Snacks and Movies

It is crazy how fast you summer can start to fill up.  I was planning on a lazyish summer, but that is coming to an end.  I have started to prepare for my vacation coming up soon, and the graduation for my Masters degree.  Not to mention I have started planning my sessions for our curriculum camp in July.  Packing, inviting, and planning has exhausted me!  I mean lets me real.  As teachers, we only take off about 3 weeks MAYBE of summer vacation.  I feel like by July I am back into prepping for the new school year mode.  I feel that this cartoon describes a real teacher's summer.

When life gets busy it is always nice to slow down with a little video time and that brings me to this weeks focus.  We are going to talk about youtube and videos in your classroom.  

Youtube

We all know it and love it!  I use youtube frequently in my classroom to help draw my students into my daily lesson or even reteaching a concept my students are struggling with.  I never realized how many tools there are to enhance your Youtube experience.  

First of all, Youtube has a special education channel.  Check it out by clicking HERE!  They have so many videos that are organized by subject and even what level you are teaching.  Imagine not having to go through all of the junk videos to get to the good meaty videos.  I love that this is a tool that Youtube has set up for teachers.  

Also, there are add-ons for your browsers that could make the video watching experience even better.  One of my favorite new extensions is called Turn out the Lights.  It essentially dims everything around the video so it is not as much of a distraction.  You have to check this out!  This is only one of a million ideas of how to use youtube in the classroom.  Check out this google doc with some great ideas on how to use youtube in your classroom.  

Snacktube

If you have been keeping up with my blog then you know I am always looking for a new website to enhance the video experience for my students in the classroom.  I LOVE edpuzzle for adding my own commentary, discussions, and quizzes to videos.  If you are not sure what I am talking about check out my post HERE.  So naturally when I was introduced to another awesome site I just had to share it with you.

Snacktube allows for you to collect a bunch of youtube videos and make a playlist.  It makes a much more student friendly interface.  There are not the distracting ads that would be there on a traditional youtube playlist.  Students could scroll through several videos and choose the one they would like to use or you could force them to watch videos in a specific order.  I would almost call this a video collage.  Check out the website HERE.  Do you have a website that you love to use with videos in your classroom?  If so leave me a comment below!

Until next time...