How I Would Use Video to Support Learning

Using video to support learning is something that has interested me since I was in grade school. My early years of schooling did not have video use, but in 2nd grade, they added SmartBoards to our classrooms and a lot changed. Teachers were able to be more interactive and engage students with videos they created themselves or videos found online. Students, including myself, LOVED when videos were shown. They had us engaged more than when the teacher was just speaking to us while still being extremely valuable to our learning. The easy access to them must have also been a huge plus for teachers.

I love the idea of incorporating music into my lessons, but unfortunately, I am not blessed with a good singing voice. I can use video though!!! Youtube is full of educational, musical videos. Channels like Anchor Creative Education have produced boatloads of songs to teach things like tenses, alliteration, and more. Students love to be loud and using song videos gives them the opportunity to do so whilst still learning and I absolutely love that. I also find that songs help with memory, so the lesson is more likely to stick with the students.

Song videos aren’t the only great use of video in classrooms. I also like the ones that explain how to do math problems or science problems. Some students will struggle to understand the way I explain things and giving them a video that demonstrates a different approach is something I plan on utilizing. Videos that explain history and social studies in a storytelling form with reenactments or cartoons are another type of video I would like to incorporate. Learning through storytelling, like learning through song helps to engage students and have them enjoy their learning. I want my classroom to be somewhere my students are excited to come and learn and not dread. Showing fun educational videos is one of many ways I plan on doing that.

I realize that showing media off the internet comes with its risks like unknown ads. In class, we learned about safeshare.tv, which is a website that can remove ads, making the video safe to share with students and not have the fear of an inappropriate ad popping up. I will also be sure to NEVER show a video to my class that I have not previewed ahead of time. I am not comfortable taking the risk that a part of the video may not be suitable.