Ag teachers, I try to use a variety of video/DVD materials in my classroom to enhance instruction. While I do not use all these videos, all the time, or even in their entirety – I have found that they usually stimulate good classroom discussions with my students. Also, rather than spending an entire class period on a video, sometimes we watch a video over a period of several days. I have created worksheets for all the videos that I use in class and I would be happy to share them with you. If you are interested, please send me an email and I will forward you a copy of the student video sheet and the teacher answer sheet. FEATURED VIDEO/DVD OF THE WEEK: The Botany of Desire (2009) – is based on Michael Pollan’s best-selling book. The film examines the rather fascination natural history and man’s interaction with four crops: apples, tulips, cannabis, and potatoes. The video shows current agricultural practices as well as the uses of technology. Topics included: grafting, cross-pollination, Johnny Appleseed, biodiversity, monocultures, cloning, pesticide resistance, pollination, Tulipomania, viruses, flower auctions, phytochemicals, hydroponics, irrigation, fungi, Irish potato famine, insects, BT, and GM crops. The video can easily be watched as 4 individual segments – or seen in its entirety. As one section deals with the medicinal cultivation of cannabis, I prepared a parent permission slip for signature before using this segment. Description DVD package: “The Botany of Desire brings Michael Pollan’s best-selling book to PBS , showing how human desires are an essential, intricate part of natural history. Explore the natural history of hour plants – the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato – and the corresponding human desires – sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and controlling nature – that link their destinies to our own. This two-hour documentary begins in Michael Pollan’s garden, and roams that world, from the potato fields of Idaho and Peru to the apple orchards of New England, from a medical marijuana hot house to the tulip markets of Amsterdam.” You may purchase a DVD of The Botany of Desire through Amazon.com. It is $ 20.99. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Desire-Featuring-Michael-Pollan/dp/B002GXG59Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1260726818&sr=1-1 - Libby Lintel Other video worksheets available: A Man Named Pearl (Pearl Fryar – SC topiary artist) A Different Kind of Grocery Store – 60 Minutes looks at Whole Foods Market Agriculture – America’s Most Crucial Industry American Harvest (Immigrant labor in Agriculture) The Amazing Story of Kudzu Broken Limbs (Apples in Washington and Sustainable agriculture) City Farmers (Urban agriculture) Farming the Seas (Aquaculture) Farming Technology – Modern Marvels Fertilizer – Modern Marvels Gimme Green (Turf/Lawn Industry) Guns, Germs, and Steel (History of Agriculture) Harvesting – Modern Marvels Harvesting 2 – Modern Marvels HOME (Global, environmental film) King Corn (Modern corn production and processing) Logging Tech – Modern Marvels Mold and Fungus – Modern Marvels Our Daily Bread (Industrial Agriculture) Ripe for Change (Agriculture in California) Supermarket – Modern Marvels Water – The Drop of Life – Farms and Factories Libby Lintel Horticulture Teacher Kennesaw Mountain High School ********************* IMPORTANT: The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential. They are intended for the named recipient(s) only. If you have received this email in error, please notify the system manager or the sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to anyone or make copies thereof. *** eSafe scanned this email for viruses, vandals, and malicious content. *** **********************