards.
5. Case Study: Fraction Tracks (Middle School) – Students play the Fraction Tracks game, which requires them to move pieces along number lines on a game board to get from zero to one. The teacher assess their knowledge of equivalent fractions as they play.
6. Case Study: Building Rafts With Rods (Middle School) – Seventh- and eighth-grade students are challenged to calculate the surface area and volume of a raft built with 1 to 10 rods, graph their data, develop a formula for the task, and write a question that will explain the task to subsequent classes. The activity helps their teacher assess their ability to recognize patterns and develop functions.
7. Teacher Insights 5-8 (Middle School) – Seven middle school teachers explain their uses of assessment in their classrooms. Two guest commentators underscore the learning opportunities presented by various assessments.
8. Case Study: Ferris Wheel (High School) – High school math students must develop a function which describes the position of a rider on a double Ferris wheel. The previous assignment asked for a similar function, but for a single Ferris wheel. Their teacher moves about the room listening as groups discuss how to set up the problem and asks carefully framed questions to make sure they’re on the right track.
9. Case Study: Group Test (High School) – A high school teacher presents a four-problem semester review test on the uses of functions in mathematical modeling. Students work in groups to complete the test using graphing calculators, resource sheets, and group discussion to find the solutions. This approach allows the teacher to give his students more challenge questions and assess their ability to work collaboratively.
10. Teacher Insights 9-12 (High School) – Seven high school teachers discuss their methods for assessing student learning, and encouraging students’ self-assessment. Guest commentators offer additional comments on individual teacher’s remarks as well as on a group discussion of teachers.

MATHEMATICS ILLUMINATED

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 9 - 12 
13 - 30 minute programs 

Mathematics Illuminated is a 13-part multimedia learning resource for adult learners and high school teachers in math and other disciplines. The series explores major themes in the field of mathematics, from mankind’s earliest study of prime numbers to the cutting edge mathematics used to reveal the shape of the universe. Rather than a series of problems to be solved, mathematics is presented as play we engage in to answer deep questions that are relevant in our world today. Mathematics also provides us with a powerful language for uncovering and describing phenomena in the world around us. The groundbreaking videos, interactive Web exploration, text materials, and group activities included in Mathematics Illuminated reveal the secrets and hidden delights of the ever-evolving world of mathematics.

• The Primes – The properties and patterns of prime numbers – whole numbers that are divisible only by themselves and one – have been a source of wonder across cultures for thousands of years, and the study of prime numbers is fundamental to mathematics. This unit explores our fascination with primes, culminating in the million-dollar puzzle of the Rieman Hypothesis, a possible description of the pattern behind the primes, and the use of the primes as the foundation of modern cryptography.
• Combinatorics Counts – Counting is an act of organization, a listing of a collection of things in an orderly fashion. Sometimes it’s easy; for instance counting people in a room. But listing all the possible seating arrangements of those people around a circular table is more challenging. This unit looks at combinatorics, the mathematics of counting complicated configurations. In an age in which the organization of bits and bytes of data is of paramount importance – as with the human genome – combinatorics is essential.
• How Big is Infinity? – Throughout the ages, the notion of infinity as has been a source of mystery and paradox, a philosophical question to ponder. As a mathematical concept, infinity is at the heart of calculus, the notion of irrational numbers – even measurement. This unit explores how mathematics attempts to understand infinity, including the creative and intriguing work of Georg Cantor, who initiated the study of infinity as a number, and the role of infinity in standardized measurement.
• Topology’s Twists and Turns – Topology, known as “rubber sheet math,” is a field of mathematics that concerns those properties of an object that remain the same even when the object is stretched and squashed. In this unit we investigate topology’s seminal relationship to network theory, the study of connectedness, and its critical function in understanding the shape of the universe in which we live.
• Other Dimensions – The conventional notion of dimension consists of three degrees of freedom: length, width, and height, each of which is a quantity that can be measured independently of the others. Many mathematical objects, however, require more – potentially many more – than just three numbers to describe them. This unit explores different aspects of the concept of dimension, what it means to have higher dimensions, and how fractional or “fractal” dimensions may be better for measuring real-world objects such as ferns, mountains, and coastlines.
• The Beauty of Symmetry – In mathematics, symmetry has more than just a visual or geometric quality. Mathematicians comprehend symmetries as motions – motions whose interactions and overall structure give rise to an important mathematical concept called “group.” This unit explores Group Theory, the mathematical quantification of symmetry, which is key to understanding how to remove structure from (i.e., shuffle) a deck of cards or to fathom structure in a crystal.
• Making Sense of Randomness – Probability is the mathematical study of randomness, or events in which the outcome is uncertain. This unit examines probability, tracing its evolution from a way to improve chances at the gaming table to modern applications of understanding traffic flow and financial markets.
• Geometries Beyond Euclid – Our first exposure to geometry is that of Euclid, in which all triangles have 180 degrees. As it turns out, triangles can have more or less than 180 degrees. This unit explores these curved spaces that are at once otherworldly and firmly of this world – and present the key to understanding the human brain.
• Game Theory – Competition and cooperation can be studied mathematically, and idea that first arose in the analysis of games like chess and checkers, but soon showed its relevance to economics and geopolitical strategy. This unit shows how conflict and strategies can be thought about mathematically, and how doing so can reveal important insights about human and even animal behaviors.
• Harmonious Math – All sound is the product of airwaves crashing against our eardrums. The mathematical technique for understanding this and other wave phenomena is called the Fourier analysis, which allows the disentangling of a complex wave into basic waves called sinusoids, or sine waves. In this unit we discover how the Fourier analysis is used in creating electronic music and underpins all digital technology.
• Connecting with Networks – Connections can be physical, as with bridges, or immaterial, as with friendships. Both types of connections can be understood using the same mathematical framework called network theory, or graph theory, which is a way to abstract and quantify the notion of connectivity. This unit looks at how this branch of mathematics provides insights into extremely complicated networks such as ecosystems.
• In Sync – Systems of synchronization occur throughout the animate and inanimate world. The regular beating of the human heart, the swaying and near collapse of the Millennium Bridge, the simultaneous flashing of gangs of fireflies in Southeast Asia; these varied phenomena all share the property of spontaneous synchronization. This unit shows how synchronization can be analyzed, studied, and modeled via the mathematics of differential equations, an outgrowth of calculus, and the application of these ideas toward understanding the workings of the heart.
• The Concepts of Chaos – The flapping of a butterfly’s wings over Bermuda causes a rainstorm in Texas. Two sticks start side by side on the surface of a brook, only to follow divergent paths downstream. Both are examples of the phenomenon of chaos, characterized by a widely sensitive dependence of the future on slight changes in a system’s initial conditions. This unit explores the mathematics of chaos, which involves the discovery of structure in what initially appears to be random, and imposes limits on predictability.

