Our series of FREE Instructional Videos are created with several possible uses in mind.
- Show the video toward the end of class. As you know, there should be no "dead time" at the end of class, so it's helpful to have the video corresponding to that day's lesson ready and on hand in case your prepared lesson ends earlier than expected. Better yet, incorporate the video directly in your lesson plan as a quick review just before students complete their exit tickets as a check for understanding.
- Ask students to watch the video before completing their homework. When students are ready to start their homework after school, it may have been several hours since they were in class for the lesson. Help them to remember the key concepts by assigning the appropriate video to watch before completing the Practice Problems or Regents Questions from that section of the book for homework.
- Direct students who are absent from class to watch the video. An absent student may not be able to make up for all the minutes of class time they missed, but teachers can keep them from falling too far behind by assigning a 5 to 10 minute video that summarizes the main ideas taught in that day's lesson.
- Use a "flipped classroom." Have students watch the video covering the next day's topic at home before class. This allows teachers to spend less time in class on traditional instruction and more time engaging students in classroom activities or in working on the related Practice Problems and Regents Questions. This Blended Instruction approach is a key component of the Modern Classrooms model.
- Support differentiated or self-paced learning, mastery-based grading, and more. Instructional videos are a great resource when students may not all be learning at the same pace, or when they are expected to take a mastery re-test weeks after a topic has been taught. Some students may also find classroom instruction too rushed and can benefit from having the ability to pause and replay a video.
In short, the benefits of these Instructional Videos are limited only by the extent of your creativity. Let us know how you use instructional videos with your students and maybe we can add your idea to this list!
Of course, we hope your school decides to purchase our paperbacks or a site license so that students have access to the books that directly coordinate with these videos.
Algebra II videos are scheduled for a 2025-26 release.
