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November Educator Resources

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by
Ian Cruz
• Published on
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KLRN Education

Dear Educators,

This month, we are focusing on gratitude. There are so many things for which we can be thankful. We at KLRN want to thank YOU for doing so much to ensure your students' well-being and educational growth. We invite you to use these activities, lesson ideas, and featured programming from PBS LearningMedia that can help you make the most of the season!

 

Antiques Roadshow: Treasures on the Move 11/1/2021 at 8:00 PM on 9.1
 

  • Link to PBS Learning Media Video: Quilts: Juanita Yeager: https://klrn.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/62c743aa-6102-4aae-a019-bab8999ebb11/quilts-juanita-yeager/
     
  • The Map Makers, 2003 (Grades 3-12) Cassandra Williams combined a variety of quilting and painting techniques to create this quilt honoring the famed Lewis and Clark expedition. The top panel shows Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea. Dwellings from Fort Clatsop are included in the bottom panel. Details in the quilt are authentic, based on the artist’s research. “Making this quilt has caused me to have a renewed interest in our country’s history. Now I want to travel the Lewis and Clark trail,” Williams says. Activity 1: Research visual references to the Lewis and Clark expedition in the quilt. Activity 2: Choose another event from history, research it, and design a quilt using historically accurate elements. Activity 3: Keep a detailed daily journal of the next trip you take, documenting the places you visit and the people you meet. Consider how difficult it was for Lewis and Clark to go on their journey of the unknown and the difficulties they faced when exploring lands and places that were not yet recorded on a map. Record the food you eat and problems you encounter on your trip. Draw a map of your journey.
     
  • The Space Quilt, 2003 (Grades 3-12) Two Michigan sisters, Pat Holly and Sue Nickels, made this quilt in tribute to the U.S. space program. They were inspired by NASA mission patches and received permission to re-create them. The quilt, completely machine-stitched, won the Bernina Machine Workmanship Award at the 2004 American Quilter’s Show and Contest. It had previously won the Pfaff Masters of Machine Artistry Award at the 2003 International Quilt Association Judged Show, International Quilt Festival, in Houston, Texas.

 

 

Earth Focus: Fueling Change: Oil Extraction in Alaska and California 11/3/2021 at 12:30 PM on 9.2

 

 

  • Building the Alaska Oil Pipeline (Grades 6-12) Learn how the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was conceived and built in the 1970s in this video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. When oil was discovered in northern Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, the challenge facing engineers was how to transport it to refineries outside of Alaska. Engineers developed plans for a north–south pipeline that, unlike other pipelines, would be built aboveground due to the pervasive ice-rich soil layer called permafrost. The pipeline cut through the Alaskan landscape, causing much contention, especially among Alaska Native peoples and environmentalists.

 

  • Resourcefulness | Switching Fuels to Save Water (Grades 9-12) This is a video abstract of the academic research paper "Can Switching Fuels Save Water? A Life Cycle Quantification of Freshwater Consumption for Texas Coal- and Natural Gas-fired Electricity," originally published in Environmental Research Letters. Watching the video serves a dual purpose of introducing students to the multi-layered and interconnected nature of energy and water and to the various different avenues for science communication.

 

 

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: I am Florence Nightingale / I am George Washington Carver 11/9/2021 at 3:30PM on 9.1

 

 

 

  • George Washington Carver: “It’s Service That Measures Success” (Grades 3-12) George Washington Carver rose to become one of the best-known and widely respected Black Americans in the world. He devoted his life to helping Black farmers suffering the oppression of racism, poverty and ignorance. In this short video, experts and scholars discuss his impact and inspiration. This segment from Iowa PBS’s George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Life documentary includes interviews from people who knew or were influenced by him. Interviews took place at Iowa State University, Simpson College and Tuskegee University.

 

 

Almost an Island 11/11/2021 at 4:00 PM on 9.2

 

  • Link to KLRN Video Player Video: Living off the Land in an Alaskan Iñupiaq Community: https://video.klrn.org/video/living-off-the-land-in-an-alaskan-inupiaq-community-iu6t6a/ About 60 miles North of the Arctic Circle is the small village of Noatak. The majority of the residents there, including Lonnie Arnold, still live a traditional subsistence lifestyle and rely on the wild plants and animals to feed their families. During the summer, almost everyone in the Iñupiaq community is fishing for salmon and picking blueberries, raspberries and cloudberries for the freezer.

 

  • Living from the Land and Sea (Grades 6-12) Learn about the cycle of seasons that guides the traditional Alaska Native subsistence way of life, in this video adapted from the Alaska Native Heritage Center focuses. As the seasons change and the available resources change, so do Alaska Native peoples' hunting and gathering activities. Recognizing the interdependence of life in nature, Alaska Native groups have respect for the land, sea, and animals. They also demonstrate respect for the Elders living among them. The integration of technology, including snowmobiles and GPS, into their subsistence activities demonstrates a blending of tradition and modern ways.