 

THE MERROW REPORT

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
58 - 15 minute to two hour programs

Veteran NewsHour education reporter John Merrow investigates education’s headline-making issues – as well as those we don’t hear about – in these video documentaries for K-12 educators and parents.

MINDS OF OUR OWN

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
3 - 60 minute sessions

Why don’t even the brightest students truly grasp simple science concepts? These video programs pick up on the questions asked in the Private Universe documentary and further explore how children learn. Based on recent research, as well as the pioneering work of Piaget and others, Minds Of Our Own shows that many of the things we assume about how children learn are simply not true. For educators and parents, these programs bring new insight to debates about education reform.

THE MISSING LINK: Essential Concepts for Middle School Math Teachers

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 6 - 8 
8 - 60 minute programs
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop for middle school math teachers presents four concepts that have been identified by TIMSS (the Third International Mathematics and Science Study) as crucial to your students’ success.

NEW AMERICAN SCHOOLS: Getting Better by Design

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
9 - 60 minute programs

This workshop examines the school improvement programs of New American Schools (NAS), a leader in the growing national movement known as “comprehensive school reform.” The programs present eight diverse, research-based designs for school improvement, detailing the approach of each NAS Design Team and how educators and communities support their work. The programs are tailored to the needs of schools and districts considering school reform projects.

THE NEXT MOVE: Steps Toward Change in Elementary Math & Science

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 5 
8 - 60 minute programs
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop will help K-5 math and science teachers move toward more student-centered classrooms.

PRIMARY SOURCES

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
2 - 30 minute programs

Primary source materials can make history come alive for students. This two-part series provides teachers with training on how to integrate primary source materials into the classroom. Using a wealth of available online resources, the series focused on ways to use primary sources to illustrate, supplement, and enrich lessons for students.

1. Library of Congress – This program takes educators inside the Library of Congress, the world’s largest library. Featured segments include the Library of Congress web site (www.loc.gov) and some of the original documents that have been digitized.
2. Adventure of the American Mind – This program introduces educators to the Northern Virginia Partnership of Adventure of the American Mind project, a national initiative funded by a federal grant through the Library of Congress.  Educators learn how to navigate the Primary Source Learning web site (www.primarysourcelearning.org) and how to locate classroom activities and lesson plans that can be found on the site.

 

PRIMARY SOURCES: Workshops in American History

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 9 - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions

Explore the use of primary-source documents in the research and interpretation of American history in this video workshop for high school teachers.

PRINCIPLES FOR PRINCIPALS

Use Rights: Unlimited
8 - 60 minute workshops

Designed by and for principals working to improve student achievement in mathematics and science, this video workshop addresses the specific issues faced by K-12 administrators.

PRIVATE UNIVERSE PROJECT IN MATHEMATICS

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
6 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop for K-12 educators investigates how mathematics teaching can be structured to resonate with children’s own mathematical ideas – many of which are surprisingly complex.

REACTIONS IN CHEMISTRY

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 9 - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Learn chemistry content, history, applications, and lessons with this video workshop for high school teachers.

REDISCOVERING BIOLOGY: Molecular to Global Perspectives

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 9 - 12 
13 - 30 minute programs
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Rediscovering Biology: Molecular to Global Perspectives explains these developments for teachers of high school biology to update their content knowledge and understanding. The multimedia course materials – video, online text, interactive Web activities, and course guide – will help new and veteran biology teachers become familiar with current research methods and tools that will lead to new discoveries in the coming decades. Thirteen half-hour video programs feature interviews with expert scientists involved in groundbreaking research, such as Eric Lander of the MIT Genomics Center and Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation. Detailed animations provide a micro-level view of biological processes and techniques such as mass spectrometry and microarray analysis. Supporting and expanding the video content, the course guide and interactive Web site provide learning activities, additional information, a detailed glossary, annotated animations, and case studies that invite teachers to run their own mini research projects. An extensive online text, downloadable for printing, covers the content participants need to know for the 13 units.

RIGHT FROM BIRTH

Use Rights: LOAN ONLY
10 - 30 minute programs

SATELLITE TOWN MEETINGS

(EDUCATION NEWS PARENTS CAN USE)
Use Rights: UNLIMITED

CHARACTER EDUCATION: Teaching Respect, Responsibility and Citizenship (10/16/01)  This program focuses on the most productive ways that schools can teach and reinforce core ethical values, civic virtues and our democratic traditions. Studies of schools with successful character education programs show a positive impact on disciplinary referrals, daily attendance, dropout rates and standardized test scores. The most effective character education programs integrate character development into every aspect of school life and culture.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: What it Means for Parents (11/20/01)  This program aims to inform and prepare parents for the legislative and other changes that will help us realize President Bush’s vision of leaving no child behind in our nation’s schools. The President’s plan, in partnership with parents, communities and schools, ensures that every child in America will receive an excellent education.

TESTING FOR RESULTS: Using Assessment (1/15/02)  Communities with high standards and challenging tests have teachers and school leaders who use achievement scores to identify specific objectives that their students are, or are not, mastering. This information can help schools decide to spend their money on staff training in effective writing instruction. Test score data allow schools to made decisions based on facts rather than guesses. Teachers in those communities can then focus on filling in the gaps.

CHARTERS, MAGNETS, AND CHOICE: Expanding Options for America’s Parents (2/19/02)  This program showcases the expanded range of options available to parents and their children – particularly those children who would otherwise be left behind in low-performing schools.

TEACHER QUALITY: Ensuring Excellence in Every Classroom (3/19/02)  This Town Meeting explores how communities around the country provide teachers the tools they need to improve instruction and to help all students succeed.

