LibGuides: Education: DVD, Websites, etc.

DVD

The Bad Kids by Keith Fulton Located in an impoverished Mojave Desert community, Black Rock Continuation High School is one of California's alternative schools for students at risk of dropping out. Every student here has fallen so far behind in credits that they have no hope of earning a diploma at a traditional high school. Black Rock is their last chance. The Bad Kids is an observational documentary that chronicles one extraordinary principal's mission to realize the potential of these students whom the system has deemed lost causes. The film follows Principal Vonda Viland as she coaches three at-risk teens - a new father who can't support his family, a young woman grappling with sexual abuse, and an angry young man from an unstable home - through the traumas and obstacles that rob them of their spirit and threaten their goal of a high school diploma. As Principal Viland's educational approach unfolds throughout the film, viewers are offered a practical model for how public education can address and combat the crippling effects of poverty in the lives of American schoolchildren.
Call Number: DVD LC46.5.C2 B33 2017
Publication Date: 2017
Bully by Lee Hirsch This is a character-driven documentary following five kids and families over the course of a school year. Offering insight into different facets of America's bullying crisis, the stories include two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate of her 14-year-old daughter, who has been incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus. Documentary provides an intimate and often shocking glimpse into homes, classrooms, cafeterias and principals' offices.
Call Number: DVD LB3013.32 .B85 2013
Publication Date: 2011
Digital media : new learners of the 21st century by Stephen Brown Examines how mobile devices and digital media practices can empower young people to direct their own learning. Documents five success stories, and demonstrates how digital media, games, smart phones, and the Internet are fundamentally transforming the way young people communicate, collaborate, participate, and learn in the 21st century.
Call Number: DVD QA76.575.D54 2011
ISBN: 9781608835980
Publication Date: 2011
Learn English as a second language: pronouns, adjectives, and the present tense. by Standard Deviants
Call Number: DVD PE1128 .L43 2004
Publication Date: 2004
Newtown by Kim A. Snyder
Call Number: DVD LB3013.33.C8 N49 2016
Publication Date: 2016
Paper Tigers by Karen Pritzer and James Redford Follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining and working with its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence, and disease that affect families.
Call Number: DVD LC46.5.W3 P37 2015
Publication Date: 2015
School of the Future by Phil Bertelsen In a new age of information, rapid innovation, and globalization, how can children be prepared to compete? Discover how the new science of learning can help reimagine the future of education for all children.
Call Number: DVD LA209.2 .S36 2016
Publication Date: 2016
Stopping Verbal Bullying by CWK Network Teaching segments on how to cope with and prevent bullying.
Call Number: DVD BF637.B85 S76 2006
Publication Date: 2006
A Subprime Education by Marcela Gaviria
Call Number: DVD LB2328.52.U6 S837 2016
ISBN: 9781627899048
Publication Date: 2016

