Category Archives: Online Videos

Flocabulary: Much More than Just a Song!

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I am always amazed when I talk with social studies teachers who have never heard of Flocabulary. Flocabulary creates hip-hop music and materials to supplement your curriculum. The first time I ever played a US history Flocabulary song my college roommate came in dancing…. little did she know it was about “who discovered it” related to Christopher Columbus. I use everyone of the US history songs as a unit preview. I actually made a powerpoint of images and typed the lyrics to go along with the Flocabulary songs. Through the rap songs we discuss key vocabulary and concepts we will learn with the upcoming unit. Even though Flocabulary is no longer free, it is well worth the money to subscribe to its wonderful features!

 

Another reason I love to use Flocabulary in the classroom is the Week in Rap. Every week on Friday mornings, Flocabulary puts together the week’s biggest or most interesting current event stories into a rap music video. The week in rap discusses the hottest topics of the week, such as the Travon Martin case, the oil spill, crisis in Syria to name a few. My 8th grade students in White Plains, NY loved the Week in Rap. They actually asked to watch it every week. I was even surprised that after spring break, they asked if they could watch it from the week before!

 

The best part about the week in rap is not just the music, even though it is good, they love discussing the current events. Yes, you read that right! They love discussing the current events. After I play the week in rap, I ask them if there is anything they want to discuss. Around 18  hands in my classroom instantaneously shoot up. I am often not leading the discussion, but facilitating it. Students respond by saying “oh I heard that on the news,” “my mom was talking about that” “I heard….” The discussions that come from the 3 minute Week in Rap is one of the reasons I became a teacher.

 

Another awesome feature of the Week in Rap, is that they make the past 18 years in rap for recent high school grads. I always show it at the end of the year, but I also show it at the beginning of the year and introduce the concept: what is history? My students are always impressed with how much history they lived through after watching the past 18 years in rap. It is a great beginning of the school year activity to start the discussion what is history and how we are apart of it.

The Last 18 Years In Rap from Flocabulary on Vimeo.

 

 

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Awesome Economic Video/Audio Clips and Creative lessons

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I am a new instructor teaching economics this coming school year. I was looking for ways to make the curriculum more engaging and interactive for my students. I stumbled upon Dirk Mateer from @NortonEconomics. Dirk Mateer is a lecturer in economics at Penn State. He is truly an AMAZING instructor who helps his students understand and appreciate economic concepts. He uses pop culture and creative teaching ideas to enhance his curriculum. His website has a massive collection resources to help students learn about economics and have fun while learning.

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Civics Resources: Games, Videos, Lesson ideas

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I have used the The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands for numerous civics videos and online books in the past but was recently introduced to the Sunnylands Civics games by @melissalindinja.  The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands is developing interactive games about the Constitution. The games seem well suited for middle school or lower high school levels.

 

There are games about the first amendment, branches of government, laws, executive brach, couts, being John Marshall, and the constitutional convention. This games are interactive and if you create teacher and student accounts you can use the scores for progress monitoring or a classroom competition. Check it out today!

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Khan Academy has History Resources

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I first learned about the Khan Academy over a year ago, but was disappointed with the lack of history resources. Over the past year the amount of resources has grown and it continues to grow.  The Khan Academy is changing the face of education by providing free educational videos and lessons to anyone anywhere in the world, completely free of charge.  The Khan Academy has an extensive  library of videos covers K-12 math, science topics such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and even reaches into the humanities with playlists on finance and history. Each video is a ten minute long clip.

American civics videos

Art history videos

Macroeconomics videos 

Microeconomics videos 

History videos

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Interactive Presentations with Slide Boom

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I discovered Slide Boom when I was searching for an interactive World War II map (see below). Slide Boom is a website that allows users to upload Powerpoint presentations and the website converts the file to a flash movie. Each presentation that is uploaded can be shared with others on a blog or website.  The slides are uploaded in the same manner as the original .ppt file, including audio, animation, and visual files.

 

My favorite feature of Slide Boom is the animation options such as a pen, highlighter, or eraser. You can save your writing and animation of each slide. You can then make the presentation available to your students. For example: I animated and highlighted the battles on the interactive WWII map. Here is a how to use Slide Boom guide.

 

Here is the main features of Slideboom: 

  • It has a basic free version and premium version (Basic is fine for educator)
  • It is very simple and easy to use
  • It allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations and slideshows
  • It can be used to convert PowerPoint presentations to Flash
  • You can share your presentations with others
  • Search for presentations in 100+ different languages and by 30+ categories.
  • Join an interest group or create your own
  • Embed presentations into your blog or website
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Explain Everything: For Substitute Plans

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I hate having a substitute. My students are usually never on task and don’t complete the assignment. I put a lot of time into substitute plans get really annoyed when they are not taught the way I instructed or a lesson was not completed. This year I resorted to a video or a simple activity the kids can do on their own rather than continue with my lesson plans.