IMPROVING AMERICA’S HIGH SCHOOLS: Preparing America’s Future (4/16/02)  This Town Meeting explores how communities around the country are working to ensure all high school students possess the academic and technical skills necessary to successfully transition to college and enter meaningful careers.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: Ready to Read, Ready to Learn (5/21/02) Through extensive partnerships, communities and school districts around the country are creating comprehensive early childhood programs to ensure that all children are prepared to learn. These programs align what children are doing before they enter school, to what is expected of them once they are in school. If a child enters school without essential cognitive skills, he or she runs a significant risk of starting behind and staying behind.

AFTERSCHOOL AND SUMMER PROGRAMS: Helping Kids Get Smart and Stay Safe (6/18/02)  Research shows that nearly eight in 10 teens that participate in after school programs are high achieving students. Children and youth who regularly attend high-quality, after school programs have: better grades and conduct in school; more academic and personal growth opportunities; better peer relations and emotional adjustment, and; lower incidences of drug-use, violence and pregnancy.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: Tools & Information Parents Can Use (9/17/02)   Through interviews and discussions, with Department of Education officials, educators and parents across the country, this program will help parents find resources, information, and answers to questions they may have about the No Child Left Behind law’s Reading First program, testing requirements, and the many options available to parents whose children are attending schools in need of improvement.

Protecting Your Child at Home and at School (10/15/02)   In this program, experts, school officials and parents will discuss the real risks to children – in and out of school. Topics to be explored include: protecting children from abduction and exploitation; bullying and the steps that can be taken to remove the climate of fear and intimidation in schools created by bullying; identifying what a safe learning environment looks like at schools; and establishing a crisis plan to help parents and schools during times of emergency. 

SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS: Gateway to the Future (11/19/02)  This program will help parents understand the importance of ensuring a world-class mathematics and science education for all children. The program will offer parents information and tools for encouraging their children’s academic achievement in these essential subjects.
EMPOWERING PARENTS, CREATING CHANGE: The First Anniversary of No Child Left Behind (1/21/03) This broadcast celebrates the first year of the No Child Left Behind Act and its improvements in education in communities nationwide. The legislation is historic in the expansion of information and options available to parents and the role that they play in ensuring their child has access to a first-class education. The show will explain these options and feature “empowered” parents across the country who are promoting reading competence through mentoring and tutoring, supporting testing and accountability as a mechanism for improving student academic performance, and embracing school choice through the development of parent-organized charter schools and supplemental services. The show will emphasize ways parents can promote educational excellence in the home and in the community.

Helping Your Child Become a Good Citizen (3/18/03) Schools across the country have created programs that focus on character, civic participation, responsibility, and service. These programs develop habits that are essential to American democratic life and encourage students to put their knowledge and ideas into practice by helping to solve real community problems. This broadcast will provide parents information and resources to help them to help their children to become better citizens.

Investing in America’s Classrooms: Ensuring Every Child Has a Highly-Qualified Teacher (4/15/03)  Unfortunately, colleges of education – the traditional route to the classroom – do not always attract the best and brightest students into the profession, and many new teachers do not feel prepared to help their students meet performance standards I the subjects they teach. In an effort to streamline the process for entering the classroom and improve the quantity and quality of America’s teaching corps, many States and districts have been employing alternative routes to certification that rely on recruiting and licensing individuals with subject-area expertise and experience rather than a traditional education credential.

Serving Students with Disabilities: Helping All Children Achieve (5/20/03)  Despite progress made in the last decade, too many students with disabilities remain trapped in bureaucracies that create and encourage dependence, denied the tools they need to reach their full educational potential.  The good news is schools, districts and communities around the country are now working to turn these trends around by expanding access to quality education for Americans with disabilities. In doing so, those school systems are applying the principles of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001: accountability for results; flexibility; scientifically based programs and teaching methods; and full information and options for parents.

Helping Your Child Succeed in School (9/16/03) This edition of Education News will feature interviews and discussions with Department officials, educators and parents to explain the many new types of information available on individual schools and district performance such as school report cards, teacher quality expectations, and supplemental educational services options for parents. Throughout, the show will highlight schools and communities that are effectively using new provisions to improve education.

Education Beyond High School: Preparing Academically & Financially (11/18/03) Now more than ever, postsecondary education is affordable and within reach, but both academic and financial preparation must begin early.  Research shows that academic success in college is directly related to the rigor of the coursework leading up to that point.  Therefore, parents and students need to carefully prepare for college – starting as early as the middle grades – to build the academic foundation for the future.  Early financial planning is also a critical component in the college education, and over the past decade, programs ranging from state college savings plans to Federal tax credits and 529 plans have helped millions of families plan for their children’s academic future.  With over $60 billion in Federal student aid, grants and loans, and billions more available through private scholarships, state and local programs or in exchange for military or volunteer service, college is within reach for everyone.

Closing America’s Achievement Gap (1/20/04)  This edition of Education News will feature interviews and discussions with Department of Education officials, educators, researchers and parents to explain the challenge of our nation’s achievement gap and how school systems and communities across the country are using tools to ensure all children are successful. 

New Options for Families (2/17/04)  As part of the mix of educational choices available to parents, charter schools are becoming an alternative to the traditional public school. By definition, charter schools have greater freedom from regulations in exchange for being held to high standards of accountability. Charters, scholarship programs and other choice options expanded through the No Child Left Behind Act will ultimately promote competition within the public school system and encourage all schools to improve. 

Math and Science: Preparing for the Future (3/16/04)  Today, with the advent of the information age, educators know that virtually all jobs – not just technical or professional ones – demand a deeper understanding of math and science principles than was necessary in previous generations. The challenge of the 21st century will be to ensure that all students develop mastery of math and science subjects. 

Reforming High Schools & Career Technical Education (4/20/04)  Employers from all sectors of American industry are demanding high level of academic knowledge and skills. Many schools across the country in partnership with industry, and their local communities, are meeting the challenge by raising standards, expanding access to rigorous courses, ensuring that extra academic assistance is provided and aligning education requirements with requirements for admission to postsecondary education and those of the workplace.

AMERICAN HISTORY, HUMANITIES AND CIVICS: Shaping America’s Future (5/18/04) To help schools and communities around the country create an engaged and informed citizenry, the U.S. Department of Education has established efforts to improve the teaching of American history and civics to make historical resources more accessible to teachers and students.

