Retro Report welcomed 24 teacher advisors to its fourth annual Council of Educators summit in New York last week. Over three days, the council, composed of secondary-level teachers from across the country, collaborated with Retro Report on new classroom resources related to short docs, including lesson plans and interactive maps. Filiz Yargici, Retro Report’s education […]
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Browse Our Most Popular Social Studies Activities in 2025
Just as there is a lid for every pot, there is a student activity for every popular Retro Report video. In the first half of 2025, thousands of teachers took advantage of our free student activities for social studies courses. Our activities are created and vetted by educators. They are available on Google Docs […]
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Top 5 Science Videos According to Our Teacher Advisors
Scientific breakthroughs. Natural disasters. Climate change. Conservation efforts. Retro Report delves into historical events relevant to the scientific world. When teachers use a science video from this list, they report higher student engagement. Here are the five short docs that ranked among the most popular resources with teacher advisors. Bookmark them and share them with […]
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Our Teacher Advisors’ Favorite Social Studies Videos for 2025
Almost 100 Retro Report teacher advisors collectively reported using more than 70 Retro Report short docs in class during the first half of the year. In social studies classrooms, five videos stood out. They cover a range of topics in 20th-century history, including World War II, the Civil Rights Era, and the Cold War. Educators […]
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Four Issues Teachers Struggle With (and Tools for Tackling Them)
We speak with teachers across the nation year-round, and not just about the videos and classroom resources they need. They tell us that students’ attention spans are getting shorter and phone addiction is worse. Political polarization and underdeveloped social and emotional skills are derailing classroom discussions. We delved into studies and data from our teacher […]
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Snap Debate on Self-Driving Cars: A Low Stakes, High-Engagement Activity
As we move into the home stretch of the school year, it is essential to find meaningful and energizing activities that push students academically. This month in my class, we did the Retro Report “snap debate” activity on the topic of driverless cars. The quick-turnaround debate structure not only captured students’ interest but also challenged […]
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How I Introduced Local Native American History at My High School—and How You Can, Too
In 2020, I became the Connecticut Fellow for the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation and pursued a second master’s degree in American History at Gettysburg College. This program, in conjunction with the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History, allowed me to take graduate-level courses with top leading historians. One of them was Ned Blackhawk of […]
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This Earth Day, Deepen Students’ Knowledge and Bust Through Myths About the Ozone Layer
I used the “Healing the Ozone Layer” video as a primer during a unit on Ecology and the Climate with my 9th-grade Accelerated Biology class. I can see these resources working well as an Earth Day activity. The topic will surprise your students and deepen their understanding of the Ozone layer and how an international […]
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Spark Cross-Curricular Discussion and Research Projects on Earth Day With This Video
As an 8th grade Science teacher, I’m always searching for high-quality resources to add to my curriculum. In our Earth and Human Activity unit, we investigate how humans affect our planet. For the last few years, I’ve used Retro Report’s short doc “Unprepared: Lessons From Two Massive Oil Spills.” My students are always completely transfixed […]
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How Retro Report Changed How I Teach About the Civil Rights Movement
I’ve been teaching U.S. History to high school juniors for 25 years, but in the past five years I have begun to rethink the way that I teach the civil rights movement in the 20th century. In thinking about the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmad Arbery and many others, I really wanted to improve my […]
