As the debate over America's public schools rages on, the one thing everyone agrees on is the need for great teachers. Yet while research has shown that teachers are the most important in-school factor in a child's success, America's educators are so underpaid that almost two-thirds must work 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 teachers, the difficulty of attracting talented new educators, and why so many of our best teachers leave the profession altogether. Can we re-value teaching and turn it into a prestigious, financially attractive and desirable profession? With almost half of American teachers leaving the field in the next ten years, now is the time to find out.
Pianomania takes you into the secret world of sounds - a place where passion and the pursuit of perfection collide with artistic obsession and a little bit of madness.
As Steinway & Sons' chief technician and Master Tuner in Vienna, Stefan Knüpfer is dedicated to the unusual task of pairing world-class instruments with world-famous pianists. Juggling the demands of the pianist, the piano, and the piece to find the perfect match requires boundless enthusiasm, but also endless patience and nerves of steel. No detail is too small or too inconsequential for Knüpfer, not even the tiniest speck of dust on a piano string. Pianomania is a humorous and surprisingly suspenseful peek into the heated clash of wills between a genius craftsman and the renowned pianists who rely on his talent – including Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and Pierre-Laurent Aimand – as they search together for that elusive perfect tone.
Mardi Gras, drag royalty and a glittering civil rights revolution - where else could these elements come together but in New Orleans? Interweaving archival footage with contemporary interviews, The Sons of Tennessee Williams tells the story of New Orleans' gay Mardi Gras across five decades and uncovers the history of the first civil rights for gay Americans.
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