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Annenberg Learner Update
August 2011
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Advance excellent teaching with Annenberg Learner.
In the Spotlight for August
Current Events
- Final Space Shuttle Lands
- Summer Movie Connections
- News of the World Press Scandal
Annenberg Learner Announcements
- Print Catalog and Social Media
Curriculum Focus: Preparing for September
Connecting Learning with Special Days
- Hawaii Becomes a State (August 21, 1959)
Notable August Birthdays
- Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928)
Annenberg Foundation Update
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Space Shuttle Atlantis Lands in Florida
 The
Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down in the early morning of July 19th at
the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ending an era of manned U.S. space
exploration and travel. Take some time to reflect on the many people
involved in the space program and the math and science behind space travel.
Start with The
Mechanical Universe…and Beyond, program 24, “Navigating in
Space.” Learn the physics behind how space shuttles travel to planets using
the same trajectory that planets use to orbit the solar system.
Get an out-of-this-world view when you learn how NASA astronauts see the
Earth from space. Check out the first video of ”Lost in Space? Geography
Training for Astronauts,” in The
Power of Place: Geography for the 21st Century, program 1, “One Earth, Many
Scales.” See how Earth and space imagery gathered from satellites and
space shuttles help us better understand how geographical forces shape our
world.
In program 3, “Exponents and Radicals,” of Algebra: In
Simplest Terms, Sol Garfunkel explains how to use the rules for
exponents to simplify expressions in the context of a real-life scenario,
the 0-ring failure of the Challenger Space Shuttle.
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Behind the Scenes - Making Learner Connections with Movies
 Movies
and Annenberg Learner resources make good summer pals.
One of our favorite summer pastimes is to spend the hot days
in a cool movie theater. Learn more about American cinema and the
characters, writers, and history behind some of this year’s top summer
movies.
First, enter the magical world of American Cinema
by viewing commentary on over 300 clips of great American films and see how
these films represent American culture and history.
In Woody Allen's new movie, “Midnight in Paris,” F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest
Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and other artists entertain Owen Wilson's
character in The City of Light. Learn more about the “Lost Generation,” as
Stein dubbed them, in the video and Web site for unit 11, "Modernist
Portraits" of American
Passages. Next, take a look at the painting, Paris
Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte and find out what the
character Gil (Owen Wilson) loves so much about Paris in the rain.
Planning to see the last Harry Potter film? Go back to the beginning and
hear J.K. Rowling talk about how she conceived his character and the
magical world of Hogwarts. Get a lesson
plan and see classroom discussion about the first novel of the series.
The film and book The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, is a
story about a young woman who decides to write a book from the maid’s
perspective in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s, putting everyone’s
lives at risk. American
Passages, unit 13, “Southern
Renaissance,” covers the writing of William Faulkner and Zora Neale
Hurston, who wrote about the struggles people faced when fighting against
the ideology of the Jim Crow laws. It provides a good starting point for
understanding the time and place of this story.
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News of the World Press Scandal
 Long
before the recently revealed practice by certain members of the press
tapping into private cell phone and email messages, journalists have been
digging into and writing about the private lives of public figures. Hear
media and political figures of the recent past try to untangle
uncomfortable ethical positions in “Politics, Privacy and the Press,” from Ethics in
America.
Panelists include Washington Post publisher, Katharine Graham; news anchor
Peter Jennings, gossip columnist Liz Smith, and vice presidential candidate
Geraldine Ferraro, among others.
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Annenberg Learner Announcements
Print
Catalog
To request a copy of our new Annenberg Learner catalog, please send an
email to order@learner.org. Be sure
to include a mailing address in your request. Thank you!
Get regular updates through social media
If you want to see the most current connections of Annenberg Learner
resources to articles and events, subscribe to our social media resources:
Our YouTube channel
has a new look! Subscribe now to see and share course and workshop previews
and clips.
“Like” us on Facebook
for updates on events, highlights, and discussions about using Annenberg
Learner materials. Share your favorite Annenberg Learner resources with
others.
“Follow” @AnnLearner on Twitter
for daily postings that highlight our Web site content and special events.
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Curriculum Focus: Preparing for September
 Reflect
on your teaching practices and your students as you refresh and prepare for
the new school year. The following courses will provide you with thoughtful
take-aways to help you get started.
A Private
Universe is a 20-minute documentary revealing the cracks in our
approach to education. Interviews with middle school students and Harvard
graduates on simple science concepts uncover the reality that even the
brightest students cling to enduring misconceptions in spite of the best
teaching and getting top grades. Is there anything teachers can do in their
teaching practice to change this dismal outcome?
Minds of Our
Own challenges what teachers think they know about how children
learn. This three hour series is an extension of the questions asked in A
Private Universe.
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Connecting Learning with Special Days
 Beat
the heat by dreaming you are relaxing on a Hawaiian beach. Hawaii became the
50th state in the United States on August 21, 1959. Find out more about
this mesmerizing place.
The tourism industry can be a blessing and a curse for Hawaii and other
exotic locations. How has development affected Hawaii’s native cultures and
environment and how do these changes affect tourists’ experiences? Find out
in Human
Geography: People, Places, and Change, program 4, “Global
Tourism.”
When scientists study Hawaii, they look to find answers to how the Earth
functions. Earth
and Space Science, session 5, “When
Continents Collide,” tells the story of how Hawaii was formed, and
tries to solve the mystery of why there is only one active volcano on all
of Hawaii’s islands.
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Notable August Birthdays
 Andy
Warhol (August 6, 1928)
Have your art students compare and contrast styles of
portraiture. View Alice Neel’s portrait of Warhol
and Warhol’s portrait of Diane
von Furstenberg in Art Through Time: A Global View, part
9, “Portraits.” Also, read about what attracted the “in-crowd” to Andy
Warhol and his silk-screening technique.
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Annenberg Foundation Update
 The
Annenberg Space for Photography presents BEAUTY
CULTURE, a daring, provocative, and at times, controversial
exhibition that presents diverse viewpoints on beauty as it has evolved
through the 20th and 21st centuries. It features the work of top
photographers from the fashion industry as well as documentarians who
reveal the less flattering side of our national obsession.
The series Art
Through Time: A Global View complements the BEAUTY CULTURE
exhibit. Part 13, “The
Body,” explores how the body has been used for creative expression
throughout time and cultures.
Keep up with news and information about the Annenberg Foundation by
subscribing to one or more of the Foundation newsletters.
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