Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Tool #8 - Video Resources

I believe videos can be great resources of information for students in the classroom. Video segments that are relevant to lessons being taught can be selected so that class time is not wasted on nonessential information. Videos also provide students with opportunities to "visit" places that they would not be able to really go, giving them a varied and wider range of knowledge. Like any other resources, videos need to be previewed for appropriateness and applicability before being used in the classroom.

The first video I chose was Magic Math, Place Value and Digits from YouTube. It is a good resource to help explain digits and how they are arranged in various places. The students would get a quick overview that would help further student understanding of place value.

My second video is Mammals from YouTube. This video does a great job of explaining what makes a mammal a mammal. It clearly shows students characteristics or traits that are particular to the group of animals classified as mammals.

2 comments:

Ms.Chen said...

Hi Ms.P! Thanks for sharing your view on how to use videos in the classroom. I couldn't agree with you more when it comes to the effectiveness of videos that are used to preview, reinforce or close out main concepts of a lesson. They can be an invaluable resource, especially as many of our students (and us!) are visual learners. And like you said, previewing is a must! Unfortunately, videos are too often used as a last minute time filler or transitional piece. How do you find good videos for your classroom? Do you just google a topic or search on youtube? Thanks for sharing!

Ms. P. said...

Ms. Chen, thanks for reading my blog and adding your comment. It is sometimes tough to choose a good video because there are such a vast number to choose from. I do try to put in a search topic, then read the description and finally view the ones I think might work. It is usually an easy decision about whether a video meets my teaching needs or not within the first minute of viewing. However, I like to use Discovery Learning videos too because it is so easy to pick short segments that you need instead of an entire video. Previewing does take time and I consider it a real need because you might end up with something that is either too hard to understand, too simple for the grade level you are working with or contains questionable material/language of which you were not aware. Happy video hunting! :^)