A Better Video Day

Lets talk "Video Day".

Sometimes they are planned, but other times video days just happen. Whether it's because every possible thing has gone wrong and video day is the only way to make it through, or your kid starts puking in the middle of the night (or you do) and you need a quick plan, or maybe the interwebs ate your subplan (from when you we're scrambling at 2:00 AM because of the puking) and you... need... something...

That’s when you want something in your back pocket—enter the 9-Square Menu Video Reflection Sheet.

Instead of creating a new worksheet every time you show a documentary, movie, episode, or random science video that perfectly fits the lesson you are teaching, students use the same simple 9-square format. The questions are broad enough to work with almost any video, but structured enough that students still have something specific to listen and think for.

Have students complete one square about every five minutes, let them choose the order, and suddenly Video Day has just enough structure to keep everyone accountable without turning it into a frantic hunt for hyper-specific answers they missed while sharpening a pencil.

A few things make the system work especially well:

• Don’t make students complete the squares in order. Let them choose the prompt that best fits what they just watched.

• Use the five-minute intervals loosely. The goal is to keep students checking back in with their thinking, not to turn the video into another tightly timed assignment.

• Keep a stack ready. This is one of those systems that becomes much more useful when you don’t have to remember to prepare it.

If you want to make your own, it’s a pretty simple system to recreate. Pick nine flexible prompts, drop them into a grid, and make yourself a stack.

But if you’d rather have something cute, organized, and already sitting in your emergency-sub folder, I’ve made ready-to-print versions for: General Science, Social Studies, ELA, Nature Documentaries, Mythbusters, and more! Each one also includes a discussion protocol to up the ante when you want Video Day to feel a little more purposeful without creating more work for yourself.

Because sometimes Video Day is part of a beautifully planned lesson.

And sometimes it is the thing standing between you and complete classroom chaos.