Movie Day!

Movie Day, the teacher's fallback when you've got nothing else. But it doesn't have
to be that way. Movies are a great way to quickly introduce content or to drum up
interest in the material you are covering. The trick is to make sure that it is presented
in a way that the student understand that it is a learning activity and not just a "free
day."  Here are some suggestions that can make your movie day a productive part of
instruction.


Insert a video segments into Google Forms. If you didn't know you can insert videos
into Google Forms. Create a few questions related to the video and have the students
answer them after they watch it. This is a great way to make sure students pay
attention when watching a shorter video clip.

Video guides (follow along). If you have a longer video that you are showing create
a video guide. Fill in the blanks work well for this because students can quickly
answer the questions without missing too much of the video. You may also want to
to give the students a reflection question at the end of the guide. This will help keep
students from just copying answers from someone else, and it will make them think
critically about what they have just seen.

Use Programs like Edpuzzle. Online programs like Edpuzzle allow you
to create places in the video where it will stop and present students with questions
or further explanations about the content being covered. After students have finished
watching the videos, the teacher can see how long each student spent watching the
video and how many questions they got correct. Edpuzzles and some other programs
even work with Google Classroom, so you can assign a video from their site and
sync grades after students have finished.

Choose Wisely. Not every movie or video is worth taking class time to watch. Start
by asking yourself what do I want my students to take away from watching this.
If you can't directly relate it to what you are doing skip the video, or add it as an
optional assignment students can do outside of class.

Make it an event. Watching videos can grab students attention when they are tired
of doing the same thing in class over and over. However, if you show videos too
frequently students will not be as attentive while watching and they will being
to expect videos and not want to do other important classwork.

In the comments below share a 

video that you like to share with students.