Keeping Kids Healthy, Physically Fit and Learning Throughout the Year (6/15/04) This program will focus on ways schools and families can help students to begin developing the skills, knowledge and habits to stay healthy and fit throughout their lives. This show will also feature a special segment on summer reading. With research indicating that students can experience up to a month of learning loss over the summer, activities such as library-, school- or community-led summer reading programs are encouraged to help ensure that students return to school ready to read and ready to learn.

Back to School: Ready to Read, Ready to Succeed (9/21/04)- This program will explore why the first and most important goal of education in America should be to ensure that every child develops proficiency in reading. Highlighted is the critical role of highly qualified teachers in improving reading achievement and in closing the achievement gaps.

Supplemental Services: Helping All Students Achieve (10/19/04) This program explores how supplemental services can help give students an equal chance at academic success and will look at particular school systems that have successfully put these services in place. The program will also showcase efforts from around the country where parents, schools and communities have joined forces to ensure all students – regardless of economic or racial or ethnic background – are successful in school.

Dropout Prevention and Recovery: Catching Students Before It’s Too Late (11/16/04) – Many factors can influence students to drop out, including: academic problems; a death, divorce or other significant transition in the family. Documenting and assisting these students poses a great challenge for states and districts around the country, because there is no standard definition or reporting system to determine when a student is formally declared a dropout.

No Child Left Behind Third Anniversary (1/18/05) – The landmark No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law, and a new era in education began. With this historic legislation, America made a firm commitment to improve educational opportunities for every child, and to see that all – regardless of ethnicity, income, or background – have the chance to achieve high standards.

Drug & Alcohol Prevention: Keeping Kids on the Right Track (2/15/05) –This program will explore how parents, schools and the community are working together to provide students with the knowledge and tools necessary to make wise, informed choices about drug and alcohol abuse.

Arts Education: Improving Students’ Academic Performance (3/15/05) Research has shown that when students study the arts, academic performance improves in subjects such as mathematics, reading and writing. This is particularly true for students who are most at risk of struggling with their school work or of dropping out, including students with physical or learning disabilities and those with English as their second language. Additionally, recent studies point a direct connection between music and spatial reasoning and spatial temporal skills, which are important to understanding and using mathematical concepts.

Early Childhood Development: What Parents Need to Know (4/19/05) – Children do not automatically learn the skills they need to begin reading – they need help and practice. Not having those opportunities can have devastating effects on children’s achievements in school. Based on the understanding that literacy and numeracy are learned skills, not biological awakenings, young children need learning environments rich in sounds and spoken language with lots of opportunities to learn about books, letters, print, numbers and counting.  Such activities prepare them to be successful in school – and in life. That is why with the “Early Reading First” and “Reading First” initiatives, the U.S. Department of Education is working to provide all children with an equal chance for academic success.

Preparing Students for the Global Economy (5/17/05) – With the advent of the information age, virtually all jobs – not just those in scientific fields – are demanding a deeper understanding of science than was necessary in previous generations. The challenge of the 21st century will be to ensure that all students develop an appreciation for and mastery of science subjects. To help address this need and encourage the preparation of U.S. students as science, technology and engineering professionals, the president is calling for renewed focus on impoving science instruction.

Service Learning: Creating Community & Develop Citizens (6/21/05) – This program will provide parents information on service learning and will share resources to help them to help their children to become engaged citizens. Service learning connects the classroom to the real world by integrating meaningful community service with the academic curriculum. These programs develop habits that are essential to civic life and encourage students to put their knowledge and ideas into practice to help solve real community problems.

High Schools: Expanding the Promise of No Child Left Behind (9/20/05) – Today, many students, particularly minority and disadvantaged youths, leave high school unprepared, often lacking the basic skills they need to get a high-wage job or to purse postsecondary education and training. This program will feature special back-to-school tips from Secretary Margaret Spellings and the 2005 National Teacher of the Year, Jason Kamras, and will include a panel of educators, policymakers, and business and community leaders exploring key issues.

Responding to Traumatic Events: Keeping Students Safe and Secure (10/18/05) – This program will explore what can be done to keep our children safe – before, during and after school – in the face of a natural catastrophe or other crisis. Examining the recent example of our nation’s experience with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the program will highlight the ways that local, state and federal agencies, as well as teachers, principals, mental health professionals, law enforcement officials and others respond when our children face a crisis. The broadcast will explore how teachers and schools are directly intervening to protect and reassure displaced students; how various organizations are helping parents to be prepared to face emergencies; and how law enforcement, school systems and local government agencies are working together to develop effective crisis plans.

Special Education: Ensuring Excellence for All Students (11/15/05) November 15, 2005 marks 30 years since Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This broadcast of Education News Parents Can Use will showcase inclusion programs in schools, profile research-based, early identification and intervention initiatives to identify academic and behavioral problems in young children, and will include a panel of educators, policymakers, community leaders and parents.

Improving Access to College: Preparing for Education Beyond High School (1/17/06) – Now more than ever, postsecondary education is affordable and within reach, but both academic and financial preparation must begin early. Over $67 billion in Federal student aid, grants and loans is available and billions more through private scholarships, state and local programs or in exchange for military or volunteer service.

Math and Science Education (2/21/06) – Today, emergent technologies and rapidly changing technical and manufacturing fields serve as powerful reminders that in order to keep up with our global competitors; we must ensure that all children succeed in mathematics and science. The American Competitiveness Initiative includes increasing the number of highly qualified math and science teaches in America’s classrooms; expanding Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs in math and science; creating incentives for students to major in high-tech and engineering fields; and increasing funding for programs that provide extra help for students struggling in math and science.

Helping America’s Youth: Engaging At-Risk Students (3/21/06) – This program will explore the Helping America’s Youth Initiative, with a special emphasis on what schools can do to engage children in their studies, promote healthy behaviors, and prepare students for successful lives after graduation. The program features a special videotaped message from U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, “best practices” in positive youth development, and a conversation with educators, researchers and community leaders.

Inspiring Excellence: Great Teachers, Great Principals (4/18/06) – This program will showcase award-winning educators in schools, explore how effective teaching is at the core of America’s long-term economic competitiveness. The program highlights alternative strategies to recruit, train, and reward effective teachers and principals and reveal how programs like the Adjunct Teacher Corps, Teacher-to-Teacher, and the American competitiveness Initiative are strengthening our nation’s teachers, schools, and students.

