The Teaching Channel

By: Phil Zellers

 

Last week Jamie wrote about learning from our students, which can be very beneficial to us as teachers and empowering for students.  In keeping with the theme of learning from others, I want to introduce you to the Teaching Channel.  It’s a great way to learn from other teachers.    

 

The Teaching Channel (www.teachingchannel.org) is an online library with videos of teachers in the classroom.  There are videos from all content areas and grade levels.  You can type in your own search or search through a number of categories including English/Language Arts, Math, literacy skills, and Common Core lessons.  Most of these videos are not very long, around 10 minutes for most of the ones I’ve watched.  The videos are current, relevant, and get to the point.  In other words, they aren’t boring and  don't drag on forever. 

I have visited the site a lot lately to get ideas about improving my own literacy instruction in my classroom.  I have found videos on how to conduct whole class discussions, group discussions, and improving students’ literacy skills.  There have been several that I really liked and then tried my own classroom and they worked very well.

I have read several books and been to several conferences which have given me a lot of great resources and helped me in my classroom instruction.  However, sometimes it is helpful to actually see it in the classroom.  Aside from going into classrooms and seeing it, this is the next best thing.  It’s a great way to reflect on your own teaching strategies and incorporate new ones.  So, if you’re thinking about trying a new strategy or looking for a new idea, give the Teaching Channel a try.  It’s a quick and easy way to see lessons in action before you give them a try.