Video in the Classroom

Using video in the classroom is a very powerful tool! Actually using the computer to show any information to students shows them the "realness" of what they are learning and that we are not just spouting out facts for our own good. I have seen a group of learning support students get truly excited when I pulled up just an article on the computer and pictures of what we were reading about. I think some students feel that school is boring and so is everything they are supposed to learn. If we connect real life,( ie, streaming videos, youtube, or just internet information) to the subject matter, to the net-genners, it makes the information become pertinent in their world.

I have had only one methods class so far, and during the lesson plan I was to teach, I did use a video (The VHS kind). In the future I would streamline the video from youtube or one of the other sites.

As an Elementary and Special Education Major, I will be teaching all different subject matters, so the possibilities are endless.

I can see:

*Watching Science experiments that may be too dangerous for the classroom

*Taking virtual field trips that are too costly or unattainable for Social Studies

*Broadcasting news reports and interviews or acting out plays from our reading books

*Using youtube videos like schoolhouse rock, to teach multiplication tables, history, grammar

It is a very exciting time to be entering the teaching profession and I am grateful, at age 40 something , to be using technology to keep students motivated to learn.