YouTube amazes me! Seriously, I cannot get over how many videos there are to see and learn from. Just this year I learned about Zamzar and how to convert YouTube videos so I could download the videos from YouTube and show them to my students. When studying Benjamin Franklin, we watched a Storm Chasers video to show how Benjamin Franklin was actually the first "storm chaser". The kids loved it, and still ask if we can watch the Storm Chasers video again. People are so visually stimulated that it definitely helps to have a video that goes along with the concept being taught. Podcasts are great and useful when you are listening in the car or on the go, but if I have the ability, I want to SEE something. For instance, the videos that are linked to our weekly class lessons mainly provided by CommonCraft, always help me fully grasp what I am supposed to do or how something works.
I also use SchoolTube which is similar to TeacherTube. I have a channel where all my videos are and I can find them easily. I also tag my videos for easy access. Some of the videos created were for learning fun, like the Doubles Song we learned for addition of like numbers:
or the one I made up and taught the kids to help them remember the parts of speech:
My co-teacher and I also decided it would be a great idea to help parents see how we were teaching a certain concept that may be challenging. We've only done one of these so far, but I'm sure there are more in our future. This is the one we created to show how to teach students to count mixed change.
We had some good parent feedback after posting this one to our site.
Here is one I found on YouTube that I thought was beneficial. It's called "How To Deal With a Screaming Child While Shopping". :)
This is also a great way to put technology in our students' hands with the proper guidance. Students can use smart phones, flip video cameras, digital cameras, etc. to record something and share with others, in some cases, immediately. We had a 4th grader recently use her smart phone on the bus to video what was happening and post it on YouTube before she was dropped off at her stop. She, of course, got in trouble for doing this because she did not have permission to video the bus driver or the other students on the bus. When asked about the uploaded video, she said she just wanted to show her experience as a kid on the bus. The students already know how to use this kind of technology, so why not let them in a way that is allowed and educational. This could have been a good school project or documentary of the goings on of the bus if it had just had the right permissions and a little guidance.
The "dot hair" method is really interesting! It made me try to think back to when I learned how to count money, but I am having a hard time remembering...it just seems to appear in my brain! ;) I am sure your video really helped the parents, since a lot time they do not remember how to help their students with their homework. Have you let your students create their own videos yet? I am sure they could come up with some creative ideas!!!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the idea of posting videos to your school blog for parents to see what is going on in the classroom! ESPECIALLY how to help their kids with tough concepts like counting money... oh man, I remember those days in teaching first grade.. whew. That and telling time.. which i am not sure to what extent they need to know time in grades earlier than 2nd here in GA. The parenting video is another great one.. wow how many temper tantrums have I witnessed as a parent in stores? :) It's nice to know, as stated at the end, that this is normal and your kid is not just trying to make your life miserable. :) Thanks for all of this awesome info, Yvonne!
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