Have a Good Life

The other day I walked into a teacher's room and found he was supplementing Reading Street with a great video on YouTube. Though not in his case, there can be times when ads or related videos may not be appropriate for our kids, so here is YouTube's acknowledgement and help for that problem:
http://www.youtube.com/schools

Videos are a powerful way to supplement your curriculum and, if correctly implemented, are an excellent way to build some background knowledge quickly.

Here are two tips for making videos successful in your classroom

1. Load the video before kids are in the classroom (avoid searching for a video in the moment, as you will likely find many inappropriate videos on your way to that video you want).

2. Ask the students questions that cause them to relate it to your objective. Obviously, it should be tied into your curriculum, but also find a way to ensure that the kids really are getting something positive from it.