New Tools for Parents: Getting Informed & Getting Involved (5/16/06) – This program will highlight the latest tools for parents under the No Child Left Behind and provide tips, resources and advice on how parents – especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds – can access valuable information on the performance available to them under the law.

Child Health and Nutrition (6/20/06) – Research confirms what parents and teachers have long known: students who are well nourished and physically fit are more productive in the classroom and happier at home. This program will look closely at the ways in which state and federal agencies are working with schools and families to promote healthy, active lifestyles in students.

SCHOOL TESTING – Behind the Numbers

Use Rights: Unlimited
1 – 60 minute program

A lively, humorous and thoughtful discussion of the meaning and impact of school testing, from the reporters who cover testing, their editors who shape the stories, students who take the tests, parents who want their children to do well, teachers who prepare students for the tests, administrators who must meet accountability requirements, respond to parents and encourage teachers, the policymakers who set the requirements and the experts who question the impact. Discussion examples are drawn from Virginia, California, New York, the District of Columbia, Florida, North Carolina and the national debate. School Testing shows the many views of school testing today, and raises questions that are likely to occur in all communities.

SCIENCE K-6: Investigating Classrooms

Use Rights: Unlimited
9 – 25-55 minute workshops

This workshop shows how teachers are incorporating genuine inquiry into their classes. See experienced teachers create supportive learning environments, structure small groups for cooperative learning, and draw out and interpret what students are thinking and learning.

1. Introduction – Provides an overview of the library.
2. Food for Thought – A fifth-grade class in Huntsville, Alabama explores food chemistry. (50 min.)
3. Completing the Circuit – A fourth-grade class in Castro Valley, California investigates electrical circuits. (50 min.)
4. All Sorts of Leaves – A first-grade class in Boynton Beach, Florida studies biodiversity by taking a close look at leaves. (50 min.)
5. Food for Thought: A Conversation About Teaching – Practicing teachers and science education professionals reflect on the issues raised in Food for Thought. (55 min.)
6. Completing the Circuit: A Conversation About Teaching – Practicing teachers and science education professionals reflect on the issues raised in Completing the Circuit. (55 min.)
7. All Sorts of Leaves A Conversation About Teaching – Practicing teachers and science education professionals reflect on the issues raised in All Sorts of Leaves. (55 min.)
8. Teacher Workshop – Sixteen in-service teachers engage in professional development using Completing the Circuit. (40 min.)
9. Parents Open House – Teachers, parents, and administrators discuss how different today’s classroom science looks from that of the past. (25 min.)

 

SCIENCE IN FOCUS: ENERGY

Use Rights: Unlimited
8 – 60 minute workshops
Grade: K – 6
Graduate Credit Available

Understanding the concept of energy is crucial to the comprehension of many ideas in physical science, Earth and space science, and life science. The video programs, print guide, and Web site of this workshop for teachers in Grade K-6 provide a solid foundation, enabling you to distinguish between the way “energy” is commonly understood and its meaning in science. Examine energy’s role in motion, machines, food, the human body, and the universe as a whole. Learn how energy can be converted from one form to another and transferred over space and time. And explore the notion of “conservation of energy” – the idea that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Return to the classroom with a new focus on the important concept of energy.

SCIENCE IN FOCUS: Force and Motion

Use Rights: Unlimited
8 – 60 minute workshops
Grade: K – 8
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Explore science concepts in force and motion and come away with a deeper understanding that will help you engage your students in their own explorations, with this video workshop.

SCIENCE IN FOCUS: Shedding Light on Science

Use Rights: Unlimited
8 – 60 minute workshops
Grade: K – 5
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop uses light as a theme to explore topics in physics, chemistry, biology, space science, and Earth Science.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:THE FORMATIVE YEARS

Use Rights: Unlimited
6 – 26 minute programs
Purchased by Federal Programs
TITLE II, FY 98

This staff development series examines the teaching of science and technology at the elementary level. By showing teachers in action in primary and junior high school classrooms and by interviewing experts in science education, each program looks at practical ways of implementing the goals and examining the new directions in elementary science.

AN OVERVIEW – Classroom highlights from the five subsequent programs exemplify the basic elements for running an active, child-centered science program. This introduction also looks at the inquiry process, discusses the inclusion of technology, and describes print and kit resources.

THE INQUIRY PROCESS – A demonstration of the inquiry skills of exploring, inquiring, planning, collecting, and communicating, through visits to a first grade class and a sixth grade group (both in Canada). The project leader from Science is Happening Here and a special assignment teacher discuss the approaches shown.

INCLUDING TECHNOLOGY – A 4th-grade unit on planets is extended to include the design and building of a space colony. Education experts from a Canadian school districts design center demonstrate simple ways of including scientific technology in any unit.

SCIENCE AND LITERATURE – This program shows how to use literature as a teaching tool for science instruction. A childrens book store owner suggests a wide range of books to use in the various science areas, colorfully explaining her choices. A classroom teacher offers a study of Ezra Jack Keats, whose children’s fiction embodies many scientific concepts and principles.

USING KITS – Kits are shown in action at the second, third, and fourth-grade levels. A science coordinator discusses the reasons for using kits and the practicalities of setting up a kit system.

CHILD-CENTERED SCIENCE – Two teachers model effective child-centered teaching techniques with their primary classes through a unit on electricity. The program shows students brainstorming, questioning, investigating, sharing, and testing; it also shows how the teachers structure their program to meet the needs and progress of the students.

SCIENCELINE

Use Rights: Unlimited 
12 - Programs    30 minutes

A collaborative effort of PBS and the National Science Teachers Association, ScienceLine is based on the National Science Education Standards that call for learning and teaching science through scientific inquiry. As it explores scientific inquiry in the context of the teaching and assessment standards, ScienceLine adheres to the Standards recommendations for professional development programs, including:

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SEASONS OF LIFE

Use Rights: Unlimited
5- 6 minute programs

These intriguing programs are an excellent introduction to developmental psychology from conception through old age. This series explores the biological, psychological, and social “clocks” that are the essence of life-span education. Nearly 75 psychologists, sociologists, biologists, and anthropologists present theory, methods, and research. Over 100 real individuals from diverse backgrounds talk about the significant events in their lives.