Open Education Resources

For links to lists of OER resources, see the Copyright LibGuide

Websites

AASL: Best Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning For K-12 teachers and librarians, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) recently released its annual list of the Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. This list offers a useful one-stop shop for educators and others in search of free online resources that "encourage a community of learners to explore and discover." These resources are organized into categories including Curriculum Collaboration, Media Sharing, and Content Resources. Each selection is accompanied by a short description, along with information about how teachers might incorporate these tools and resources into their classrooms. For librarians and teachers looking for ways to incorporate digital literacy into K-12 education in ways the complement existing curriculum and learning objectives, this list will provide a number of helpful tools.
Annenberg Learner
Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Civil Rights Data Collection
Data on schools around the US since 1968
Classroom Management: A Collection of Resources for Teachers In addition to their numerous publications for children, Scholastic has many excellent resources for teachers. Those who are early in their teaching careers may especially appreciate this collection of classroom management resources, but experienced teachers may also find some new ideas here. Designed primarily for Pre-K through 8th grade (in varying intervals), these resources offer a plethora of tips, strategies, activities, and more to help teachers keep their students engaged and attentive. Examples include articles such as "Classroom Strategies for Maximizing Your Teaching" and "30 Classroom Procedures to Head Off Behavior Problems," as well as blog posts such as "Getting Organized for Academic Success: Tackling the Paperwork Trail." Each resource specifies the grade level range it is intended for, and visitors can filter the collection via a menu on the left, where they will find categories such as "Teacher Tips and Resources," "How I Do It," and "Behavior Problems."
Classroom Mental Health Educators may be interested in Classroom Mental Health, a resource developed by the University of Michigan Depression Center with the help of high school teachers and administrators. This site is designed for teachers to be "a toolkit you can turn to for mental health information and classroom-tested ideas which you can use to promote a healthier, more productive classroom for you and your students." Visitors to this project will find a variety of guidelines, strategies, and exercises that can be used to help support and encourage psychological well-being among their students. Some are aimed at establishing a mental health-friendly classroom climate, such as ways to normalize discussion of the subject by building it into ordinary lessons. Other tools address how to support individual students, including a list of signs that may indicate a student is struggling with their mental health and guidelines for talking to students one-on-one. Additionally, this site includes self-care tips that may be helpful to everyone as well as ways to work with families to support a student's psychological health. While Classroom Mental Health was created with high school teachers in mind, educators at other levels and parents may also find this site's content helpful.
Digital Media and Learning Research Hub
HotChalk Lesson Plans
Idaho State Department of Education
Idaho Content Standards
The Learning Scientists Educators, students, and anyone interested in the psychology of how we learn may want to check out the Learning Scientists. This resource is created by a team of cognitive psychology researchers and aims to "make scientific research on learning more accessible to students, teachers, and other educators." Visitors may want to begin by reading the website's FAQ page to find quick information on the different strategies for effective studying and teaching, with links to the project's related blog posts for more in-depth explanations. Those who prefer visual guides will find posters and PowerPoint slides illustrating six distinct learning strategies under Downloadable Materials. The site also offers 7 videos and a podcast series with more than 40 episodes, as of this write-up. The Learning Scientists was co-founded in 2016 by Megan Sumeracki, an assistant professor of psychology at Rhode Island College, and Yana Weinstein-Jones, who at the time was an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. This project has received funding from organizations such as the Wellcome Trust and the higher education nonprofit IDEA, as well as support from individual donors.
Lifelong Learning and Technology How, and where, do adults learn once they have left formal schooling? For those who identify as lifelong learners, where does technology fit into the equation? This report from the Pew Research Center answers these questions and more as it discloses the learning activities of nearly 3,000 Americans, aged 18 and older. As researcher John Horrigan reveals, learning in a physical setting, such as in a classroom, a library, or a place of worship, is still the preferred choice for most adults. In other words, learning activities are still very much place-based pursuits of knowledge. Another finding from the study that may or may not come as a surprise to readers, is that access to information technology remains an issue. While the Internet plays an important role in personal and professional learning pursuits for those who already have high levels of education and easy access to technology, such as a home broadband connection or a smartphone, the Internet remains on the periphery of learning activities for those with less education and lower incomes. Colorful graphs and charts round out the study, and interested readers may explore these key findings and others directly from this site or via downloadable PDF.
MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning
Math-Drills.com
mathsciencemusic.org
Mindfulness in the Classroom
Mindful Teachers The Mindful Teachers website is virtually loaded with resources for educators who would like to integrate mindful awareness into their classrooms, their careers, and their lives. Created by mindfulness instructor and English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, Catharine Hannay, the site includes an excellent blog, tabs dedicated to the Benefits of Mindfulness, Expert Interviews, and Self-Care for Teachers, and a section dedicated to Posters & Quizzes. Additionally, many teachers will appreciate the Mindfulness Activities and Teaching Resources section, which is chockfull of exercises and lessons that teach mindfulness, compassion, and social-emotional skills. For those who want more, there are also links to external mindfulness resources from around the web.
Mometrix: SAT Test Review
New Teacher Survival Guide A teacher's job is far from easy, and as the school year approaches, those who are new to the profession (and even some experienced teachers) may feel stress in addition to their excitement. To assist in alleviating this stress, the Scholastic publishing company has created this New Teacher Survival Guide. This free collection provides dozens of resources offering teachers supportive advice and helpful tools on a variety of topics, including classroom management, talking to parents, time management, and more, all organized by the month during which each resource is especially likely to be helpful. For example, under August readers will find articles on setting up their classrooms and making the most of summer planning and prep time, while October contains strategies for handling behavioral challenges and ideas for quick classroom activities. Most of the resources in this guide are intended for teachers of grades pre-K-8 (with each resource specifying the grades it is designed for), but some may be useful for educators at higher grade levels as well.
Open Course Library From the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges comes the Open Course Library, an extensive collection of courses and course materials (such as syllabi, classroom handouts, readings, multimedia resources, and assignments) for use by college-level students and instructors. As the authors of this website emphasize, these materials are not intended to replace classroom instruction; rather, these materials are made available in order to provide affordable classroom materials for students and resources for faculty members to consider integrating into existing courses. A central stated goal of the Open Course Library is to reduce costs to students. All courses included here can be taught without a textbook or utilize textbooks that cost $30 or less. As of this write-up, the Open Course Library features over 80 courses, including courses in English composition, symbolic logic, mathematics, and foreign languages. All course materials can be easily accessed as Google Docs.
Open Culture
"the best free cultural & educational media on the web"
RAISING THE BAR: HOW ARE SCHOOLS MEASURING TEACHER PERFORMANCE?
Congressional Hearing transcript, Feb. 28, 2013
Resources for New Teachers
Teaching with Maps
University at Buffalo
TED-Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing
Transformative Teachers These resources, which were designed for middle school students by The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT and published on the PBS Learning Media website, can be useful to educators who are interested in helping students develop positive qualities. Each of the approximately three-minute videos covers one of the topics. Readers may like to start with the overview, which explains the program, including a video of students who have benefited from the curriculum. From there, educators may want to navigate to the lessons on cultivating forgiveness, cultivating gratitude, and cultivating self-acceptance. Support Materials, which consist primarily of Teaching Tips, are available for most videos and call up an explanation of the lesson, including how to prepare students for the video, how to generate discussions, and how to engage students in the activities. Other lessons include such gems as Cultivating Leadership Through Self-Acceptance and Forgiveness and Gratitude and the Environment.
UNESCO eAtlas Series
Young Minds Inspired Educators of a variety of disciplines and levels may want to check out Young Minds Inspired (YMI). Describing itself as "the nation's leading provider of free educational outreach programs for learners of all ages," YMI offers a wide range of lesson plans and classroom activities. Most YMI resources are created with elementary, middle, or high school students in mind, but it also provides material appropriate for preschool or college students. Visitors can browse lesson plans by broad categories such as language arts, STEM skills, or outside the classroom, and each resource thumbnail is labeled to indicate its intended audience. Many YMI resources, which are "produced in partnership with corporations, associations, and other organizations," are designed to accompany popular culture films, Broadway musicals, and novels, while others serve as educational PSAs on topics like energy conservation and the importance of vaccinations. YMI programs are developed by curriculum experts and reviewed by active teachers to ensure academic quality and educational value. Launched in 1978, YMI is led by Dr. Dominic Kinsley as its Editor in Chief and by Donald J. Lay as its Director of Outreach.

