Titles Available as of July 2022
This is a selective list of streaming video holdings in the American University Library. Streaming guides are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the library catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date streaming holdings, please refer to our streaming catalog.
Academic Literacy: Preparing All Students for Success in College and Beyond
In his book, Greater Expectations, Robin Turner, a high school English teacher in Anaheim, California, describes how he helps prepare the underrepresented -- predominantly Latino and African-American -- students in his class for the literacy challenges of higher education. In addition to sound literacy strategies Robin draws on principles from the Puente Project, creating personal and cultural connections that help students become more engaged and invested their work.
Alternative Strategies to Social Promotion
Throughout our country the move toward higher academic standards has caused schools to reexamine many of the commonly accepted practices. No past practice has come under greater attack than social promotion. From coast-to-coast, school reformers, political leaders and proponents of higher standards are calling for an end to what they believe has been one of the major contributors to poor achievement in our schools today. This video provides the viewer with several alternatives to social promotion and retention. It shares the thinking of internationally renowned lecturer and best-selling author Dr. William Glasser and features a visit with Dr. Waldemar Rojas, superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, and his staff.
The film begins in 1999, when filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson turned cameras on their son and his best friend, as the boys entered kindergarten at the prestigious Dalton School. Through the intimate experiences of these two families, the documentary reveals complicated truths about parenting, while challenging commonly held assumptions about educational access in the 21st century.
American Teacher chronicles the stories of four teachers - Erik Benner, Jonathan Dearman, Jamie Fidler, and Rhena Jasey - who live and work in disparate urban and rural areas of the country. The film shows us the experiences of these four young teachers as they recognize the importance of what they do, and how much they love what they do, but ask: can I afford to continue to teach? Explore the need to increase compensation and improve conditions to attract the best college graduates who might otherwise go into law, finance, or other lucrative fields.
Becoming Integral to School Life
An inspirational programme demonstrating how school libraries and their librarians can really make a difference. Anne Robinson, School Librarian of the Year 2005, and Linda Hayes, Children and Schools Librarian for Redbridge, Essex, share some of the secrets of their success. In this programme they share their thoughts on demonstrating the importance of the library to the Senior Management Team, how to run lessons for all subjects in the library, techniques to support and encourage reluctant readers, and how to ensure the learning resource centre (LRC) remains at the centre of school life.
The Bottom Line in Education: 1980 to the Present
In 1983, the Reagan Administration's report, A Nation at Risk, shattered public confidence in America's school system and sparked a new wave of education reform. This program explores the impact of the "free market" experiments that ensued, from vouchers and charter schools to privatization-all with the goal of meeting tough new academic standards. Today, the debate rages on: do these diverse strategies challenge the founding fathers' notions of a common school, or are they the only recourse in a complex society?
Maura and Rosa, two illiterate women from a village with no light in El Salvador have just arrived to India to attend a course to learn how to make solar panels at the Barefoot College. These ladies had never left their families, they don't speak English and it seems impossible they will learn. At the same time in South Peru Jeny and Paula, who have just come back from India, show that the Barefoot College is the place where the impossible is possible. They were primarily wives and mothers and now they have become solar engineers, traveling from village to village to bring the sun home.
Brooklyn Castle tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in the country. The I.S. 318 team's victories go beyond a room full of trophies-through chess they learn patience and long-term planning, and the importance of analyzing the wrong or right decisions they make after the game.
Can Central High School Save America?
Could the secret to rescuing our failing public schools lie in the past? In 1968, Springfield Missouri's Central High School launched kids from all social classes into successful lives. While it wasn't perfect, Central did positive things that are missing in many schools today. Things that could address U.S. jobs leaving the country, standards of living falling for the poor and middle class, and false news stories on social media pitting Americans against each other. Featuring interviews with successful people who gradtuated from a racially and economically integrated Midwestern high school in 1968, this program considers the merging of the best of past and present educational practices to generate success. It documents how diversity in student bodies and staff helps graduate smarter students. It reveals how providing a quality education to all students, including the poor and minorities, will repay our investment by preserving our democracy and ensuring our prosperity.
Challenges in the Detroit Public School System
In this program, Dan Rather takes an in-depth look at the challenges facing the Detroit Public School System- rampant corruption, financial malfeasance, high drop-out rates, and low test scores. Dr. Connie Calloway, Robert Bobb, and Dr. Michael Classerly try to aid the school district but are rebuked by the school board. Rather reaches out to journalists, teachers, students, and the school board to understand the conflict on this episode of Dan Rather Reports.
