The Emmy-winning Independent Lens series on PBS features independent documentary films from around the country and the world.  Here are several examples of powerful classroom modules from recent films that you can integrate into your own lessons:

• Human Dignity – Waste Land (9.32 mins.) portrays the lives of two women working in the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• First Day of School (5.45 mins.) – Pushing the Elephant follows Congolese refuge Nanzabire as she attends her first day of school in the U. S.
• First Woman Leader of a Muslim Nation  (6.59 mins.) focuses on Benazir Bhutto, the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan.

As well as film modules such as these, the Independent Lens educator site also offers lesson plans with standards-based curricula to accompany documentaries on a broad range of topics: immigration, civil rights, women’s rights, religion, the environment and more.