In this video from American Masters | Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, learn about the lasting impact of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and why it’s such an important piece of American literature. Students answer discussion questions, analyze text from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and write a short essay to gain a deeper understanding of Angelou’s work and why it’s so impactful.

Explore how young theater directors benefit from mentoring in this video from Treasures of New York: The Drama League. Each year a cohort of fellows are selected to receive professional training as part of The Drama League’s Directors Project. Students hear advice from experienced theater professionals and are encouraged to think about the kind of preparation required for a career in the theater.

Students will learn about the work of illustrator Elizabeth Zunon. Zunon calls herself “a global artist" because she grew up in Ivory Coast, West Africa, and would spend summers in Albany, New York, with her American grandparents. She loved reading and drawing and decided to combine her two passions to tell stories for children. Today, Elizabeth is a successful children's book illustrator and author. In the related activity, students will work with drawing, painting, and collage to create an illustration of their own. The video and discussion will take one class session. The art activity may take several class sessions.

More About This Resource
For more studio tours and other arts content from WMHT, visit AHA! A House for Arts. AHA! A House for Arts features the stories of artists, makers, and creative institutions right here in our backyard and across the country. A celebration of all things creative, AHA! features everything from the traditional to the innovative.

August 9th is Indigenous Peoples' Day. Created by the United Nations in 1994, the holiday honors indigenous people and cultures around the world. While there is no single definition for indigenous, indigenous people maintain close ties to their ancestral land and traditions. In the United States, some Americans celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of or along with Columbus Day.

This video is an episode of Above the Noise from PBS Digital Studios that engages students in thinking about drought and water shortages worldwide. Supporting materials include background reading on water shortages, a transcript of the video, a handout for viewing Above the Noise episodes (not specific to water shortages), teaching tips, activities, and discussion questions. The video is an engaging introduction to the topic and is best used as part of a larger lesson plan.

Explore the complex identity of Sammy Davis, Jr. and its impact on his career as a performer in this video from American Masters, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me. As a black man in a predominantly white industry, Sammy struggled to be accepted by both groups. This resource explores how Sammy persevered in a society where race and culture posed many challenges. Support materials include discussion questions, vocabulary, and an identity map activity where students analyze the many factors that shape who we are as individuals and as members of different communities.

J-Sette dancers bring energy, precision and stunts to the floor, and the Dance Champz of Atlanta are trying to take this underground LGBTQ+ art form to the next level. The roots of J-Setting are in Mississippi, at Jackson State University, where the Prancing J-Settes adapted majorette dancing, losing the batons and bringing in African American and jazz dance influences. Leland Thorpe and his team are on a mission to get the underground version of the dance form taken more seriously in the wider dance world. Thorpe is passionate about bringing more formal technique to the dance, and with his experience in Detroit studying jazz and ballet, he brings a faster pace and more sophistication to the Atlanta style.

Los Angeles Pro Roller Skater Alicia Reason breaks down some classic jam skate moves, including the crazy legs, moonwalk, electric slide, and spread eagle, then puts them together in a dance routine for you to follow.

In this video from the American Masters film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey, scholars discuss the author’s ideas about jazz music. Ellison recognized jazz as an art form that represented the complexity of America’s multicultural democratic society. This resource may be used alongside Ellison’s Invisible Man, but is also well suited for use in a lesson, unit, or course on African American literature.

Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

Dried meat has long been a staple for Indigenous communities throughout the world. The process and practice of using time, heat, and seasonings to create something that is safe, satisfying and sustainable is a delicate balance that Indigenous people have mastered for Millenia. And that's science!

Learn about the work of artist Roberto Juarez. Inspired by his memories of childhood, Juarez combines collage, painting, and printmaking to make large-scale artworks. In the related activity, students will work with these techniques to create their own mixed media piece. The video and discussion will take one class session. The art activity will take 3 or more class sessions.

