Teaching Channel

This past weekend I attended the Fall CUE (Computer Using Educators) conference in the Bay Area. One of the sessions I participated in was on the topic of the Common Core Standards. One of the presenters mentioned an excellent online resource to help you and the teachers at your school prepare for the shift to the Common Core: Teaching Channel. The website is full of video lessons and tutorials along with the teacher handouts and resources mentioned in each video. In essence, it is a free professional development library totally devoted to the Common Core Standards.

If you click on any video, you are immediately taken to a separate page where you can view the lesson or tutorial of your choice. Along with the video player, each video lists the lesson objective, length, questions to consider, and the Common Core Standard related to the resource. Below the video player you will find any supporting materials mentioned and a discussion thread about the video. Currently users are not allowed to download videos, but you can share them via popular social networks, embed them on other websites, or send a link to the video through email.

One of the best features of Teaching Channel is the ability to sort the videos by subject, grade, and topic. As a middle school English Language Arts teacher, I was able to find fifty videos related to my subject and grade level. The videos range in length from two minutes for quick lesson tips or up to thirty minutes for larger topics.

Teaching Channel is a great resource for department collaboration time. The video lessons and tutorials are not presented in a "this-is-how-to-teach-it-correctly" tone, but instead are starters for discussion and fuel for your own ideas. If you are looking for a way to learn more about the Common Core or want to view lessons in action, visit this feature and content rich online professional development resource.

Downloading Videos

I frequently come across videos on websites that I think would make a great part of a lesson, but the website is blocked by an internet filter (i.e. YouTube).  When I come across this situation, I turn to a very helpful Firefox add-on called "Video Downloadhelper." This little utility adds the ability to download to your hard drive most videos on webpages.

The add-on automatically detects when a video is present, and the three colored spheres in the logo begin to rotate. Just click on the animated spheres and you will see the name of the video file playing. Click on the file name, and the video will immediately begin downloading. On sites like YouTube, you will even be presented with different file types and video qualities for the same clip. You can then put the video file on a flash drive and use it as part of your lesson.

Video Downloadhelper

Wingclips

Video clips can often serve as great introductions to units, concepts, or literary themes. Unfortunately, it is difficult to locate quality clips that meet the needs of the lesson you might be teaching on a given day. That is where Wingclips comes in.

This website has a large collection of clips from popular movies, past and present, arranged by theme. When you visit the website, one of the first things you will see is a slider on the left-hand side of the webpage. Simply drag the slider up and down to locate the theme you need. Once you click on the theme, you will be taken to a list of clips that fit that topic. Each clip is playable and can be viewed full screen. Downloads of clips can be purchased on the site. But for most classroom needs, simply playing the clip in order to stimulate discussion about a topic is probably enough.

So the next time you are looking for a video clip to help your students engage in a topic, give Wingclips a try.

Downloading Videos from YouTube

This post is an update of a tip I provided last year. YouTube is an excellent resource for teachers looking to add multimedia content to their PPTs, flipcharts, or other presentation formats. Since YouTube contains videos that range from educational content to the bizarre to videos that are offensive, it is understandably blocked in school districts. But a teacher can still include worthwhile content discovered at home in a lesson for students by downloading the video and inserting it into the lesson content. Probably the easiest way to do this is to use Zamzar.com. In order to download the video you only need the URL of the video in question (ex. http://youtu.be/IbLz9-riRGM) and an email address. Visit Zamzar.com and click on the �Download Videos� tab and paste in the URL of the video. Choose the format you want to convert the video to since YouTube uses Flash Video as default, and enter your email address. You will shortly receive an email from Zamzar.com that contains a link to download the video. Now you can insert the video into your presentation software and watch your students become more engaged in your lessons.