National Center for Education Statistics

The Condition of Education
Digest of Education Statistics
Indicators of School Crime and Safety
National Center for Educational Statistics home
NCES: Distance Learning Dataset Training The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) offers a number of data products from its myriad studies on education. With the Distance Learning Dataset Training (DLDT) system, NCES provides "an online, interactive tool that allows you to learn about the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data products across the education spectrum and evaluate them for your particular purposes." These free, self-paced modules are designed to aid researchers and professionals, as well as students and general audiences, in accessing NCES reports and datasets and in "conduct[ing] analyses using selected statistical software packages and/or by using data tools provided on the NCES website." DLDT suggests that new users begin with a set of seven introductory common modules, while users who are familiar with NCES can choose from numerous dataset-specific modules which are organized by data type, such as longitudinal surveys and administrative data. Each module on this resource gives a brief description of its content, as well as its run-time and slide count. [JDC]
Projections of Education Statistics

Streaming Video

Building Adolescent Readers: The Six Building Blocks
Charter Schools Are Overrated: A Debate Since 1991, when Minnesota passed the first charter school law, companies and individuals have established private schools using public funds. These private charter schools caught on across the country and have become a highly sought-after alternative to traditional public education, particularly for underserved students in urban areas. From 2004 to 2014 alone, charter school enrollment increased from less than 1 million to 2.5 million students. Many charter schools boast of high test scores, strict academic expectations, and above-average graduation rates. Their growth, supporters argue, is evidence of their success. But have these schools lived up to their promise? Opponents argue that charter schools, which are subject to fewer regulations and less oversight, lack accountability, take much-needed resources from public schools, and pick and choose their student body, thereby undermining public education. Are charter schools overrated?
A Child's Mind: How Kids Learn Right & Wrong
The Common School: 1770–1890 In the aftermath of the Revolution, a newly independent America confronted one of its most daunting challenges: how to build a united nation out of 13 disparate colonies. This program profiles the passionate crusade launched by Thomas Jefferson and continued by Noah Webster, Horace Mann, and others to create a common system of tax-supported schools that would mix people of different backgrounds and reinforce the bonds of democracy. A wealth of research illustrates how this noble experiment—the foundation of the young republic—was a radical idea opposed from the start by racial prejudice and fears of taxation. (55 minutes)
Crash Course: Study Skills Students and learners of all stripes will likely find the video series Crash Course: Study Skills to be a helpful resource for learning how to study effectively and increase productivity. Part of Hank and John Green's popular Crash Course YouTube channel, this series was released in the fall of 2017 and is hosted by Thomas Frank, founder of CollegeInfoGeek.com. Here, readers will find 10 engaging episodes covering topics like how to take notes and read lengthy assignments efficiently, ways to get organized and stay focused, and ideas for beating procrastination and avoiding test anxiety. As Frank points out, these are "skills that will serve you both in your life as a student and wherever you choose to go afterwards," so even those who have left their student years behind may learn some useful tips from this series. Each fast-paced episode is approximately ten minutes long, so even the busiest learner can squeeze one into their schedule.
Cult of Pedagogy Cult of Pedagogy is a blog, podcast, and video series designed for teachers of all subjects and grade levels. Created by former middle school language arts teacher Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy addresses a wide variety of issues related to classroom instruction, curriculum development, educational technology, and more. In the Blog section, visitors can browse for posts by categories including Classroom Management, Learning Theory and Hot Topics. Alternatively, visitors can explore posts by more specific subject tags, including first-year teachers, cultural competence, and teacher-student relationships. Posts are also tagged by grade level, ranging from K-12 to college. Many posts incorporate interviews with a wide variety of educational researchers and specialists, offering visitors a range of viewpoints and perspectives. Podcast fans can check out Gonzalez's weekly podcast on this website or via iTunes. In addition, Gonzalez offers a series of short "how to" videos addressing topics ranging from classroom discussion strategies to behavior management issues.
Highly Successful Strategies to Guide Young Children's Behavior
‘If you think you know everything, you can’t learn anything’ W hen students come into Dan Levitin's lab, he spends most of his time trying to teach them that they don't know everything they think they do. "Knowledge can only be created in an environment where we're open to the possibility that we're wrong," he says. Levitin shares his humble opinion on the best way to help students.
Inclusion, I.E.P. & Special Needs Laws: What Teachers Should Know
