Explores the insular religious community, whose intense faith and adherence to 400-year-old traditions have by turns captivated and baffled Americans for more than a century. The film examines the beliefs, lifestyle, and history of the Amish, as well as their complex relationship to mainstream American culture. Beautifully and lyrically photographed, The Amish is part history, part observational documentary that takes viewers into the world of the...

Explore the history of a uniquely American art form: country music. From its deep and tangled roots in ballads, blues and hymns performed in small settings, to its worldwide popularity, learn how country music evolved over the course of the 20th century, as it eventually emerged to become America’s music. COUNTRY MUSIC features never-before-seen footage and photographs, plus interviews with more than 80 country music artists. The eight-part series...

Guided reading has long been recognized as a dynamic process that supports children's skills as readers in all genres, yet fiction accounts for over ninety percent of the texts we select for these small-group encounters. If children are to be empowered, life-long readers, who read for many different purposes, they need concentrated, small-group encounters with informational texts. In this series, Tony Stead works with third-grade teacher Lisa Elias...

Stepping up with literacy stations provides teachers in third grade and up a way to tap into the energy and excitement of this innovative management and learning system. This video takes viewers into diverse third and fifth grade classrooms, where Debbie Diller coaches and guides children and their teachers through the process of designing and implementing stations. While many of the components and topics of the intermediate literacy stations are...

Go into the minds, under the skin and inside the bones of the biggest, most impressive beasts ever to walk the planet. Dr. Manning doesn't stick to convention, or even his own discipline, on his quest to expand to some of the world's most sophisticated technologies, from crime scene 3D mapping technology to an image machine one million times stronger than a chest X-ray.

Small groups are a crucial element of every teacher's reading program, and their importance only grows as teachers work with more diverse learners. Spotlight on small groups gives viewers an in-depth look at two reading groups led by master teacher and author Debbie Diller. Debbie leads the groups through a structured routine (introduction, guided practice, conferring, check-in, and more practice), demonstrating how to balance whole-group and differentiated...

In his groundbreaking book, Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices, Ralph Fletcher took an expedition into the murky and sometimes dangerous world of boys and writing. Ralph's new video, Dude, listen to this! explores the issue face-to-face as he meets with a group of boys who voluntarily give up recess time each week to meet and talk about their writing. Dude, listen to this! thoughtfully examines the exuberance, sly humour, and surprising sensitivity...

Excerpts from Joseph Campbell's last lecture series before his death illustrate his theory of the origin, purpose and history of myth and mythology. As seen on PBS.

John Varty has spent the past 30 years turning his passion for nature into a series of relationships with some of the most dangerous big cats in the world, living with them in the wild on their home turf. Featured are stories of some of his most intimate relationships with these big cats. Includes profiles of: a wild mother leopard, two abandoned lion cubs, and two adopted leopard cubs. Also includes Varty's story of teaching two captive-bred tiger...

Mentoring has been proven to be one of the most effective means of keeping new teachers in the profession. In this two-part video series, you'll see demonstrations of and discussions about the effective components of a good mentoring program. Donna Niday and Jean Boreen expand on and illustrate the concepts found in their books, mentoring beginning teachers and mentoring across boundaries. Each video takes you to schools and classrooms in Flagstaff,...