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TV411

Body Works (#121)

Olympic medalist Marian Jones demonstrates the concept of rate, and two math-savvy Calculating Women take charge of an overweight friend's calorie counting. "Lifelines" explores smart ways to manage multiple medications, mind mentor Michael Gelb shares an innovative technique for brainstorming and retaining ideas, and Michael Beech of Third Watch offers tips for handling an emergency.

Education Record Rights: Record and retain for 1 year from each broadcast. No duplication allowed.

Program Description: TV411 focuses on parenting, money matters, and health. Subjects include reading comprehension, research techniques, writing to others, filling out forms, calculating percentages, using fractions, test taking, and more. The series teaches life skills in a manageable, lively format. Fictional and real-life personalities host segments: Dennis Franz from NYPD Blue explains how to read a newspaper article. A WNBA star and new mom offers advice on time management. Famous authors share their love of reading and writing. A cast of entertaining characters covers the math and literacy topics of everyday life. And real adult learners tell how they acquired literacy skills to become better parents, employees, and lifelong learners.

All Upcoming Episodes

  • Program 15 (#115)

    Question Man goes to the library for books on parenting, and Laverne explains how to use a glossary to read a health insurance plan. Street Beat offers advice on figuring the tip in a restaurant, and a mother and daughter create a daily schedule. Poet Jimmy Santiago Baca shows a group of adult learners how to keep a journal. Other topics include energy consumption of appliances and the word "stereotype." Closed Captioning

  • Program 16 (#116)

    Question Man looks at the economics of rent-to-own deals; a basketball pro shows how she uses her day planner to stay organized, and actor Dennis Franz gives a tip on reading the newspaper. Laverne helps a painting contractor figure the cost of a job, and singer-songwriter Toshi Reagon writes a song on the spot. Other topics include credit card debt and the word "analogy." Closed Captioning

  • Program 17 (#117)

    A couple of first-time home buyers learn how to read a mortgage chart, Question Man works on understanding his utility bill, and Street Beat shows how to evaluate written information. Four students from California, calling themselves the Freedom Writers, use pen and paper to fight prejudice and intolerance. Also: how to use a thesaurus, a pop quiz about volunteering, and the word "anomaly." Closed Captioning

  • Program 18 (#118)

    Question Man reads the newspaper, ABC News anchor Antonio Mora hosts a report on multiple intelligences, tennis pro Zina Garrison explains percentiles and rankings, and Jimmy Santiago Baca shows a group of adult learners how to summarize a poem. Street Beat covers looking up government listings in the phone book, while other segments introduce facts about the United States Census and the word "dynamics." Closed Captioning

  • Program 19 (#119)

    Tips on how to summarize almost anything, a pop quiz about adults in college, and the word marginalized. ABC News anchor Antonio Mora reports on different learning styles, a Maryland steel worker studies for his GED, Laverne explains how to use unit price labels on store shelves, and poet Jimmy Santiago Baca talks about how he discovered the joy of language. Closed Captioning

  • Program 20 (#120)

    While reading a pamphlet on breast cancer, Laverne explains the basics of probability and odds. Elizabeth Daniels Squire, a novelist who is also dyslexic, talks about her work, and Antonio Mora of ABC News reports on dyslexia. Also: different meanings for the same word, how to learn and remember new words, a quiz about water and the human body, and the word "genetics." Closed Captioning

  • Body Works (#121)

    Olympic medalist Marian Jones demonstrates the concept of rate, and two math-savvy Calculating Women take charge of an overweight friend's calorie counting. "Lifelines" explores smart ways to manage multiple medications, mind mentor Michael Gelb shares an innovative technique for brainstorming and retaining ideas, and Michael Beech of Third Watch offers tips for handling an emergency.

  • Personal Finances (#122)

    Question Man gets financial advice from a millionaire, a teenage father gets help starting up a small lollipop business as he pursues his GED, the Calculating Women estimate and calculate their way to the perfect cell phone plan, and a federal official reveals the math behind common money scams.

  • The Learning Journey (#123)

    Strategies for reading comprehension on the GED test, ratios in the kitchen with TV chef Curtis Aikens, the story of how one man left prison and low literacy behind, and a look at what happened when an entire Midwestern town read the same novel.

  • On The Job (#124)

    Question Man figures out how to decipher legalese, an Appalachian man tells how he succeeded in changing careers after the end of his coal-mining days, and the Calculating Women explore strategies for building up retirement savings. "Math Behind the Arts" features a New York City subway tile artist.

  • Navigating The System (#125)

    Tips on how to avoid credit card debt from the Calculating Women; a profile of a New York man who, despite a reading disability, teaches others how to pass written driver's license exams; and advice from Laverne on over-the-counter medicine labels and prescription dosages. Three Harlem Globetrotters demonstrate how to read a world map.

  • Family Matters (#126)

    An African immigrant struggles to learn to read and raise a family in America, Laverne helps a young mother child-proof her home, and an African-American woman researches her family roots over the Internet and in the field. Hip-hop star Doug E. Fresh teaches parents and children how to rap while they read.

  • Writing (#127)

    Question Man tackles sentence fragments in a grammatically correct dream, poet Jimmy Baca conducts a dynamic writing workshop with steelworkers, and Laverne helps a co-worker create an outline for a GED essay on disciplining children. A peek behind the scenes at the popular Bernie Mac Show looks in on a professional brainstorming session.

  • Express Yourself (#128)

    Newly minted writer Kathi Wellington tells stories from her days as a steelworker, and origami artist June Sakamoto gives a geometry lesson. Parents and children interpret art and symbolism at the Philadelphia Museum, and Broadway performers from Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam demonstrate that writing poetry can be both literary and exuberant. Closed Captioning

Past Episodes

These episodes of TV411 aired in the last few months on Iowa Public Television.

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