1. Infancy and Early Childhood (Birth-Age 5) – Beginning with the first years of life, the early influences of the biological and social clocks, how children develop, and how they gain confidence and curiosity are explored.
2. Childhood and Adolescence (Ages 6-20) – This program examines the years before and during adolescence and the stressful task of molding an identity while the biological and social clocks are out of synch.
3. Early Adulthood (Ages 20-40) – Young adults hear the first of many messages from the social clock: to separate from family, get a job, find a mate, set goals, and face reality in this period of intense social growth.
4. Middle Adulthood (Ages 40-60) – Older adults are concerned with creating a legacy for the next generation, changes in life direction, and personal goal achievement.
5. Late Adulthood (Ages 60+) – An examination of the last stage of life, when people consider what they might still do to change or add to their lives.

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SOCIAL STUDIES IN ACTION: A Teaching Practices Library, K-12

Use Rights: Unlimited 
29 - Programs    30 minutes
3 – Programs   60 minutes

The Social Studies in Action teaching practices library, professional development guide, and companion Web site bring to life the National Council for the Social Studies standards. Blending content and methodology, the video documents 24 teachers and their students in K-12 classrooms across the country actively exploring the social studies. Lively, provocative, and educationally sound, these lessons are designed to inspire thoughtful conversations and reflections on teaching practices in the social studies.

SOCIAL STUDIES IN ACTION: A Methodology Workshop, K-5

Use Rights: Unlimited 
8 - Programs    60 minutes
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop for K-5 teachers provides a methodology framework for teaching social studies, with a focus on creating effective citizens.

SMART PLAY

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
4 - 30 minute programs

Parents, child care providers, and teachers can influence the play environment to enhance numerous developmental skills. Using inexpensive materials, program hosts illustrate how the different projects can hone fine and gross motor skills, prediction skills, and the ability to discriminate between alike and different.

SURPRISES IN MIND

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 8 
1 - 60 minute program

Many people – in and out of school – find mathematics frustrating, difficult, even impossible. This documentary uncovers a surprise: Mathematical creativity – expressed in art, architecture, and music and valued by industry – is built into the brain and can flourish under the right conditions. A remarkable 12-year study following students from first grade through high school demonstrates the brain’s surprising natural abilities for learning math. The study, led by Professor Carolyn Maher of Rutgers University, brought results that are corroborated by new research from leading cognitive psychologists. Discover ways to unlock this natural human gift for mathematics in classrooms, workplaces, and homes.

TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES K-12 WORKSHOP

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
8 - 30 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop will help K-12 foreign language teachers improve their practice by making connections between the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning and current research in foreign language education.

TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES K-12 WORKSHOP

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: K - 12 
8 - 30 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop will help K-12 foreign language teachers improve their practice by making connections between the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning and current research in foreign language education.

TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES K-12: A Library of Classroom Practices

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 7 - 12 
28 - 30 minute programs and 2 – 60 minute programs

Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 is a video library illustrating effective instruction and assessment strategies for teaching foreign languages. The language classrooms shown in this library include Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Chinese. All classroom videos are subtitled in English and are appropriate for K-12 teachers of any foreign language. Created in conjunction with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the library includes a 30-minute introduction and 60-minute overviews of ACTFL’s Standards for Foreign Language Learning and new assessment practices, as well as 27 classroom programs. In the half-hour classroom programs, teachers from schools across the country model interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes of communication throughout a range of grade and competency levels. Concepts of culture, comparisons, connections to students’ lives, and the importance of community are also integrated into the lessons. A Web site and print guide accompany the video programs, providing a complete professional development experience (www.learner.org).

TEACHING GEOGRAPHY

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 7 - 12 
8 - 60 minute sessions
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop provides a strong foundation in geography content and inquiry teaching skills for teachers in grades 7 – 12.

TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE

Use Rights: Unlimited
6 – 30-55 minute programs

Asking questions, making discoveries, gathering data, analyzing explanations, and communicating scientific arguments are key ingredients in a classroom where vibrant inquiry is taking place. The Teaching High School Science library will help new and veteran science teachers integrate national science standards and inquiry learning into their curricula. Showing science classrooms around the country, the modules cover topics in life science, physical science, Earth and space science, and integrated science. They also show a range of teaching techniques and student/teacher interaction.

TEACHING MATH, K - 4

Use Rights: Unlimited
24 – programs of various lengths
Purchased by Federal Programs
TITLE II, FY 98

Teaching Math: A Video Library, K-4 is intended to be used in diverse audience settings, including college and university teacher development programs, in-service workshops, parent-teacher association gatherings, and individual teacher development programs. The library is an extensive collection of videos and a guidebook that shows you classrooms at work. Using these resources, you will come to understand and develop your own approach to teaching mathematics in new and exciting ways.

Number Sense and Numeration

Math Buddies & Place-Value Centers - Students develop an understanding of the numeration system by relating counting, grouping, and place-value concepts. Throughout the lesson, place-value language, such as saying the number of tens and ones, 1 ten and 3 ones, is related to the standard oral name, thirteen, and to the standard symbolic representation, 13. Students also measure items, such as their heights, by linking Unifix cubes and then breaking the cubes into tens and ones for counting to find the total height.

Animals in Yellowstone - Students now develop number sense and construct meaning for large numbers by estimating how many bison, elk, and pronghorn they saw on a recent field trip to Yellowstone National Park.
Concepts of Whole Number Operations

Amazing Equations - This lesson uses the day of the month, which is April 20th. Students investigate the concepts of addition and subtraction as they compose and share story problems that have a sum or difference of 20.
Domino Math - Students in this lesson sit in a circle on the floor, with a full set of large dominoes in the middle of the circle. Students are asked to find dominoes that have a total of four dots, after which they learn how to use stick-on dots to make domino patterns on paper.

What's The Price? - Students in this lesson use problem-solving approaches - such as acting out or drawing pictures - to investigate and understand division. They make connections to everyday life as they determine unit costs for household items.