Use this ABC News program to explore links between a wide range of educational issues: school safety, overcrowding, privatization, and poor academic performance. The video takes viewers inside Chester High, a Pennsylvania school racked with security, staffing, and financial problems; in fact, Chester's difficulties are so great that the company hired to run the school has pulled out. With commentary from many sectors of the community-including students, parents, school board members, and a young principal who tried to make a difference at Chester-Failing Grade sums up the frustrations of everyday people struggling to provide children with a decent education.
Freedom Writers: Fighting Hatred with Language Arts
When a racial incident occurred in her classroom, 23-year-old English teacher Erin Gruwell spun it into an ongoing dialogue that ultimately changed the lives of 150 inner-city students. In this program, ABC News correspondent Connie Chung documents the story of the group that came to be known as the Freedom Writers and their exemplary teacher.
G is for Gun: The Arming of Teachers in America
Explores the highly controversial trend of armed faculty and staff in K-12 school. Documents a growing program in Ohio that is training school staff to respond to active shooter situations with guns, and follows the story of one Ohio community divided over arming its teachers.
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama praised the German educational model for training students in marketable positions. Technical schools and German companies are implementing versions of dual education domestically. Learn about the programs and how vocational training could help students transfer from adolescence to adulthood in this episode of Dan Rather Reports.
Girl Rising has exploded into a global movement and social media phenomenon. Since the original film came out, the film has unlocked resources for girls' education and has reached millions of people. The Fifth Anniversary Edition commemorates the stories of nine incredible girls whose lives have been affected by the power of education. The updated film features new research on girl's education, video updates on the girls, and videos from the Girl Rising movement featuring students, teachers, and community leaders taking action for girls' education. Renowned actor and girls' education advocate David Oyelowo narrates this Fifth Anniversary Edition.
HE NAMED ME MALALA is an intimate portrait of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan's Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old (she turns 18 this July) was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls' education, and the attack on her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls' education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund.
Fourteen-year-old Shannen Koostachin launched a campaign to build a suitable school for the children of the Cree community of Attawapiskat in 2008. Two years later, tragedy struck when Shannen was killed in a car accident. Her campaign became a national movement, bringing people from all walks of life together to make Shannen's dream--the dream of fairness in education for First Nations children--a reality. Alanis Obomsawin brings together the voices of those who have taken Shannen's dream across Canada and all the way to the United Nations in Geneva, in a larger-than-life adventure. In February 2012, a motion on education for First Nations children passed unanimously in the House of Commons.
History of Physical Education in the United States
This program traces the history of physical education in the U.S. It covers the foundations of physical education and its development, focusing on such topics as Puritan and Protestant views on physical education, the Muscular Christianity movement, and the YMCA.
The social and financial value of higher education in the United States is questioned.
Explores the controversy over the teaching of evolution and intelligent design in Kansas public schools, using footage from the hearings before the Board of Education and interviews with people on both sides of the issue.
Layu Sebelum Berkembang: Die Before Blossom
Almost 70 years after independence and 10 years after the installation of the first democratically elected president, the educational system in Indonesia is increasingly being influenced by Islamic values. This observational documentary follows two girls and their families during a crucial period in their school careers: their last year at public elementary school in the city of Jogyakarta. Dila and Kiki are modern city girls from a middle-class background: they like to listen to pop music, are very interested in their appearance and giggle about girl stuff. At school, all the children wear uniforms, everyone prays together, the national anthem is sung and the girls learn how to behave now that they are approaching puberty. Although Islam isn't a state religion, its influence on the once secular school system is growing. The educational system is underpinned by three moral principles: piety, patriotism and discipline. The strictness of the school regime doesn't seem so bad--for example, Kiki is able to talk her way out of studying the Koran. But once the final exams start to loom, things suddenly get very serious, both for the girls and for their parents. A lot is riding on their exam results, for the popular schools in the city only take those children who get the highest scores.
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.
Devoted teacher Anne Sullivan leads deaf and blind Helen Keller into the light of learnedness. Starring Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft.
Kiet Engels is the kind of teacher one wishes every schoolchild could have. She is strict but never harsh. She is loving but never soft. Her patience in endless. Many of Miss Kiet's pupils are refugees who have just arrived in Holland. Everything is new and confusing. Some are quarrelsome and headstrong. But Miss Kiet's firm but loving hand brings calm and awakens interest. She not only teaches her pupils to read and write Dutch, but also helps them learn to solve problems together and respect one another. Slowly the children gain skills and confidence.
Most Likely to Succeed examines the history of education in the United States, revealing the growing shortcomings of conventional education methods in today's innovative world. The film explores compelling new approaches at a ground-breaking school in San Diego that aims to revolutionize teaching as we know it, inspiring school communities to reimagine what students and teachers are capable of doing. As we follow students, parents and teachers through a truly unorthodox school experience, the audience is forced to consider what sort of educational environment is most likely to succeed in the 21st century. To date, Most Likely To Succeed has screened for thousands of audiences around the world, igniting conversations and empowering change along the way.
Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and Life
In this program, Baruti Kafele, educator and author of motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life, helps teachers and administrators understand how to address critical issues facing many young black male students. He provides practical tools and empowering examples that schools can integrate into their programs and practices right away, addressing how to address the crisis of self-identity that many young black males face today, how to encourage reflective practice among teachers of young black male students, and how to motivate and encourage young black males by establishing and leading a Young Men's Empowerment Program.
My First Day of School, Early Life
Three children face their first day at school, but are their lives already set on different courses? Scientists suggest that how the brain develops in the first years of life may affect children's ability to prosper at school. Our film follows three children as they prepare to enter primary school in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Their dilemmas reflect those of Thailand as a whole: how can a country with its own traditions of childhood prepare its kids for the new globalized society? In extreme cases, brain chemistry is disrupted irreparably by a poor start in life. What's the best way of making sure that all children have a decent chance on their first day at school?
Five high school students with learning disabilities reveal their unique approaches to learning.
Performance Assessment: Moving Beyond the Standardized Test
In an age of multicultural classrooms and new understandings about multiple intelligences, what role should standardized tests play? And what direction should performance assessment take in tomorrow's schools? In this timeless program, Dr. Art Costa-Professor Emeritus at California State University, Former President of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and a leading proponent of the explicit teaching of thinking-addresses the urgent need to create viable alternatives to standardized tests that can measure creativity, problem-solving, and cooperation.
The Problem With Boys: Falling Behind in School and Life
According to education statistics across North America, boys now perform poorly compared with girls-and with boys of previous generations. What is causing this trend? What can be done to help both genders succeed? This program presents insights from experts in child development-including Dr. William Pollack, Harvard clinical psychologist and author of Real Boys, and Jean-Claude St. Amant, Senior Education Researcher at the University of Laval; it also surveys male teenagers themselves about the challenges facing boys and young men. Teacher training, curriculum design, literacy instruction, role models, pop culture, and male behavioral tendencies are some of the topics addressed.
The Problems and Promise of America's Schools
It started in 1983 with a special report called, "A Nation at Risk," a scathing criticism of the rising tide of mediocrity in America's schools. This set off a rising tide of books and reports full of more bad news. Our children, they said, are learning too little history, geography, and math, and too much about violence, drugs, racism, and decay. Yet in this program with Bill Moyers, Sara Lightfoot explores what's good about our schools. Professor Lightfoot, of Harvard's Graduate School of Education, sees as much promise as problems in our schools today. She describes what makes certain schools good and some teachers memorable.
Step inside the halls of five NYC public schools and celebrate dance! Hosted by veteran TV journalist Paula Zahn, PS Dance! is a documentary that captures what happens when students have dance in their curriculum.
How can school governors deepen their understanding of the pupil experience of school? One Local Authority thinks it has the answer - offering its governors the chance to become pupils for a day. School governors are expected to help make crucial decisions on behalf of the pupils. Knowing exactly how it feels to be on the receiving end can be particularly helpful when endorsing or making decisions about the running of the school. Secondary school governor Karen Patrick joins governors from Greenwich Borough, London, as they go back to school for the day to gaining a deeper understanding of the pupil experience.
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School
Inspired by the groundbreaking book of the same name by Monique W. Morris, Ed.D, PUSHOUT: THE CRIMINALIZATION OF BLACK GIRLS IN SCHOOLS, takes a deep dive into the lives of Black girls and the practices, cultural beliefs and policies that disrupts one of the most important factors in their lives - education. Alarmingly, African American girls are the fastest-growing population in the juvenile justice system and the only group of girls to disproportionately experience criminalization at every education level. The film underscores the challenges Black girls face with insights from multiple experts across the country who have worked extensively in the fields of social and criminal justice, gender equality and educational equity, giving context to the crisis and providing a roadmap for how our educational system and those who interact with Black girls can provide a positive rather than punitive response to behaviors that are often misunderstood or misrepresented.
Race to Nowhere is an award-winning documentary that highlights the unintended consequences of our pressure-cooker culture and education system. An eye-opening call to action, the film challenges our deepest-held assumptions about how we can best prepare young people for the future.
