Thing #7 -- Library 2 Play 2

I have tried to provide online video resources for my teachers for years, but in the past few years our computers and internet connections got so slow that they could not watch anything I found...if I could see it myself. I am excited that in the coming year, we are getting new computers, greater speed internet, and video projectors for all our classrooms. This should be a great resource for the classroom now.

I have used Hulu for some time now to watch movies, but have not considered it for the classroom until now. One of my favorites with the anniversary of the moon landing was found there. It is SpaceRip: Apollo 11: To the Sea of Tranquility. It would be great to use in our Earth Science class.



I have learned to let the video buffer before trying to watch it by clicking the play button and then immediately clicking the pause button and waiting a bit. Mine works better this way. Also Hulu videos have more controls available from the original site than from an embed.

Also, in most cases it would be best to download a video you are planning to show in the classroom rather than play it straight from the internet site. Some of the advertising surrounding the video screens on some of these sites is not very appropriate for students.

I used Blinx to search for videos on the Texas Revolution and found this on YouTube. It is an excellent emotional reading of Travis Letter at the Alamo. It would make a profound difference in our Texas history class to watch this video. The only action is actually the words of the letter projected on a flag background...but the reading is great!



I tried embedding this video from the Blinx site but wasn't successful, so I went to the original YouTube site and embedded from there.

I found a remarkable video on the NARA site from the Lyndon B. Johnson library of a recorded phone conversation between Johnson and Truman. It's unique as a slide show inside a video. American History classes would get a unique perspective of a Texas president in his own words...and it also has Lady Bird Johnson speaking as well. Unique conversation between 2 former presidents.

I did not realize so much of PBS was video online. Lots of educational things going on there. I did not find a way to make all these videos full-screen. However on many sites, going full-screen lessened the visual quality, so showing these on a large screen with a video projector will lose many students. A suggestion would be to go to the computer lab and assign a video to watch individually so the small screen (and better quality) would be an asset, and provide an assignment to do while watching the video. That way, individuals could work at their own speed (stopping and starting when needed) to complete an assignment using online video.

One of my favorite videos is A Fair(y) Use Tale so I used Google Video search to find it again. It sums up fair use and copyright pretty good.

On Joyce Valenza's site I tried searching for Anne Frank on SearchForVideo (since we read the biography in 8th grade) and found this: Anne Frank - My Heart Will Go On through Live Video. It is a music video and a good example of Remix Culture using clips from the movie, historical photos, set to a song not usually associated with Anne Frank....but in this case fits well.

And NeoK12 is awesome! Definitely something to tell teachers about.