Whole Number Computation

Window Puzzle - Students first review previous work with a window puzzle (a square that is divided into four equal squares). Students are now engaged in a problem-solving task investigating number combinations with the window puzzle. In the task, students explore both addition and subtraction.
Wheel Problem - Before this lesson, students examined ways that students and teachers traveled to school. Continuing on this theme, students are asked how many vehicles could be in a parking lot if the total number of wheels is twenty-four. The class discusses what they know about the problem and how it is similar to, or different from, problems they have solved in the past.

Choose a Method - The class is divided into three groups for this lesson. One group works on computers, a second group creates tessellation patterns on paper, and a third group works with Ms. Holden to investigate the use of different computational methods. Students in this group first explore base-ten blocks.
Geometry and Spatial Sense

Pattern Blocks - This lesson begins with students exploring the pattern blocks with a partner. Some students are asked to describe the shapes and patterns they are creating. As one student describes a block, another student illustrates it on an individual chalkboard.  After students identify their pattern-block pieces, they learn the mathematical term for that piece - hexagon, trapezoid, square, triangle, or rhombus.
Shapes From Squares - Using their own squares, students follow a demonstration on how to fold a five-inch by five-inch paper square into halves. They open their paper squares and make four airplane folds, folding each corner into the center. Students develop spatial sense as they investigate the results of subdividing and changing their squares to create different shapes.

Circumference/Diameter - The class reviews the meaning of radius, diameter, center, and circumference. Students are asked to work in teams to find circular items throughout the room and to record the diameter and circumference of each item on a chart. They must understand the meaning of, and how to measure these different parts of the circle.
Measurement

How Long is a Minute? - Students in this class have already studied the concept of an hour, and are now investigating the concept of time as a measure of duration. Specifically, they focus on the concept of a minute.
Balloon Travel - Students in this lesson have already studied probability, collected data throughout their school, and graphed their results. They now use balloons, string, and straws to create questions that form the basis for this integrated mathematics-science lesson.

Pencil Box Staining - Students in this lesson are working on a project to build and stain wooden pencil boxes. Students are faced with the task of finding out how much stain to buy from the hardware store and encounter several problems as they work with many mathematical ideas in the context of a real-world application.
Statistics and Probability

Woodpecker Habitat - This class has been studying animal habitats. Students now apply probability and sampling techniques to study the habitat of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Throughout the video, students use counting and addition.
Bubble Gum Contest - The class listens to a letter from the president  of a fictitious bubble gum company who would like to promote this bubble gum by having a contest, which the students will test out. To win the contest, an individual must blow a bubble in twenty seconds or less.  Students work with the concept of sampling and use fractions to interpret their data.       

Questioning Data - Students in this lesson are working on two projects investigating data. Students are to take the data they collected, represent them in a graph they create, and write about what the graph interprets and the questions they still have about the survey subject.

Fractions and Decimals

Arrays and Fractions - Students discuss how they use fractions in their everyday lives. Students investigate fractional parts of a set by using square tiles to build arrays that represent wholes of different sizes.
Everyday Decimals - Before this lesson, students searched for items in their homes that had fractions or decimals written on them and brought them to school. Students now extend their understanding of common fractions to notation for decimal fractions and to the numeration system.

Fractions with Geoboards - This class has already worked with geoboards. Students now investigate the concept of halves using the geoboard as an area model. This lesson begins with students being asked what one-half means to them.

Patterns and Relationships

All Sorts of Buttons - Students listen to the story The Button Box by Margarette S. Reid and ask about vocabulary they do not understand. After the story is finished, students are given buttons to explore. Working with partners, students sort their buttons. As the children are sorting, they are asked about their sorting techniques.
Story-Board Centers - This lesson starts with students listening to the story Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. Students discuss the mathematics in the story and then work at centers set up around the classroom (although not all students visit all centers).

Valentine Exchange - This lesson begins with students discussing the Valentine's Day card exchange from the previous day. Students investigate a mathematical relationship of exchanges based on the number of people involved. During their problem solving, students discover patterns and are asked to explain their strategies and reasoning.
Estimation

How Many People Will Fit? - This lesson emerged when the school had a tornado drill and students discovered that the hallway was too small to fit them all. Students investigate the concept of area by figuring out how many people will fit in areas in the school building.
Cranberry Estimation - Cranberries, the largest agricultural product in Massachusetts, are the focus of this estimation lesson. The lesson begins as students are asked to predict how many scoops of cranberries will fit in a jar. The students record their individual estimates and make a class graph of the estimates.

The White Pages - Students in this lesson are asked to estimate the number of listings in the white pages of the metropolitan Milwaukee phone book. This is a Fermi problem because it involves estimating with large numbers and using prior knowledge.
Process Standards

Classrooms Over Time
24.     Problem Solvers - Fall & Spring - This videotape begins with a
     synopsis of a fall lesson in which students work in small groups to
     estimate the number of seeds in a pumpkin. The second part of this
     tape shows a spring lesson on problem solving, a skill which students   
     worked on seven months earlier.                   
Long-Term Projects - This videotape begins with a synopsis of a fall
lesson in which students work in small groups to find the quantity of
stain they need to stain all their pencil boxes. The second part of this
tape shows students analyzing data they collected in the fall and spring on the use of the Minuteman Bikeway.

 

TEACHING MATH, 5 - 8

Use Rights: Unlimited
3 – programs of various lengths
Purchased by Federal Programs
TITLE II, FY 98

These videos contain examples of lively teaching and learning in six middle-grades mathematics classrooms. You can use them in workshops, in classes, or on your own to inspire thought and discussion about the art and craft of teaching mathematics.

Hexominoes - As an introduction, Nan Sepeda reminds her students that they have studied pentominoes in the past, and asks them, in their groups, to classify the twelve pentominoes according to a scheme they devise. Now it's time to create hexominoes - figures made up of six squares. As with pentominoes, the squares may not overlap and they must join along whole sides.

Building Viewpoints - Pam Hardaway begins by showing the class a blueprint of a building. She asks what it is and what it's used for. Then she explains that they will be emulating Emily Hawkins, a fictional archaeologist, in learning what ancient buildings looked like based on their plans.

Building Rafts with Rods - Michelle Mullin, demonstrating on the overhead, explains that each group will calculate the surface area and volume of a "raft" of n rods, where n goes from 1 to 10. After that, they have three tasks they can do in any order: graph their data, make formulas for surface area and volume, and write a question that will introduce the task to another class.

