Video production and sharing can support both classroom instruction and professional learning. As Richardson (2010) has suggested, you can find out how to do almost anything on YouTube. Due to my school district's push toward a "Blended Learning" environment, teachers are encouraged to post or link to relevant course content (YouTube videos included) on their teacher page in the district LMS. With new, easy to use technologies like Jing, creating and uploading videos is a quick and easy process. Teachers (and students) can easily create an audio file, a narrated slide show, or a full blown video clip and easily share it with their students through a video repository like YouTube or Teacher Tube. Assuming you can't find a YouTube clip that meets your needs, it's easy to create one.
I regularly use YouTube videos in my Social Studies classroom. The sheer volume of on line videos makes it ideal to support Social Studies instruction. During my unit on Latin America, we take a close look at the Panama Canal, including its history and relevance to the global economy. Last week I showed this short clip to my social studies classes. The students were fascinated with the use of locks as a water elevator to raise and lower ships to cross this isthmus. Another video clip (in this case a series of short videos) I discovered were created by Jill Oberkofler. Like me she's a 6th grade social studies teacher. She's created numerous short video lectures geared to the 6th grade Social Studies standards. Her Europe Map Song is a great way to teach kids to identify countries and physical features on a blank outline map. I'm also a big fan of CGP Grey's YouTube videos. Most of his uploads are directly applicable to Social Studies and quite entertaining. My favorite is "Death to Pennies."
Here's Ms. Oberkofler's Europe Map Song YouTube video:
I regularly use YouTube videos in my Social Studies classroom. The sheer volume of on line videos makes it ideal to support Social Studies instruction. During my unit on Latin America, we take a close look at the Panama Canal, including its history and relevance to the global economy. Last week I showed this short clip to my social studies classes. The students were fascinated with the use of locks as a water elevator to raise and lower ships to cross this isthmus. Another video clip (in this case a series of short videos) I discovered were created by Jill Oberkofler. Like me she's a 6th grade social studies teacher. She's created numerous short video lectures geared to the 6th grade Social Studies standards. Her Europe Map Song is a great way to teach kids to identify countries and physical features on a blank outline map. I'm also a big fan of CGP Grey's YouTube videos. Most of his uploads are directly applicable to Social Studies and quite entertaining. My favorite is "Death to Pennies."
Here's Ms. Oberkofler's Europe Map Song YouTube video: