Don't be afraid to show videos in your classroom. I'm not talking about a movie that might be related, but video content.
Here an interesting video that is a mix of classic film projector movie and modern video, content made for the classroom.
Sites like youtube.com and teachertube.com will supply you with clips of various length, and you want to do your searching at home, not in front of the students.
For strictly educational content you have choices like Discovery Education and Brainpop. Many districts may have subscriptions, so check with your school. Some free high quality resources for video content include PBS Teachers and STEMTube student photos & videos for Science, Math, Engineering, Technology.
Is there a benefit to showing videos in the classroom? Research says YES!
Here a wonderful excerpt from this article : No Child Left Behind: Scientific Research Indicates that Using Video in the Classroom Improves Learning
Additionally, teachers overwhelmingly reported "positive student outcomes as a result of using instructional television and video." Specifically of note are the student outcomes in which 85% of the "frequent user" teachers surveyed said that students comprehend and discuss content/ideas presented, 69.1% reported that the use of TV and video increased motivation and enthusiasm for learning, and 66.3% said that students learn more when TV or video is used in the classroom.
Now that should make any principle or AP happy. Print the article, and keep a copy under your projector, and if they ever come in and give you the "eye" grab it and put it in their hands!
Administration is worried about movies used to waste time, like when the student came to me a few days after TAKS testing complaining they had already seen Finding Nemo three times that day!
Find a movie editing program you like so you can cut the parts you really want. I think VLC from Videolan.org supports this feature (beautiful lesson here) and its a free program, works wonderfully on Windows or MAC and is probably one of the best players too!
The article You Can Take It With You on the site Tech & Learning summarizes the benefits and methods for using and getting video into the classroom.
These days, to capture the interest of your students and get them to fully participate in the teaching and learning process, what they like comes first. If showing educational video will be the best way to motivate students, then we have to go for it. Students these days get bored easily when only the traditional method of teaching is used. There should be flexibility in allowing teachers to be creative to use whatever means to get the message across.
ReplyDeleteIn HISD, we have Discovery Education and BrainPop subscriptions. I use video in my ESL reading classes as a hook for a lesson or to utilize the audio for ELLs.
ReplyDeleteHugh Agnew says, “If your goal is to find a magic bullet that makes all students better, this isn’t it," in Tanya Roscorla's article (2010) for Converge. As educators, we study multiple intelligences because we know that not all students learn the same way. A video or podcast is useful for hitting various learning styles at one time, but of course, it will NOT ensure learning across the board. They are great for previewing a story or a unit, like a trailer, in a sense.
Roscorla, Tanya. (2010) Do Podcasts Help Students Learn? Classroom Technology. Retrieved from http://www.technologybitsbytesnibbles.info/archives/2226