Free Documentaries for Your Classes

From time to time, I receive catalogues from companies providing DVDs that might be of interest to my students.  I usually find a few titles that I'd like to order, but the costs, especially with budget cuts, are prohibitive. 

An online resource that provides documentaries at no cost is Snag Learning.  This site prides itself on providing high-quality documentaries for niddle school through college.  Teachers are encouraged to upload lesson plans for the documentaries, and there is a forum for discussion.  Snag Learning adds a new documentary each week, and gets them from such places as PBS and National Geographic. 

Some of the topics available on Snag Learning documentaries include Darfur, domestic violence in the Artic town of Iqaluit, historical events,  Madagascar, therapeudic cloning, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and many others.  The webpage of each documentary includes questions that draw your class into meaningful discussions about the topic.  The length of the documentaries vary.

Once you find a documentary you want to share, you can send to someone via e-mail, post it on Facebook, save it to as Google bookmark or Windows "favorite," or many other options.  Some of the documentaries have sponsor ads, but that's a small price to pay for this great collection. 

If you want to add a little bit of multi-media into your classroom, take a look at Snag Learning.  You won't be sorry!