Tavis Smiley (PBS)

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As the companion site for Tavis Smiley’s late night show on PBS, this site has an amazing wealth of resources to offer in the form of archived interviews and videos from past shows. On his PBS television show, Smiley interviews a wide variety of people, including authors, politicians, actors, musicians, athletes, scholars, and more. His work in television, radio, and philanthropy have led to various accolades and awards for Smiley, and further information about his background can be found in the About the Show link on this site. The most useful feature of this site for the classroom is the Archives section, which provides interview transcripts, audio, videos, and other information from past shows. Videos are not provided for all interviews, but each interview has audio and a transcript.The archives can be searched by date, topic, or guest. Many of Smiley’s shows deal with current topics in government, global issues, economics, and other often contentious areas. At the same time, many of the guests on his show are ones that will be of high interest to students, such as entertainers.

The archives of this show can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Interview transcripts of videos could be used as models for teaching students interviewing skills. The content of the interviews could be used in teaching current events or content from other subjects, such as social studies, science, and literature. Interviews with authors such as Maya Angelou could be used as resources to enhance teaching literature.