these tips to prepare your students to view the program thoughtfully:
1. Read the summary
of the show to familiarize yourself with its contents.
2. Ask these
questions to begin a discussion about balancing work and family:
• What are some
characteristics of good family life?
does it mean to balance a career and family life?
factors can make this balance difficult to achieve?
3. Inform students
that as they view the program, they will see some solutions to balancing
work and family life. You might suggest to students that they keep these
questions in mind as they view the episode:
• How have changes
in traditional gender roles made work and family issues more complex?
• How can
employers be sensitive to their employees’ family needs or obligations?
• How might
having the support of family members, workers or neighbors make balancing
Values" presents the following segments:
once or twice while viewing to have students reflect on what they’ve seen.
takes a glance back at his unconventional childhood as he prepares
to explore the ways in which Americans find their own unique balances
between work and family.
Denver, CO – Dave
Maxson, founder of Davey Bear Day Care, decided to go into the
childcare business partly so he could spend time with his son
and daughter. His lively home daycare environment, full of energetic
toddlers, proves just how exhausting and demanding caring for
children can be.
Los Angeles, CA
– Viewers learn how Rosa and Arturo Rivera manage
to raise a family and send their kids to private school on an
annual combined income of $35,000 by working full-time jobs and
operating a family business as well.
New York, NY
– Will takes a lunch break at P.S. 169, because
"school is the first place we get an inkling of what work
will be like." Kids share stories about the way their parents’
feelings about work show up at home.
– First Tennessee Bank used to fire employees automatically
after seven absences, no matter what caused the absences. Now
the bank’s new Family Matters program has transformed the work
environment by taking family issues seriously. Employees at all
levels benefit: Tina Williford can now set flexible schedules
to fit her family’s needs, and Kathy Lewis is able to bring her
children to work at the end of the school day. Not only does the
new plan help retain valuable employees, it has also boosted the
– Viewers meet the Marchianos, a couple struggling
with a difficult and increasingly common dilemma: Should the wife
go back to work full-time after her maternity leave is over, or
will her company allow her to telecommute so she has more time
with her new baby?
– Will introduces viewers to an entrepreneurial
mother-daughter team with a business designed to revive the tradition
of family mealtime. Lisa Wallace and Judy Schwan cook and package
a month’s worth of delicious meals for clients, which is certainly
"one recipe for letting families spend time together."
– Seniors in Brooklyn have the opportunity to participate
in a program called Elderplan. This HMO-based program signs seniors
up to do member-to-member volunteering, a service that provides
the elderly with needed assistance, companionship, and a valuable
sense of community.
• What kinds
of decisions have people made about work and family so far?
• Do people
seem happy with their decisions? Why?
some decisions seemed more difficult than others? Why?
Ask students whether
they are confused about anything they’ve seen. Offer them the opportunity
to visit the Livelyhood Web
site and skim the summary of "Working
Family Values" after watching the program.
Also encourage students
to list terms or concepts they are unfamiliar with, and look them up
in the humorous "Working Family Values Glossary." (http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/workingfamily/familygloss.html)
A variety of resources
are available for linking the content of the show to particular curriculum
areas, and helping students apply the content to real-world situations
relevant to their own lives.
Questions. These encourage students to analyze and think critically
about the situation and issues presented in the show.
You might begin
by having students answer the questions offered as examples:
• How have
changes in traditional gender roles made work and family issues more
can employers be sensitive to their employees’ family needs or obligations?
might having the support of family members, workers, or neighbors
make balancing priorities easier?
Continue by asking
questions that will lead students to relate the content of the program
to their own lives:
• How does
your family balance time spent at work and time spent with each other?
do you know that has had to make difficult decisions about how they
spend their time? What did they decide? How has it worked out?
there any lessons to be learned from these stories? If so, what are
To give students
opportunities to explore these issues actively and creatively, assign
one or more of the cross-curricular activities that follow.
Activities. These offer a variety of projects for individual students
or small groups that extend concepts presented in "Working Family
Values." Some of these activities utilize other features of the
Livelyhood Web site, such as the
Lively Pool and the Posting Areas. All activities are appropriate
for students in grades 9–12. Some are suitable for younger students
as well; others are appropriate for adult students.