Lesson Pathways Blog » Using Videos in the Classroom

It was always a big event when the teacher pulled out the projector. You remember it don’t you? She would pull out the big reels of film and spend a few minutes of class time trying to thread the film through that little slot and get it going on the empty reel. I remember looking over at the reel during boring films to see how much was left. Often times, the sound would be just a little off from where it should be in the film. At the end of the movie, the last of the film would filter through the machine making that “flap, flap, flap” sound until the teacher turned it off.

Those days are long gone. I had to learn how to use one of those projectors in college in the early 90’s, but I’ve never even come across one in a classroom setting. Instead, when I first started teaching, we used VHS tapes. Those were quickly replaced by DVDs (in the schools lucky enough to have a DVD player). Now? Well, I can still use those things, I guess – although VHS tapes are becoming fairly difficult to find. But now, all I have to do is turn on my computer to share videos with my classroom.

There are also many free sites that teachers can use to provide video content to supplement their lesson plans. The biggest hurdle that teachers face is finding videos that your particular school’s firewall or technology department will allow. It can be done though.

Today, there are an abundance of sites available for teachers to use in their classrooms. Some schools subscribe to Livestream.com or a similar service, allowing their teachers access to videos on demand. There are also many free sites that teachers can use to provide video content to supplement their lesson plans. The biggest hurdle that teachers face is finding videos that your particular school’s firewall or technology department will allow. It can be done though. Sharing videos with your students is an easy way to wrap up or even to introduce a lesson. Videos grab attention and get kids interested. The great thing is that they don’t have to be a full length video or one that takes up an entire class period. There are many short videos out there that can introduce a concept or present information in a different way than you have in class.

Of course, with this comes having to actually find the videos. That can be a task, especially if your school doesn’t subscribe to one of the larger video streaming sites. Most teachers I know can’t afford to subscribe to them on their own – a lot are fairly pricey. That’s one of the reasons I like to use Lesson Pathways. Their extremely affordable site has a wealth of pre-screened videos that are already filtered by subject into the lesson that you’re planning to teach. They’re also already arranged by approximate grade level. It makes it really easy to find videos related to the subject matter that I’m teaching. They use trusted video sites such as Teachertube.com, Discovery Education, and National Geographic.

Classroom videos have come a long way from the reel-to-reel filmstrips that many of us watched as children. We are now lucky enough to have access to a nearly unlimited supply of video resources. I love using them as a teaching tool, as I am sure many of you do as well. They are great for introducing concepts, reinforcement, and even just for a break in the every day action. Sometime, though, I’d like to get my hands on an “old-school” projector, just so my students can have the experience of hearing the “flap, flap, flap.”