 

  • Dustin Madden: Science Teacher (Grades 6-12) Meet Dustin Madden, an Iñupiaq and assistant science teacher in the Anchorage, Alaska, school district, in this video profile produced by WGBH. Madden explains the importance of developing a strong background in science and math in order to help preserve and protect the environment. He also discusses how his cultural upbringing has influenced him, and how he tries to reach out to students who have grown up in rural Alaska.

 

Great Performances: A John Williams Premiere at Tanglewood 11/16/2021 at 8:00 PM on 9.2

 

 

  • Media Arts: Movie Soundtrack (Grades 3-12) Watch a scene from the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock movie, "Charade," and change the soundtrack to different kinds of music. Students will observe how the music affects the meaning of the scene.

 

  • Matt's Big Movie Budget (Grades 3-5) From this Cyberchase video clip, students will learn about the importance of managing money by creating a budget. On the first day of making their movie, the cybersquad spent 300 snelfus, or half of the 600 snelfus they had for four days of shooting. Jackie divides the remaining 300 units by the remaining three days, and concludes that they should spend 100 units per day for the remainder of the shoot.

 

 

Nova Universe Revealed: Black Holes 11/17/2021 at 8:00 PM on 9.1

 

  • Link to PBS Learning Media Video: Black Holes from the Dawn of Time | PBS Space Time 

https://klrn.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/black-holes-pbs-space-time/black-holes-pbs-space-time/ Primordial black holes may be lurking throughout our universe. How large are they, how many are out there and what would happen if they moved through our solar system?

 

Black Hole Apocalypse | Stellar Life Cycles (Grades 9-12) Learn how the life cycles of low-mass and high-mass stars differ, in this video from NOVA: Black Hole Apocalypse. After a high-mass star begins to fuse iron, there is not enough outward pressure to remain stable, and the star collapses rapidly. Use this resource to stimulate thinking about stellar nucleosynthesis and evolution and to communicate explanations with others.  This resource is part of the NOVA: Black Hole Apocalypse Collection.
 

Otter: Return of a Legend 11/24/2021 at 9:00 PM on 9.1

 

 

  • From an Otter Point of View | Camp TV (Grades K-5) and Activity: Play Like an Otter (Grades K-5) Observe the lives of North American River Otter pups and their parents at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. Learn how otter pups develop from watching skills done by their parents and zookeepers both on land and at sea. Otters and humans develop and learn new skills through experience. Discover how you grow and change through following the behaviors of those around you.

 

 

POV Shorts: Earthrise 11/25/2021 at 4:00 PM on 9.2

 

 

 

  • Earthrise | Global Oneness Project (Grades 6-12) The Earthrise photograph had an everlasting impact on the astronauts and humanity, offering a powerful perspective that transcended national, political, and religious boundaries. It helped humanity to see our Earth as one ecosystem, kickstarting the environmental movement, and has become one of the most iconic and widely reproduced and distributed images in history. Offering an opportunity to remember this shift in perspective, Earthrise compels us to reflect on Earth as a shared home at this unprecedented time in history and to consider how we might build on the legacy of the Earthrise photograph, 50 years later. How does the Earthrise photograph provide a context for what it means to be a global citizen? This film will encourage students to explore this question.

 

 

Ken Burns: Muhammad Ali 11/28/2021 at 1:30 PM on 9.1

 

 

  • Muhammad Ali’s Activism and Moral Courage (Grades 9-12) In this lesson, students will analyze the ways Muhammad Ali protested the Vietnam War draft and racial inequity in America, and also how the American public responded. Students will examine how public perception of Ali’s war resistance changed over time as public opinion about America’s presence in Vietnam shifted, and consider how Ali's identity as a Black male athlete was reflected in the public response to his activism. Students will understand what a protest is and how Ali’s anti-Vietnam war stance fits into the broader context of anti-war sentiment during this time. Students will examine the concept of moral courage and draw comparisons between Ali’s experiences as a celebrity activist and present-day examples of elite athletes endorsing social and political causes. Media-making extensions give students the opportunity to create podcasts and visual presentations demonstrating their understanding.

 

  • Muhammad Ali & Elite Athletes’ Experiences of Physical and Mental Health (Grades 6-12) In this lesson, students will analyze and discuss how physical and mental health interact to impact athletes, particularly elite Black athletes, through careful exploration of Muhammad Ali’s health journey. Ali, widely considered the best athlete of his time and one of the best athletes of all time, faced incredible pressure to perform. This was pressure he placed on himself and pressure that was put on him by his competitors, funders, managers, and the public. Students will engage in a group research activity to examine how Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, mental health, and other physical injuries have affected Ali and other elite athletes. This lesson provides the opportunity for educators and students to partake in critical conversations about wellness and make connections to present-day conversations about mental health in elite sports, with a comparative focus on Simon Biles’ radical work advocating for her health during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Students will view videos clips depicting boxing champion Muhammad Ali at his physical and professional peak and his experiences with Parkinson's and declining health later in life.