 

This week I had to create substitute plans with a days notice and rather than change my plans I used the application Explain Everything. I created a 15 minute podcast lesson for my students to watch and listen to with a substitute. My students said “It was like you were there with us,” or “I liked the lesson.” I never hear that after having a substitute. The following day the substitute came into my classroom and said it was the easiest class they ever had to cover.

 

I learned about Explain Everything from @gregkulowiec at EdCamp Social Studies. Explain Everything is an easy to use app that allows you annotate, animate, and narrate any presentation. You can create interesting and dynamic lessons and tutorials. You can take any lesson and record on screen drawings, objective movements, and capture audio. You can add any photo, powerpoint, PDF, or a file from dropbox, Evernote, Email, or Photos. Explain Everything is truly a wonderful application that is changing the face of education.

 

For other uses of Explain Everything, please visit the History 2.0 Classroom.

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Animoto: Video Slideshows

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Animoto is a simple program online to create simple videos from pictures, sound, text, and  existing video clips. It 508971_Genrl-Slide-160x600-22makes it possible to quickly create a video using still images, music, and text. Animoto  is constantly updating its features as well as background options for your video slideshow.  If you can make a slideshow presentation, you can make a video using Animoto Video Slideshows.

 

Animoto Video Slideshows limits you to 30 second videos, but you can create longer videos if you apply for an education account and give your students the teacher code. I love to use Animoto early in the school year to introduce my new students to some of the basic skills that will be carried across to more complex video creations later in the year such as Garage Band and iMovie.

Here is a sample assignment and a here is a sample student project: VFW- Interest Group Project

508971_Genrl-Slide-300x250-22
 

 

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Educreations: Create and Share Video Lessons

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I learned about Educreations,  from Infinite Think Machine; which is a free application for the ipad or a laptop that allows users to create virtual whiteboard lessons. Educreations has a clear audio voiceover, graphics, and the ability to post the interactive whiteboard to any social media website or blog.  This application can be used by students to help a classmate with a difficult math problem or historical time period.

Teachers can create a flipped lesson or assign educreations as a project with any unit of study. As a history teacher, I could see educreations as a useful resource. I think this would be an interesting way to introduce key vocabulary or review for the Regent’s exam. You could pair students together, assign them a vocabulary word, and have them create an interactive whiteboard video about the vocabulary word. You can then embed the videos online to view for homework, a video for class, or a review tool. The ideas are endless.

Here are a few examples:

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NROC: Free Online Video Clips for Any Subject

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One internet resource I use on a weekly basis is the NROC Open Educational Resource US College Prep Course. I am thrilled that this FREE online course supplement helps to make our content more engaging.

You can select any course from Biology to Algebra to AP United States History. Each chapter has a few video clips as well as links to useful supplemental material. The videos are broken into segments and are nice preview to a unit or a lesson. I also think this resource is valuable because it is supported by content based materials as opposed to a random search on youtube. I have personally used the United States and the AP Government videos and would recommend then to any teacher.

 

Citation: NROC

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Teaching Economics in American History

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As a United States History teacher, I find it critical to teach our students the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in the 21st century. The study of economics is rooted in every aspect of American history, which can provide us with  tons of examples of how resources are allocated; as well as understanding the historical context in which economic history takes place.

I find teaching concepts of supply and demand, production and distribution, stocks and bonds a challenging subject for our students to comprehend. The study of economics can help our students understand the structural changes which have taken place in our economy, as well as understand the emergence of today’s economy.

I recently discovered a wonderful resource for teaching economics produced from the Wall Street Survivor on youtube. The Wall Street Survivor website has compiled a wonderful collection of easy to understand videos and resources. The website also has a stock market game, which can be tailored to any teacher’s need. You can “reate a custom game that’s branded with your school, group or company. Choose your own trading dates, cash balance, and other paper trading options. You and the other players automatically get entered to win 100,000 of cash and prizes. It’s 100% free.” Check it out today!

 

 

Citation: Wall Street Survivor, website  

 

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Skype in the Classroom

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Skype in the classroom is a wonderful way to bring the world into the classroom. Imagine being able to bring an expert or a guest speaker into your classroom to teach a particular subject. You can even collaborate with a classroom halfway around the world. All of this is possible with Skype in the Classroom. 

Skype in the classroom is an online community that encourages teachers to connect and share with collaborative projects, classroom connections, and guest speakers. It officially launched their website less than a year ago and currently has 20,000 teachers using the website to support classrooms around the world. I am currently making arrangements to have a “meeting” with a 9/11 survivor and a Vietnam Veteran with my 8th grade U.S. history students. I know it will be one of my student’s favorite lessons! Check out Skype in the Classroom today.

 

For more ideas on how other teachers are using Skype in the Classroom visit the Skype blog called Play or the another blog on education. Here is also another great resource from  Silvia Tolisano’s blog, which has a ton of resources for using Skype in the Classroom.

 

 

What do you need to do to establish Skype in the Classroom?
• Create a Skype account – Choose your Skype Name and enter your details so friends can find you on Skype.
• Get Skype – Download Skype to your computer.
• Sign in to Skype – Sign in and add your friends as contacts, then call, video call and instant message with them, wherever you are.
• Register for Skype in the classroom – Meet new people, discover new cultures and connect with classes from around the world, all without leaving the classroom.

