English Language Arts

For every required school reading there is a perfect Retro Report video to add context. Here are some popular books often assigned by E.L.A/English teachers, and the videos that offer historical background and connections to current events. Team up with a teacher across the hall to enhance your students’ critical thinking skills and content knowledge. […]

Island Trees v. Pico tested student rights, free expression and the limits of school boards. 

Efforts to clamp down on White House leaks to the press follow a pattern that was set during the Nixon era after the publication of the Pentagon Papers. 

Perp walk: Unfair maneuver or a strong warning to would-be criminals? 

In the heat of the Cold War, Joe McCarthy’s anti-communist crusade became a media sensation. 

Nelson Rauda, an independent journalist, told us that El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, is putting the squeeze on press freedom. 

In this hour-long film, nominated for two 2021 Emmy Awards, journalists who covered Donald Trump during the 2016 race for the White House critique their role in the former president’s rise to power. 

A silent protest led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that defined students’ free speech rights. 

The dramatic controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential election led to sweeping voting reforms, but opened the door to a new set of problems that continue to affect elections today. 

Online manipulation and immersive media have begun to eradicate our shared notion of authenticity and trust. How will society change when we can no longer believe what we see, hear, or think? 

In the 1980s, many government officials, scientists, and journalists warned that the country would be plagued by a generation of “crack babies.” They were wrong. More than 25 years later, the media is sounding a similar alarm. 

In the wake of the 1993 hit movie Free Willy, activists and fans campaigned to release the movie’s star – a captive killer whale named Keiko – and launched a story Hollywood couldn’t invent. 

Diseases once near eradication are re-emerging. Here’s how science and federal policy are squaring off. 

Stella Liebeck was vilified when she was awarded millions after spilling McDonald’s coffee in her lap. Her complaint sounded frivolous. But the facts told another story. 

Retro Report explores decades of conspiracy theories – from the John F. Kennedy assassination to Pizzagate – and what they can tell us about how we view the world today. 

Perhaps the most famous political ad of all time, this early television spot ran on air just once, but generated enough media coverage to become a real factor in the 1964 presidential election. 

Oscar night, long a showcase for Hollywood glamour, has also become a platform for film stars to pitch a rainbow of political causes. 

Explore ways to become an engaged citizen. 

Learn to discuss contentious topics with civility and respect for differing opinions. 

Which candy bar deserves to be the official candy bar of America? Students present arguments in a classroom hearing.  

A student demonstrates how he gathers evidence and identifies credible sources while doing research. 

Discover effective research and fact-checking techniques to use online. 

When speech offends, who decides where boundaries should be drawn?  

Honeybees, heroes in the national food supply, are under threat from parasites, exhaustion and a mysterious ailment. Here’s how beekeepers and scientists are fighting back to save the hives. 

Autonomous vehicle technology has gotten better, but how close are we really to a time when a robot chauffeur will be able to safely drive us? 

The Y2K bug threatened to wipe out computers and disrupt modern society at the end of the 20th century. We all remember the doomsday hype, but what really happened? 

The curious origin of a political metaphor. 

Every so often, Congress holds a hearing on the perils of pop culture. The “peril” has evolved from comic books, to rock and hip hop music, to violence in video games, but the proceedings follow a script. 

A teen’s act of resistance during life under surveillance in East Germany.