Classroom

Videos add important liveliness and novelty to classroom topics. A carefully chosen video, whether used in its entirety or by selected scenes, ...

Gr 7 Up –Students from a Chicago middle school join older Americans who lived through the Civil Rights movement, riding a Greyhound bus to see the stark realities of segregation and change in the South. Most of the students are Black; most of the older participants are white. A tiny corner of the lot was deeded to the Sons of Confederate-Veterans, who chose to fly a small and then much larger Confederate flag, characterizing it as the heritage flag of their ancestors, and tuning out associations with slavery and white supremacy. While Daras lost the battle over the .003 of an acre, the town’s population is changing and the film closes with a successful vote calling for the removal of a Confederate monument downtown. Most high school students consider themselves well on the way to adulthood, and these films don’t pull any punches. Gr 7 Up –When explosions rocked a Philadelphia oil refinery in 2019, residents of the surrounding low-income neighborhood were not sorry to see the smelly business cease, citing elevated case counts of cancer and breathing issues as further reasons to close it permanently. VERDICT A bit of ick is to be expected when looking at creatures that dine on dead things, but their contributions make them deserving of respect, protection, and occasional awe. Sea turtles gently swimming in a protected area; the Palau legend of Chuab, a baby with an insatiable appetite; and occasionally grisly footage of whale poaching accompany insights from rangers, conservationists, scientists, and Prince Albert II of Monaco about the importance of protecting the oceans and the plants and animals that live there. Gr 5-9 –These entries in the “Discoveries” series, at about an hour each, provide compact introductions to an area, in the style of a travelogue or a promotional film. VERDICT Sobering statistics and forecasts on the loss of biodiversity are balanced by scenes of restorative sea sanctuaries and a hopeful tone overall. Gr 6 Up –Born in 1894, Black artist and educator Hilda Wilkinson Brown created a respected body of work through the Great Depression and beyond, at a time when gallery space and museum placements for Black artists were few. Cute animated planets, a moon with dance moves, and Pluto (feeling a bit left out since being demoted to dwarf planet) discuss asteroids, orbits, the seasons, and more. Gr 1-3 –Accordion music sets an appropriate tone for the history of France’s 1885 gift to America and impressive facts of Lady Liberty’s construction.