During my summer seminar class, a colleague of mine did a presentation on using video clips in her class to help introduce reading strategies. I was a bit intrigued because I have seen many used to help students make inferences.  However, what I hadn't anticipated seeing was the the chart of video resources she had put together that correlated with the different skills.   

Videos can be quite powerful for children in the classroom.  I find myself often making connections to movies while teaching reading strategies.  For example, when I am encouraging students to reread for clarity and fluency, I ask them if they have movies they have seen more than once.  I haven't had a child say 'no' yet.  We talk about how watching a movie for the second or third time can help them understand the story better, "get" a joke or punchline, or hear things they missed the first time.  We can also use video to help establish background knowledge for students who don't experiences to connect with content area subjects or a particular theme of a text.  What this presentation reminded me of is the power of video in the classroom, used in moderation and appropriately, of course!

Here is list of video clips and the skills for which they correlate.  If you use a video for a particular skill, please add it to the comments below.  Enjoy!

Videos & Reading Strategies