Category Archives: Family Life Education and Methodology

HBO Documentaries

Title: HBO Documentaries

Date: 2010

Media type: Documentary

Format: Complete

TV Season-Episode: Homeless_Kids

Category: Families in Society, Family Life Education Methodology

Keywords: family demographics, learning environments, content development

Rating: NR

Audience(s): High School Age, College Age, Adults

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: This documentary follows the daily lives of many homeless children and how they survive the struggles of poverty. Though the documentarian is aggressive in her questioning style and creates drama by being there in the first place and intrusive, the insights of the children and the resiliency of their families is impressive. Though at times it is painfull to watch it focuses on a serious issue that exists in our society.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: Why do you think poverty becomes a trapping experience? What resilience do you see in the families and children interviewed? What do you think the lack of hope expressed by many of the children do to their development? What systems need to be in place or strengthened to help families in this situation rise out of the poverty they are in instead of just sustaining them at the poverty level?

Contributor: Ian Brunzell-Looney

Sesame Street

Title: Sesame Street

Date: 2013

Media type: TV Show

Format: Episode

TV Season-Episode: Incarceration

Category: Family Life Education Methodology, Families in Society

Keywords: learning environments, evaluation measures, family demographics

Rating: G

Audience(s): Children Under 12, High School Age, College Age, Adults, Families

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: In this web series the Sesame Street crew address the often avoided topic of parental incarceration. The characters talk to a few kids who are experiencing the incarceration of a parent. It provides good strategies to parents, teachers, and child care workers to address incarceration in a positive way.

Places to view: HBO Go, pbs.com/sesame/watch-full-episodes/

Contributor: Ian Brunzell-Looney

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Title: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Date: 2012

Media type: Documentary

Format: Complete

Category: Families in Society, Family Life Education Methodology

Keywords: work and family, cultural and global perspectives

Rating: NR

Audience(s): High School Age, College Age, and Adults

Language: Japanese

Film/Episode Summary: Jiro Is a world renowned sushi chef in Japan. His passion for his craft and his constant desire for improvement dominate his life, and the lives of his family. Jiro’s restaurant employs his older son, who is set to inherit the business when Jiro decides to retire, though it seems that the only thing that will stop Jiro from working is death. Jiro’s younger son runs his own restaurant, associated with Jiro’s. The brothers were raised by a man possessed by work which shaped them as individuals and chose their career paths, ones that mirrored their father. The culture of Japan really shines through in this portrait of a family and their business, giving a fascinating glimpse of a family unit from a culture other than one’s own, unless of course you are from Japan.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: What is your impression of Jiro as a father? Husband? Businessperson? Was his devotion to his work well placed? Why? Though the focus of the documentary is primarily on Jiro and his work, his personal and family life gets bound up in the story why do you think the 2 are relevant to each other?

Places to view: Youtube, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play, Itunes, Hulu

Contributor: Ian Brunzell-Looney