Job Centered Learning Share Add to Citation Segment Embed/Link Many political and business leaders have talked about the rising skills gap in the United States; a situation where there is a mismatch between the types of jobs that are available and the skills people are acquiring. This program takes a critical look at the wide range of career education opportunities that exist, and the ways in which high schools are addressing and closing the skills gap. Filled with examples of life-changing classroom experiences, this program adds to the national debate around the vitality of the US economy, and the role that schools can play in shaping a new generation of students, who are empowered with meaningful educational experiences to embark on fulfilling and worthwhile careers.
Journey to College
Managing ADHD in School: The Best Evidence-Based Methods Mental Health professionals are routinely called upon to advise families and educators on the most appropriate methods for managing ADHD related symptoms, behavioral problems, and academic performance difficulties in school settings. This presentation by Russell Barkley contains more than 80 recommendations for school management strategies to deal with children and adolescents with ADHD. It looks at such topics as symptoms of ADHD, classroom management strategies, behavioral contracts, problems with transitions, and disciplinary tactics.
School of the Future Once the envy of the world, American schools are now in trouble. Can the science of learning— including new insights from neuroscientists, psychologists, and educators—reveal how kids' brains work and tell us which techniques are most likely to engage and inspire growing minds? Teachers, students, parents, and scientists take center stage as NOVA explores a new vision for the School of the Future.
Silicon Valley Wants to Teach Your Kids Tom Vander Ark, CEO of Getting Smart, talks to Reason managing editor Katherine Mangu-Ward about online learning. He says that learning online is not only the future of education but one of the ways to make it more effective. He admits that most students will still learn in the classroom, but online tools will be blended into their education, making the educational experience specific to their needs. A Reason TV production.
Teach We all have had a teacher who's shaped us, inspired us, even scared us, and whom we can credit with having empowered us to become who we are today. To look at education in America, Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim brings us his third documentary TEACH, which asks the question, What does it take to be a teacher? Offering a rare glimpse inside four public school classrooms, Guggenheim invites us to follow the struggles and triumphs of America's education system through the eyes, minds, and hearts of its most essential resource: teachers. Intense and emotional, this year-in-the-life of four public school teachers illustrates how tenacity, innovation, and a passion drives these educators as they navigate the ups and downs of the 2013 school year.
Teacher Tube
TED Talk: Liz Coleman's call to reinvent liberal arts education
TED Talk: Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!
TEDTalk: Zachary R. Wood: Why It's Worth Listening To People You Disagree With We get stronger, not weaker, by engaging with ideas and people we disagree with, says Zachary R. Wood. In an important talk about finding common ground, Wood makes the case that we can build empathy and gain understanding by engaging tactfully and thoughtfully with controversial ideas and unfamiliar perspectives. "Tuning out opposing viewpoints doesn't make them go away," Wood says. "To achieve progress in the face of adversity, we need a genuine commitment to gaining a deeper understanding of humanity."
Time for School 2003 to 2016 Time for School: 2003 - 2016 puts a human face on an underreported global crisis, by spotlighting the journey of five extraordinary children in five countries as they struggle to get a basic education. Time for School introduces viewers to Nanavi in Benin; Jefferson in Brazil; Neeraj in India; Joab in Kenya; and Shugufa in Afghanistan on their first days of school and follows them from for the next 12 years. Told primarily through the point of view of the children and their families, Time for School presents the contrasting lives of those who were forced to abandon schooling and those who are still following their dreams. It tells a gripping story of what's at stake when war, abject poverty, or just being a girl stands between a child and the simple promise of a basic education.

Blogs & Podcasts

Marilyn Burns Math Blog
PsychSessions: Convos about Teaching 'N Stuff Offering unique perspectives on education and educators, the PsychSessions podcast is a must-listen for those in the teaching and learning community. The podcast is co-hosted by Garth Neufeld and Eric Landrum, who invite guests on the show from across educational and vocational sectors. Together, they explore "what it means to be an educator," and share perspectives on other relevant topics. In addition to these more traditional episodes, the podcast has several ASKPsychSessions features. Hosted by Marianne Lloyd, these installments tackle listeners' questions and share insights from field experts. Episodes span themes including "information about making the sudden pivot to online instruction or various aspects of improving equity, diversity, and inclusion instruction in your course." A November 18, 2020 episode discussed "supporting students with disabilities." The podcast also has a series called SoTLPsychSessions that introduces listeners to Anna Ropp, who interviews scholars studying the educational sector. The Episodes tab in the top-right corner allows listeners to sort all of these episodes by year and month, and the podcast is also available on most popular listening platforms (all of which are linked at the top of the site).