More About This Resource
For more studio tours and other arts content from WMHT, visit AHA! A House for Arts. AHA! A House for Arts features the stories of artists, makers, and creative institutions right here in our backyard and across the country. A celebration of all things creative, AHA! features everything from the traditional to the innovative.

You may have never thought of pedaling your sofa down the street to visit your neighbors, but that was the idea behind DekoSofa, a kinetic, multimedia sculpture that traveled around BLINK, a festival of art and light held in Cincinnati. Festival-goers were invited to join one of the artists on the three-person mobile sofa, complete with coffee table and chandeliers. The entire rig was decorated with neon lights in the style of Japanese dekotora trucks (decorated trucks) and included a multimedia mural of a creature crawling out of the Chesapeake Bay.

Students are introduced to traditional folk music in this animation of the French song, “L'Arc en Ciel” which means "the Rainbow." Students learn the colors of the rainbow in French while following the adventures of a singing bumblebee.

Students in Fred Whittaker’s class create a bulletin board display filled with pictures of themselves and similar pictures of Jews who died in the Holocaust. The project helps students make deep connections to the people lost in the Holocaust.

Over six million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. When we read that fact, it is hard to understand what it actually means. The scale of the tragedy is simply too overwhelming. It is only when we recognize that each one of those six million people was an individual—someone just like us—that we begin to understand.

Many of the photos we see of the Jewish people during the Holocaust show prisoners who are starving. But what did these people look like before the Holocaust? Did the children love their families and play with their friends? Did they go to school and ride bicycles?

Before undertaking this project, watch the video, Holocaust Pedagogy, in which Fred Whittaker introduces best practices in Holocaust education.

The three video collections here offer educators a detailed exploration of different ways to approach the topic in the classroom. Murals of the Holocaust describes a summer program that offers an art-integrated history course on Germany and the Holocaust. Juliek’s Violin focuses on three pieces of classical music, including music from the scene in Elie Wiesel’s Night where Juliek plays the violin in the concentration camp. Teaching the Holocaust explores how two middle school educators approach the teaching of Holocaust history to their students.

San Francisco artist and author Jessica Hische has designed everything from chocolate lettering to Wes Anderson movie title sequences. Here she takes us into her design studio with a demo on custom lettering from pencil sketch to vector paths.

"Nature furnished the materials for architectural motifs." This quote from Frank Lloyd Wright illustrates his desire to connect humans to the natural landscape through architecture. One successful example of this concept was his design of art glass windows that connected with the trees and leaves outside. Examine the beautiful window patterns Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the Martin House and then design your own Wright-style window inspired by nature.

More than a biography of America’s greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo is a story of family, friendship and the meaning of home in American life. The program explores how a friendship spanning decades affected the structural aesthetic of a major American city and made a significant impact on architectural history. Buffalo, New York has the unique privilege of having more Frank Lloyd Wright structures than any other city in America outside of Chicago. This collection of architecture is due to one man: Buffalo businessman Darwin D. Martin. The centerpiece of Wright’s work in Buffalo is one of Wright's earliest designs, the Darwin Martin House. Built in 1904, it precedes such masterpieces as the Robie House and Fallingwater and is considered by many as the finest example of his prairie house design. Learn more about the WNED PBS original production here.

Get an inside look into the iterative process of logo design with graphic designer, Mark Winn. Here Mark takes us through the process of conceptualizing a logo theme and executing the design from pencil to pixel while providing some serious time-saving techniques in Illustrator along the way.

In this digital short from Unladylike2020, students learn about Lois Weber, the first woman director of a feature film, and her impact on silent film and early Hollywood. Utilizing video, discussion questions, vocabulary and an in-class activity, students explore the life and legacy of Lois Weber and her role in the fight for women’s suffrage.

In this interactive lesson, discover how literary techniques like setting, characterization, and conflict contribute to the overarching theme of a text. Through analysis of Lorraine Hansberry's iconic play A Raisin in the Sun, explore the importance of these different elements individually, then learn how each piece comes together to establish theme.