Curriculum & Instruction

Whether it's English, Spanish, Chinese, or Urdu, babies and young children are able to pick up their native language with remarkable ease; no one language seems any more difficult than any other. Yet few children who are taught a language in school have anything to show for it when they grow up. Why is learning a second or third language so difficult? Are the teaching methods at fault? Enough is now known about the process of language acquisition to suggest that language teaching can be more effective. This BBC Horizon program looks at some of the different language acquisition methods in use in schools around the world. (50 minutes)

If high test scores bring praise or treats, students will develop good study habits-according to commonsense thinking, at least. But conventional wisdom is changing. This two-part series sheds new light on the ways that children push their own limits, overcome challenges, and take pleasure in learning. Interviews with psychologists and education experts reveal counterintuitive but highly effective methods for building student confidence and achievement. Portions are in Korean with English subtitles. 2-part series, 42-46 minutes each.

From the executive producers of Super Size Me and Director Sara Sackner, this program examines the deplorable atrophy of arts education in America's classrooms by contrasting the crisis with the story of one very dedicated, inspiring high school drama teacher: Jay W. Jensen, who over a 50-year career touched the lives of many with the transformational power of the arts. Renowned pupils-actor Andy Garcia, film director Brett Ratner, songwriter Desmond Child, and sportscaster Roy Firestone, to name only four-speak out alongside Alfie Kohn, author of The Schools Our Children Deserve; Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts; Robert Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts; Richard Deasy, director of the Arts Education Partnership; educators, administrators, and school board members; and students. A lucid argument for the vital importance of arts education in the American public school system. A viewable/printable instructor's guide is available online. Bonus material consists of celebrity interviews, a featurette, educational teaching segments, and extended educational interviews (DVD only). (88 minutes + 2 hours 32 minutes of bonus material)

A competent coach challenges and inspires athletes to achieve their personal best. This program analyzes the nuanced art of coaching by examining three popular coaching styles: authoritarian, distant yet approachable, and friendly; vital coaching skills in the areas of leadership, management, and communication; essential coaching qualities such as enthusiasm; the wide knowledge of athletics, sports psychology, sports medicine, and other disciplines that a coach must have in order to be effective; personal characteristics such as honesty, integrity, and high expectations for those on the team; and how coaching varies for athletes of different ages, skills, and abilities. (24 minutes)

In this engaging video, high school teacher Robin Barker James uses World War I military reenactments and historical impersonations to drive home his history lessons. Students wear uniforms, learn command structure, study weaponry and strategy, and even bury their dead" on the battlefield. The results are visibly positive: not only was Barker James a finalist for one of Canada's most prestigious teaching awards, but the video clearly shows his students learning with enthusiasm-and growing to understand the sobering realities of war. A viewable/printable instructor's guide is available online. (14 minutes)"

This program addresses teachers' efforts to level the educational and social playing fields for their students by examining public school reform and its relationship to social change. Educators who taught on the western frontier in the late 19th century and in the South during desegregation are spotlighted, along with contemporary instructors working with Native Americans in New Mexico and inner-city youth in New York. Visionaries including Joseph Abeyta, of the Santa Fe Indian School; Ann Cook, of Urban Academy; and retired North Carolina school principal Kat Crosby consider cultural identity, teaching for diversity, performance-based assessment, and other topics. (54 minutes)

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. Challenging them to confront hatred through writing, Ms. Gruwell led her students to publish a nationally acclaimed book about their own experiences of violence and despair. To feel hopeless at 16 is such a tragedy. And so many kids do," she says. (15 minutes)"

This program explores the nature of authentic assessment and its impact on curriculum and instruction; identifies the economic and political pressures for accountability, which have driven school systems to adopt inadequate approaches to assessment; and highlights alternative assessment strategies and tools-those that help teachers make good instructional decisions, as well as those that help students develop self-monitoring and self-assessment strategies of their own. Many standardized tests currently in use are administratively efficient and psychometrically accurate, but for a variety of reasons have served to distort instruction and the definition of the achieving student. This program addresses the need for alternative instruments of assessment-assessment that is multidimensional and longitudinal, involves use of educational resources, addresses possibilities for improvement, reflects good classroom practice, and demonstrates clear standards shared by teachers and students. (42 minutes)

This teleconference for teachers, administrators, and parents addresses the issues of improving comprehension; cognitive coaching; the link between thinking, reading, and writing; and the integration of instruction and assessment. The program features Syracuse University Professor Harold Herber, Professor Dorothy Strickland of Rutgers University, Robert Peterkin of Harvard University's Urban Superintendents' Program, Fairfax County (Virginia) teacher Diane Flemming, and Ann McCallum, a member of the IRA Board of Directors; the moderator is Paul Anthony. (80 minutes)

How do multiple intelligences and different thinking styles relate to traditional IQ scores? What role should teacher creativity and the family play in shaping student intelligence? In this interview by Phillip Harris, of Phi Delta Kappa, Robert Sternberg-IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University-answers questions about the IQ-based single trait notion of intelligence"; the application and implementation of his triarchic theory of intelligence; and the implications of school reform on the future of public education. (30 minutes)"

In spite of a growing dependence on technology, studies show that as students move through grade levels they become progressively less interested in the sciences. This program illustrates how teachers can use inquiry-based learning, a powerful teaching method, to motivate students to deepen their understanding about the world around them. Students tackle problems and ask questions instead of simply memorizing concepts in the abstract. What makes this video unique is that it shows teachers using this approach in their classes across grade levels, from kindergarten to college. (33 minutes)

Working together, administrators, principals, and teachers can give priority to the essential skills children must develop in order to succeed. This program presents the value of a no-nonsense approach to teaching. By maximizing learning time, by structuring curriculums so that mastery of academic content is required to proceed, and by quickly providing extra assistance for students having difficulty, the processes of both teaching and learning can be greatly enhanced. (19 minutes)

Every teacher has been there-staring in the face of a difficult student or group of students threatening to thwart the progress of the day's lesson. But how can the teacher handle the conflict in a way that benefits everyone? Frustrated back-and-forth shouting between teacher and student should not and does not have to take place in the classroom. This program suggests practical classroom management strategies which are designed to help difficult students learn more successfully. It also examines why some students are disruptive and provides educators with specific techniques to prevent disruptive behavior. (30 minutes)

Frequent and regular assessment of student progress is an effective method for driving schools towards equity and academic excellence. This program focuses on how student assessment data can be used to evaluate and improve instructional priorities and strategies, to communicate high expectations, and to involve parents and the community in a school's efforts. (18 minutes)

Historically, student progress has been gauged by success in subjects that tap the verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical talents of students, inevitably leading to the disenfranchisement of learners weak in these areas. In this program, David Lazear, author of Seven Ways of Knowing and Seven Ways of Teaching and founder of New Dimensions of Learning, contends that educators must ensure the success of all students by teaching for the five nontraditional intelligences as well: visual/spatial, musical/rhythmic, body/kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. (30 minutes, color)