POV documentaries are a valuable resource for teachers and students. Use these free video clips and companion lesson plans to present POV films to your class.
Recent Lesson Plans
Historical Perspectives: Coming Home from War
This lesson plan utilizes the film and website resources for The Way We Get By, which tells the story of a group of volunteers who have greeted more than 900,000 troops at a tiny airport in Bangor, Maine. Classrooms can use these resources to conduct an investigation that compares and contrasts the homecoming experiences of soldiers who served in World War II and the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Unit on Prejudice and Racism
Two Towns of Jasper is a nuanced view of the subtleties of race relations in America and the different viewpoints forged by racial identity. The lessons in this unit will guide students to a better understanding of privilege -- one of the pervasive causes behind racism -- and, more specifically, the impact of "white privilege" on racism against non-white Americans. An exploration of the concept of privilege can also help students understand the societal factors that contribute to other "ism's": sexism, ethnocentrism, classism and heterosexism.
Exploring Parent-Child Relationships Through Letter Writing
This lesson plan is designed to be used with the film Bronx Princess, which chronicles the complex relationship between a young woman named Rocky and her Ghanaian mother as Rocky progresses from high school to college. Classrooms can use this film and its companion website resources to help students explore their own relationships with their parents through letter writing. (Note: This film sometimes uses English subtitles.)
Videos for the Classroom
Soldiers' Response to the Troop Greeters (Clip 2 of 2)
In the second clip associated with The Way We Get By lesson plan, soldiers who are returning home talk about their responses to the troop greeters who welcome them at the airport. Students should compare the homecoming for these veterans to the homecomings of veterans from World War II and the Vietnam War.
Please note: Streaming of the entire film online ends December 12, 2009.
A troop greeter goes to the airport in Bangor, Maine, to welcome home a flight of returning soldiers.
Blouse or a Shirt (Clip 1 of 3)
Seventeen-year-old Rocky Otoo and her mom have different thoughts on Rocky's new shirt.