TEACHING MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE: A Workshop for the Middle Grades

Use Rights: Unlimited
Grade: 6 - 8 
8 - 60 minute programs
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for the Middle Grades introduces teachers to ethnically diverse American writers and offers dynamic instructional strategies and resources to make works meaningful for students. This workshop includes eight one-hour videos in which teachers model effective approaches – based on reader response, critical inquiry, cultural studies, and critical pedagogy – for using multicultural works in the classroom. In units that unfold over time, they also demonstrate activities and practices that engage students in critical discussions of race, class, and social justice, and empower them to take action for change. The featured teachers, along with leading educators, provide reflection and commentary throughout the programs. Authors share information on their works and about their lives through interviews and classroom visits. A robust Web site extends the video content with author biographies, synopses of the works, information on how to implement the teaching strategies, summaries of the video lessons, student work samples, resource materials, and annotated bibliographies. A downloadable guide includes short works of literature featured in the workshop, along with discussion questions, activities, and weekly assignments, to engage teachers in professional development and learning experiences similar to those they might provide in their own classrooms.

TEACHING READING WORKSHOP

Use Rights: Unlimited
8 – 60 minute programs
Grade:  K - 2
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

This video workshop addresses critical topics in teaching reading for K-2 teachers.

THE WHOLE CHILD

Use Rights: Unlimited
13 – 30 minute programs

This video series gives you the latest information about child development and childcare for the critical years from birth to the age of five. Taped at working childcare centers with real caregivers and children, the programs teach you about children’s physical, emotional, and cognitive development. You’ll learn practical developmental activities and techniques to use in difficult situations. Series host Joanne Hendrick, author of the accompanying textbook, present’s comprehensive information about child-development theory in a down-to-earth, accessible manner. This series was filmed on location in urban and suburban preschools, university childcare centers, Head Start classrooms, and in-home programs. Produced by Detroit Public Television (WTVS) in association with the Merril-Palmer Institute of Wayne State University. 1998.

THINKING MATHEMATICALLY

Use Rights: Unlimited
5 – 26 minute programs
Purchased by Federal Programs
TITLE II, FY 98

This series looks at creative ways in which educators can show students how math is part of their everyday life.

THE MATH FACTOR – A pair if team teachers demonstrate how they surround their second grade students with an exciting and challenging math environment. The program also shows the creative uses of a calendar and hands-on cooperative activities that revolve around a common math theme.

WHOLE MATH – This program shows the implementation of an attempt to spark greater interest in math in lower grades by means of a holistic approach that includes placing math in a meaningful context, making connections to the rest of the curriculum, and teaching within themes.

OUTDOOR MATH – An outdoor education consultant has developed some creative teaching units whose goal is to help teachers extend their math programs beyond the classroom. This program shows students refining their estimating skills in the school yard and reviewing double-digit divisor division in the field.

MATH AND LITERATURE – A bookstore owner explains how storybooks can be used to help teach math to primary school students.  Although they are not all written with math in mind, each featured book incorporates mathematical thinking used in meaningful situations.

FAMILY MATH – This program explains family math, a popular new program based on the premise that parent involvement is crucial to student success in math.

THE TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE METHOD FOR TEACHING FOREIGH LANGUAGES

Use Rights: Unlimited
2 - 60 minute Programs

This method can be used to each any foreign language to children or adults. Students learn a new language the same way they learned their first – through imitating spoken commands of adults. In Session I of this two-part series the basics of the TPR method will be demonstrated using video clips featuring child and adult language learners. In Session II, an extension of the TPR method called “Total Physical Response – Storytelling” will be demonstrated. The TPR-S technique deals with sophisticated vocabulary and grammar that cannot be taught through simple commands.

THE WORLD OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

Use Rights: Unlimited
13 - 60 minute Programs

See how people with diagnosed psychological disorders actually behave. Case studies, enriched with commentary from experts, help demystify the biological, psychological, and environmental causes of dysfunctional behavior. The series explores current theory and practice in the treatment of the mentally ill, covering the multiple approaches that prevail in the field today.

WRITE IN THE MIDDLE: A Workshop for Middle School Teachers

Use Rights: Unlimited
8 – 60 minute programs
Grade:  6 - 8
Graduate Credit Available (visit: www.learner.org for more information)

Write in the Middle: A Workshop for Middle School Teachers is an eight-hour professional development workshop designed to help teachers learn effective practices and strategies to use with middle school students in writing instruction. Through classroom footage of excellent teaches modeling successful strategies and interviews with teachers, students, and nationally recognized experts about the writing process, workshop participants will learn ways to create a positive and productive writing environment for young adolescents.

1. Creating a Community of Writers – In this session, participants explore practical strategies – from desk arrangements to classroom organization to writing routines – that allow young adolescents to share their writing in an atmosphere of trust and safety and to recognize the identities as lifelong writers and readers.
2. Making Writing Meaningful – When teachers introduce subjects that matter to middle school students or allow them more freedom to choose and develop topics, the task of writing gains new meaning and purpose. In this session, participants examine how five middle-level teachers help their students connect to writing and understand its capacity to transform their own lives and the world around them.
3. Teaching Poetry – Poetry offers young adolescents an unparalleled opportunity for exploring feelings and learning about the power of written expression. This session showcases two master teachers as they help their students develop as writers and readers of poetry.
4. Teaching Persuasive Writing – In this session, participants visit two middle-level classrooms to see how teachers can help young writers develop effective, authentic persuasive pieces based on their own experiences and interests – for example, using cell phones in schools and altering their homework schedule.
5. Teaching Multigenre Writing – Multigenre writing offers students a wide range of options for expressing ideas and communicating knowledge. In this session, participants examine two different, but equally successful, examples of this eclectic and engaging writing approach.
6. Responding to Writing: Teacher to Student – In this session, participants see how five middle-level teachers use both formal and informal student/teacher conferences to monitor their students’ progress and help them improve as writers.
7. Responding to Writing: Peer to Peer – Throughout the writing process, peer response can help young adolescents develop as thinkers and writers. In this session, participants explore strategies for structuring peer interactions and for teaching students to respond positively and productively to each other’s work.
8. Teaching the Power of Revision – In this session, participants visit the classrooms of three teachers to examine strategies that help even reluctant writers see the power and purpose of revision.

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