School Videos in the Classroom

When I was teaching, there was a common response when I told the students that we were going to watch a video: I swear some kids all but took out a pillow and blanket and prepared to get a good nap in. It can be tempting to use videos to “babysit” students while you get some grading or lesson planning done. I know I have in the past, but I was wasting what really is a wonderful teaching opportunity. Educational videos can help you achieve instructional objectives effectively, so it is important to use them in the best way possible.

When using any type of media in your classroom, it is helpful to develop a good anticipatory set. This addresses key questions and helps focus the lesson before you present the video. Ask yourself:

· What do my students need to know before we watch the video?
· How can I excite their interest and keep them focused?
· How can I let my students know what is coming in age-appropriate terms?

You can approach this in any number of ways, but I like to use pre-activities that relate to the video content. For instance, if you were showing early elementary students a video related to number words, you could have them hold up their hands. Can you show me zero fingers? Can you show me many fingers? A few fingers? This gets them thinking about the terms they will be hearing and seeing in the video.

You can also use educational videos in your anticipatory sets to jump into your lesson in a way that will generate interest and provide needed variety for students. Say, for instance, you were going to have your students start a composting program at your school to reduce waste from the cafeteria. To give them an idea of what composting is all about, you could show segments from a video directly related to that subject. This allows them to see the process in action, model the steps in the process and show why it is good for the environment.

There really are unlimited ways to use media in the classroom. If you find your students are taking out the pillow and blanket – metaphorically speaking – then make sure you are using the videos as complements to your lesson, not as the whole lesson itself. There needs to be a point, a focus, in order for children to learn and for the media to work its magic. For some tips on making the most of your anticipatory sets for video, click here.

Videos Aren’t The Enemy

As a teacher, I know first hand that a lot of time goes into creating lesson plans. Typically there are four steps:

1. Picking the topic
2. Researching the topic
3. Developing a presentation to keep students engaged

The truth is, we live in a visual world, but videos aren’t the enemy. They can help get a point across. Using educational video in your lessons is a great way to make the curriculum come to life. There is nothing like teaching a unit on the ocean and having a video full of detailed images and full of ocean sounds for the students to see and hear. Video helps capture and present the many different habitats, species and regions oceans encompass around the world.

Research has proven that visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners benefit from video resources in addition to lectures and white boards text. For the learner that needs to experience the lesson visually, educational videos present another option. With hundreds of videos available across subject areas and designed for specific grade levels and units of study, all teachers can utilized these resources to make their lessons more effective.

As much as we would all like to show full length videos, it’s not always an option. Carefully placed video clips placed at important points in your lesson improve your lesson. Teaching a history lesson on the Louisiana Purchase? Find short clips to make it relevant. Teaching about metamorphosis? Let your students see the changes of a butterfly in real time. They’ll love it and you’ll love watching them.

Using video in your lessons will help you turn on the light bulbs in your students minds. As educators, that’s why we teach - the “Aaah ha” moments. Have one in each lesson.