Toucans
See these colorful, long billed birds in this short video. The movie has no information, but shows Toucans, set to music, in their natural habitat. Run time 01:35.
The Universe: The Constellations
Stories behind constellations and how they were named and why. Students would benefit from a handout and/or chart of the constellations. (03:10)
Spanish Lesson - formal vs. informal
A very basic introduction to the difference between tú and usted. Figure out how to use different levels of formality along with some good examples in Spanish. (The quality could be a little better.)
Forest, Paper, and Printing Facts
This brief video clip presents a few numbers about forest, paper and printing. There are interesting facts that everybody should consider before hitting the Print button. There is no audio and students must be able to read the information or be read to. (00:56)
Renaissance Art- A Brief Overview
Short overview of the Renaissance Art movement. This began in Italy in the 1300s. Artists painted rounded people and linear perspective. This is a narration with still images.
Learn how to Write an Essay - Choosing Genre, Topic and Scope
Write an Essay - Choosing Genre, Topic and Scope is a short video that goes over the basics of how to get started. Nothing complicated and lacks real life examples. The related videos on the site carry the topic further, but all of them are limited. Would best be used to review for students who already know how to write an essay.
Peer Responses
Throughout the writing process, peer response can help young adolescents develop as thinkers and writers. In this session, participants explore strategies for structuring peer interactions and for teaching students to respond positively and productively to each other’s work. (58:25)
Teacher/Student Responses
In this session, participants see how five middle-level teachers use both formal and informal student/teacher conferences to monitor their students’ progress and help them improve as writers. (58:25)
Multigenre Writing
Multigenre writing offers students a wide range of options for expressing ideas and communicating knowledge. In this session, participants examine two different, but equally successful, examples of this eclectic and engaging writing approach. (58:25)
Interactive Read-Aloud using Looking Back by Lois Lowry-Mentor Texts
Staff Developer, Linda Bausch models an interactive read-aloud of the mentor text, Looking Back by Lois Lowry. A mentor text is a piece of writing that can be used to teach a writer about some aspect of writer's process or craft. This is a good teaching resource for an aspiring writer and for teachers who teach the writing process. (5:09)
Teachers Demonstrate Effective Descriptive Feedback to Their Class Using Moon Journals-Part 1 of 2
Using appropriate and respectful vocabulary, two teachers share their own moon journals and give each other feedback. Students deepen their appreciation of the value of descriptive feedback and gain insight into how to give and receive descriptive feedback. They reflect on the demonstration and co-create success criteria for effective feedback sessions. This is a great teaching resource to enhance a writing curriculum and to create a literacy rich environment. The teachers provide
Teachers Demonstrate Effective Descriptive Feedback to Their Class Using Moon Journals-Part 2
In part 2 of this video, the teachers allow the students to discuss on how the teachers gave feedback on the moon journals. The teacher charted what the students noticed on feedback the teachers gave each other. Then the teachers observe a peer feedback session between the students. Using appropriate and respectful vocabulary, two teachers share their own moon journals and give each other feedback. Students deepen their appreciation of the value of descriptive feedback and gain insight
Preview clip: Dude, Listen to This!-Boys' Writing Club Group
Ralph Fletcher examines what inspires boy writers. Are we creating life long writers? Are we teaching kids to write for pleasure? This short video addresses the need to encourage our students to work together in clubs and write for pleasure. (2:01)
Creating On-Line Interactive Books
This selection contains a training video for teachers on how to create interactive on-line books using storybird.com. Detailed, step-by-step directions are given. This is a fabulous resource for teachers to use to motivate their students to write. Teachers could also use this selection to teach students to use the site. ( 11:32)
How to Draw a Cartoon Scene
This expert, Matt Moskal, keeps it simple by drawing basic shapes to create a scene. In this video a man throwing a ball to a dog. Step by step examples are given.  English captions. (2:22)
How to Draw Anime
How to Draw Cartoon Characters. Tips from a professional illustrator and graphic artist in this free video on drawing. A good video to get students introduced into cartoon-type drawing. Moves slowly, but does not really give enough insights into the proportions to be of great help. Run time 03:47.
How to Draw Comic Book Characters
How to Draw Comic Book Characters. Drawing comic book characters is a quick moving video that shows the basic of drawing such figures. It is best used if the students can follow with their own paper and pencil. May need to be replayed a few times.
How to Change Careers
A 1:43 video that provides the steps to follow when considering a career change. A good, fast paced video that compresses the seven main steps as well as important facts such as 70 percent of jobs are found by personal references. Students may want to write the steps down for discussion.
Map Legends (colors)
A brief lesson on how to read a map legend.
How to Set Up a Home Server
Setting up a home server computer means creating a network between two or more computers, using one as a primary storage locale for files and data. Turn your home PC into a server with an IT specialist in this free video on computer networking. (2:51)
