Using Online Video in the Classroom

Viewing videos can be a great way to introduce a subject or reinforce learning, and the creation of videos can be a great way to show what students have learned.

I have used video when teaching grade 7/8 Social Studies on the Medieval period. I found that the students were much more attentive to the video with it's pictures and reenactments than just me talking about the subject. I also gave my students the option of creating a video as their final project, which many of them did.

YouTube can be a great place to find videos, but you can also run into some terrible videos there too, along with many ads. One website that is really great for finding reliable educational videos on YouTube, TED, or other locations is watchknowlearn.org

Here's a video I found introducing the Greek gods:

I would use this video as an introduction to Greek mythology. Students would view this video in order to learn the different Greek gods. There's also a video on the goddesses, that would go well either right after, or possibly the next day so students are not overwhelmed with all the new information.

After learning about the gods and goddesses, students would be able to learn some of the myths and understand the characters more. This understanding of characters and myths would introduce students to Ancient Greek culture.

I would also love to be able to do a culminating assignment where students create a video of their own that reflects their learning. It would be great if they were able to post it on YouTube as well so their learning could be shared with other classrooms.

watchknowlearn.org has a lot more videos as well that would be great for different lessons in math, science, language arts, and Phys Ed. It's a great resource for all teachers.