Real Life Teens: High School Dropouts
According to many studies, almost one third of all public high school students and nearly one half of all blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, fail to graduate from public high school each year. Many of these students abandon school with less than two years to complete their high school education. The decision to drop out is a serious one for students. Dropouts are much more likely than their peers who graduate to be unemployed, live in poverty, receive public assistance, end up in prison, live an unhealthy lifestyle, become divorced and become single parents with children who drop out from high school themselves. Dropping out of high school is not a sudden act, but a gradual process of disengagement. Lack of attendance, lack of parental involvement and lack of motivation to succeed are all patterns and signs that a student is having difficulty at school and considering dropping out. Subjects Covered Include: The Drop Out Epidemic, Why do students drop out of school?, High Schools and Funding, Parental Involvement, What are the dangers of dropping out of school, What are the benefits to a high school education, The importance of Graduation to future employers, Lack of opportunities for high school dropouts, Finishing high school - the road to college, Going back to school and finishing your education.
An alphabetical journey through the key issues affecting your pupils school life. From 5 to 15 year olds we hear their views: what does school mean to them? Do they like assemblies? What does a headteacher do? What do they think of their uniform? When you play classical music, does it remind your children of a funeral? Do they like stories? Topics discussed include bullying, detention, favourite teachers, headteachers, why pupils are naughty, and transition. A snapshot of the views of children about their school life.
The School That Turned Chinese (Episode 1)
The School That Turned Chinese (Episode 2)
The School That Turned Chinese (Episode 3)
In a unique experiment, five teachers from China take over the education of 50 teenagers in a Hampshire school to see whether the high-ranking Chinese education system can teach Britain a lesson. Will the harsh regime of long days and strict discipline produce superior students? Or will the clash of two cultures create chaos in the classroom? After four weeks, the Chinese and British systems will go head to head with the whole year group taking exams to see which teaching style gets the best results. Day one of the experiment proves a shock for everyone, and there are tears when the teenagers discover just how competitive the Chinese teachers expect them to be.
Separate and Unequal: Omarina's Story
Separate and Unequal - Sixty years after the Supreme Court declared separate schools for black and white children unconstitutional, FRONTLINE examines a case in Louisiana that illustrates the growing race and class divide in American schools and the legacy of Brown volume Board of Education. The East Baton Rouge Parish School District was forced to desegregate its schools in 1981 after a 25-year legal fight. But now, frustrated over the district's many low-performing schools, a group of mostly white, middle-class parents and business leaders are trying to break away and form a new city with its own separate schools, mirroring similar breakaway movements in cities around the country that critics say are reversing hard-fought civil rights gains. If the plan succeeds, the new district is expected to be more affluent and white, and will leave behind a population of mostly black students from low-income families. Omarina's Story - FRONTLINE continues to examine a groundbreaking effort to stem the dropout crisis in America's high-poverty schools based on the theory that the make-or-break moment for preventing kids from dropping out of high school actually happens in middle school. The film follows Omarina Cabrera, a young girl from the Bronx.
The ultimate test of a student's knowledge about words is the ability to transfer this information to reading and writing. A word study intervention must include opportunities for students to apply word-solving strategies to connected texts. Organized around 11 teaching episodes-including assessing word knowledge, modeling the word-solving process, providing guided practice, and prompting students to apply strategies during reading and writing--Small Group Intervention features a small group of fourth grade students in a word study intervention that links to reading and writing.
Teachers Challenging Standardized Testing
In this video, learn about standardized testing methods mandated in public schools across the nation and the opposition against them. Dan Rather interviews school faculty members like Jesse Hagopian of Garfield High School in Seattle who is leading a boycott against testing methods deemed unfair by some. Learn what Hillsborough School District is doing to evaluate teachers and assist in the continued improvement of schools and students.
When it comes to education in the inner city, it's worth remembering the age-old question of the tree falling in the forest. This film evokes a particularly heartbreaking version of that question as it examines the plight of Save Our Future, a tenuously funded Los Angeles charter school designed for at-risk teenage students. Viewers follow the school's founders, Charlotte Austin Jordan and her husband, Kenneth Jordan, on a journey filled with threats of closure, implacable red tape roadblocks, and mounting anxiety concerning the fate of dozens of youth for whom this is a last chance at a high school diploma. It's the battle of their lives, and they enlist the help of every stakeholder and supporter who will listen. But the earnest band of educators, parents, and students finally exhaust every means of survival available to them, leading back to that venerable riddle: When the school is finally forced to shut down, who will notice?
The stories are nearly unbelievable: a middle schooler suspended for bringing a Tweety Bird keychain to class (because all chains are classified as weapons); another, for pretending a fast-food chicken strip was a gun; a third, for carrying ibuprofen in violation of the school's strict policy against drugs - except, of course, for Ritalin. This documentary argues that measures intended to keep children safe have turned schools into prisons and that regimentation in the public educational system produces adults who are unable to think for themselves. Taking aim at "zero tolerance" rules, authoritarian teachers, the D.A.R.E. program and its devolution into a joke among kids, and more, the video posits that the mainstays of public education are worse than ineffectual, they may be downright harmful.