 

For more information on how Skype can extend learning beyond the classroom, visit Skype in the classroom or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Blog Citation

Video Citation

 

 

 

 

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HelloSlide- Bring your Presentation to Life

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As more and more classrooms move into the digital age, instructors are looking for ways to bring an interesting touch to their online lessons. HelloSlide is a wonderful way to transform a lesson into a audio-rich lesson that seems like a live presentation. I learned about HelloSlide from Richard Bryne’s blog Free Technology for Teachers. To get started using Hello Slide, register for a free account, upload a PDF of your slides, then start typing your narration.

Application in the Classroom: I can see HelloSlide being used multiple ways in the classroom. It could be used to teach a particular concept in class, previewing the night before, teaching a lesson using the “flipped” model, can be translated for ESL students, or even used in alternative assessment projects in which students teach the class a particular concept.

HelloSlide is very easy to use: 

1. You upload your presentation.

2. Type the speech for your presentation and HelloSlide automatically generates the audio. I only wish it gave you a feature to record your own voice with the presentation.

Here is a sample project already created on HelloSlide: 

 

HelloSlide provides key advantages over the video format:

  • Easy to create. Just take the PowerPoint slides already sitting in your computer, write the speech for each slide, and share them with the rest of the world. There’s no need to record any audio.
  • Editable presentations. Unhappy with the audio of your slides? Want to fix mistakes or improve the content? It’s easy: just press edit and tweak the speech until you’re happy with the result. No need to re-record the audio.
  • Auto translation. Make your presentation available in 20 different languages, with no additional effort. Just write the speech in English, and press translate.
  • Searchable content. You can search for audio keywords across all presentations, since everything is text-based.
  • Wider exposure. Your presentation is more discoverable on the web, since search engines can index the audio content more thoroughly.

Citation:  Hello Slide

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Great Movie Clip on Digital Age and Change

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I just found this wonderful video clip from the blog, From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning. I only wish more schools would change with the times. Too many classrooms around the country resemble classrooms from a century ago! Teachers leading instruction and students dutifully taking notes and absorbing material like sponges. Our schools need to change and realize that students no longer learn the same way they did decades ago. It’s time to get our students interacting, collaborating, and learning skills to be successful in the 21st century.  Employers are looking for creativity, self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. Students should not be treated as sponges anymore!

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Make Videos Student Friendly with EmbedPlus

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I have enjoyed using Tubechop, but I recently stumbled upon another program called EmbedPlus. Embed Plus allows users to share YouTube videos more effectively.  EmbedPlus allows users to seamlessly and freely upgrade video embeds with attractive features that the standard YouTube player does not currently offer. Given a YouTube link and a few seconds, it applies APIs to generate enhanced embed code that adds features like: DVD-like controls, “chopping”, real-time Internet reactions, third-party annotations, and more. EmbedPlus could be useful to anyone wanting to offer viewers more without having to actually alter original video content.

Using EmbedPlus is very simple: 

1. Enter the URL of your You Tube video

2. You can then use the EmbedPlus features to make the youtube video like a DVD control such as scene skipping, movable zoom, third party annotations, slow motion on-demand, and instant replay. You can even set a start time as well as fast forward to a specific scene. Teachers can even add words to the video to explain a particular scene.

3. When finished, click “get code” and either copy the new url for your video or embed the code into your website or blog to share with others.

 

Here are some ways teachers can use Edmbed Plus in the classroom: 

Chapter/Scene Skipping

Videos often have specific segments or turning points that viewers may wish to jump back and forth to, especially after the first view. A video could span multiple topics and/or contain different speakers. Teachers can mark each turning point for easy navigation using the jump buttons on the player. Alternatively, if a video has certain ‘skippable’ parts that are not relevant to the desired lesson, the beginning of the relevant parts could be marked for direct access to them.

Movable Zoom and Slow Motion

These are the other DVD-like controls. They can be particularly valuable for science and nature videos in which students are to make observations. To illustrate, a video might contain experiments and chemical reactions that may happen too quickly for normal playback. Slow motion and zoom offers students a chance to get a closer and clearer understanding of the event. They can also provide greater accessibility that some students might need for viewing text and other objects within a video.

Third Party Annotations

Teachers might wish to offer additional information beyond what is presented in a video. Such information could be effectively displayed using annotations that popup at user-defined times. EmbedPlus offers such a feature for third-parties–i.e. anyone that wishes to embed a video. While annotations/captions are also possible through YouTube, they can only be added by a user with access to the video’s channel. EmbedPlus complements YouTube in this way. You will also find that with EmbedPlus’ annotations, the control bar of the player displays the text to avoid blocking the video screen and possibly distracting viewers.

Real-time Reactions

This optional feature displays YouTube and Twitter reactions right inside the player. We are speculating that some comments from YouTube and Twitter can offer students useful viewpoints from others that have viewed a video, particularly those outside the students’ classroom. This of course depends on the nature of the commenters and tweeters.

 



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