Sub Plan? Just Press “Play”

Always on the prowl for fresh resources to help students build their critical thinking skills, I came across a gem of a new documentary, uploaded to YouTube and Hulu earlier this month. Billions in Change is a 43-minute profile of 5-Hour Energy founder Manoj Bhargava and his decision to spend 99 percent of his $4 billion empire working to solve the globe’s energy, water, and health problems.

The slick video is highly engaging and will appeal to our teens, leaving me to think it’ll be a great selection for my next sub day or the next time I just need a calm day to get some assignments graded. (Keepin’ it real, y’all.)

Here’s the film:

The documentary suits not only our English classes, but also is a good fit for science and business departments. Feel free to copy the link and create your own questions or grab the super-affordable set I built. My five-page set includes sub instructions, a two-page student handout, and a two-page answer key to make grading easy and/or help teachers lead a class discussion. Hope you like it.

Teach on, everyone!

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6 thoughts on “Sub Plan? Just Press “Play”

  1. Really. One day I will pay you back for all this wonderfulness you share.

  2. Ah, Ms. Mundy, just pay it forward to your students. Hope they like the film. It definitely grabbed my imagination this weekend and I just had to share it with everyone. Hope you’re having a great week! 🙂

  3. Hi Laura, sounds great for absolutely any curriculum. Getting students to read (watch) and think critically is imperative and essential. Do you see it as a fit/intro/complement to your ’20’ project?
    Thanks for sharing and for keeping it real. 🙂

  4. Hi Stacey,
    Oh yeah, I think this would make a great “into” activity as you get ready to launch 20Time, or it could also be used as mid-point pick-me-up, especially if your 20Timers are required to have a public service component. For me, I’m not starting 20Time until Feb. and I don’t think I can wait that long to use this, though. New curriculum is like a new toy to me; I just have to take it out of its box and play!

    Hope you’re having a great week,
    Laura

  5. Thanks, Laura! I took a deep sigh of relief when I saw this.

  6. My pleasure, Spenceread! Enjoy the breathing room. 🙂

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