
A Touch of Greatness
Genres
Overview
In an era when Dick, Jane, and discipline ruled America's schools, Albert Cullum allowed Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Shaw to reign in his fifth grade public school classroom. Through the use of poetry, drama and imaginative play, Cullum championed an unorthodox educational philosophy that spoke directly to his students' needs. Many of Cullum's projects were recorded on film by then novice filmmaker Robert Downey, Sr. Weaving stunning black and white footage and rare archival television broadcasts together with interviews of Cullum and his former students, this is a portrait of a maverick teacher who transformed a generation of young people by enabling them to discover their own inner greatness.
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
58 min
Release Date
2005-01-11
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Vote Count
1
Vote Average
7
Albert Cullum
Himself
Laurie Heineman
Herself
6.3
High School II
HIGH SCHOOL II is a film about Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS), a successful alternative high school in New York's Spanish Harlem, 85-95% of whose graduates go on to four year colleges. The film illustrates the school's emphasis on the “Habits of Mind” program (weighing evidence; awareness of multiple points of view; seeing connections and relationships; speculating on possibilities; and assessing values.) Sequences illustrating the school's approach to learning include: classroom activities in the humanities and sciences; family conferences; discussions of race, class, and gender; faculty meetings; disciplinary problems; sex education; conflict resolution by students; and student council meetings.
1994-06-06 | en
0.0
Michael Caine on Acting in Film, Arts and Entertainment
Michael Caine teaches the art of movie acting to five young actors, who perform scenes from Alfie (1966), Deathtrap (1982) and Educating Rita (1983)
1987-08-28 | en
5.5
American Teacher
As the debate over the state of America's public school system rages on, one thing everyone agrees on is the need for great teachers. Yet, while research proves that teachers are the most important school factor in a child's future success, America's teachers are so woefully underpaid that almost a third must divide their time between a second job in order to make a living. Chronicling the stories of four teachers in different areas of the country, American Teacher reveals the frustrating realities of today's educators, the difficulty of attracting talented new teachers, and why so many of our best teachers feel forced to leave the profession altogether. But this wake-up call to our system's failings also looks at possibilities for reform. Can we re-value teaching in the United States and turn it into a prestigious, financially attractive and competitive profession? With almost half of American teachers leaving the field in the next five years, now is the time to find out.
2011-05-03 | en
8.3
Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective
Inhabit is a feature length documentary introducing permaculture: a design method that offers an ecological lens for solving issues related to agriculture, economics, governance, and on. The film presents a vast array of projects, concepts, and people, and it translates the diversity of permaculture into something that can be understood by an equally diverse audience. For those familiar, it will be a call to action and a glimpse into what's possible - what kind of projects and solutions are already underway. For those unfamiliar, it will be an introduction to a new way of being and a new way of relating to the Earth. For everyone, it will be a reminder that humans are capable of being planetary healing forces.
2015-03-02 | en
0.0
Middletown
Inspired by an unconventional teacher, a group of teenagers in upstate New York in the early 1990s make a student film and uncover a vast conspiracy that is poisoning their community. Thirty years later, they revisit their film and confront the legacy of this transformative experience.
2025-01-28 | en
7.8
Vikarien
For the young, ambitious substitute teacher Max Wejstorp the chaos in his school in a Stockholm suburb ultimately becomes unbearable. He summons his old teacher and mentor, the now 73-year-old legend Folke Silvén from Lund in southern Sweden. How the teachers has got an increasingly untenable work situation is shown in a very direct way in "Vikarien".
2006-03-31 | sv
8.2
Galore
A grandmother living in a small Kenyan village completes her final year of primary school at the old age of 94.
2020-08-28 | fr
0.0
IRA
A documentary-short on the life of Ira Sanders, a commodity trader turned educator whose first-hand experiences on 9/11 greatly influence his life.
2021-10-07 | en
0.0
DeLorean
In 1973, John DeLorean was most likely going to be the next president of General Motors, when he turned his back on his $650,000 a year job and focused on a grander dream... to build his own car company (the first new American car company since 1925). In 1978, DeLorean built the most advanced auto factory in the world in under 18 months, from the ground up in a small suburb of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1981-01-01 | en
0.0
Leysi over media in Cuba
2023-10-05 | nl
5.5
It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School
Depicts what happens when students K-8 discuss LGBT-related topics in age-appropriate ways. Shot in six public and private schools (in San Francisco and New York City, as well as Madison, Wisconsin, and Cambridge, Massachusetts), It’s Elementary models excellent teaching about family diversity, name-calling, stereotypes, community building, and more.
1996-05-21 | en
5.7
The Finland Phenomenon
Finland’s education system has consistently ranked among the best in the world for more than a decade. The puzzle is, why Finland? Documentary filmmaker, Bob Compton, along with Harvard researcher, Dr. Tony Wagner, decided to find out. The result of their research is captured in a new film, "The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System". In the 60-minute film, Dr. Wagner guides the viewer through an inside look at the world’s finest secondary education system. A life-long educator and author of the best-selling book "The Global Achievement Gap," Dr. Wagner is uniquely qualified to explore and explain Finland’s success. From within classrooms and through interviews with students, teachers, parents, administrators and government officials, Dr. Wagner reveals the surprising factors accounting for Finland’s rank as the #1 education system in the world.
2011-03-24 | en
0.0
Sleep for Health
Encyclopaedia Britannica outlines the basics of sleep hygiene.
1950-12-31 | en
4.0
Wright's Law
Every now and then, we get a teacher who doesn't just connect with us -- they make us a better person in the world. Jeffrey Wright of Louisville, Ky. is one of those teachers. He uses wacky experiments to teach high school kids about science and the universe. But it's his own personal story about his relationship with his disabled son that shows his students the true meaning of life.
2012-03-17 | en
0.0
The Invisible School
The Guelph Outdoor School challenges modern education by providing children the freedom to connect with the natural world and themselves.
2024-12-11 | en
0.0
The Last Book
The film focuses on the exciting life journey of Swiss writer Katharina Zimmermann. She follows her husband on a mission to the jungle in Indonesia where she raises their four children and five foster children and lives through the military coup. Back in Switzerland Katharina discovers her voice and finds her path. Now, at eighty, she is writing her life story. Yet suddenly she faces another battle because her publisher is threatening to let her go.
2019-10-10 | de
7.5
Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon
This documentary depicts a vivid example of America's current culture war. It shows a rural community, Philomath, Oregon, that is making a large transition from once being a dominant force through an "old time" profession, the timber industry, to one that is dominated by professionals and techies, the "information age". This is shown by the drastic decline of lumber mills in the area. In 1980, there were twelve mills around Philomath, but twenty-five years later there were only two. The largest employers are no longer the lumber mills but Oregon State University in Corvallis, which is about six miles from Philomath, and a Hewlett-Packard center involved in engineering ink-jet components.
2005-06-16 | en
10.0
The Motivation Factor: to Become Smart, Productive & Mentally Stable
This award-winning documentary shows the irreplaceable role classical Physical Education plays to develop smart, productive and mentally stable citizens, and the out-of-control consequences we face today with its absence in our society.
2017-08-22 | en
6.1
Matriculation
The final oral exam in history and social studies at one of Warsaw's high schools. The film illustrates the theatre of social life in Soviet Poland where one says different things on the stage and another behind the scenes.
1979-01-02 | pl
6.8
Reach for the SKY
Can one day shape the rest of your life? A feature documentary on the South-Korean education system.
2015-10-01 | ko