TheRedCarChannel
A Conversation with Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury's enthusiasm for books and libraries comes through in this short video and is sure to engage readers. Young writers will also be inspired by Bradbury's comments on his sources of inspiration and his writing process.
Biography
Truman Capote- Mini Biography
Truman Capote, originator of the true-crime novel, is the subject of a short mini-biography, an overview of his cultural impact and his most famous works.
Biography
John Steinbeck- Mini Biography
John Steinbeck, called the voice of working-class Americans, is the subject of this mini-biography that includes interviews and images to provide an overview of his life and works.
Biography
Edgar Allan Poe- Mini Biography
Show this mini-biography and nevermore will your young readers ask about the life of Edgar Allan Poe. 'Tis a short overview and nothing more.
Andrews McMeel Publishing
POW! A Peanuts Collection
Make a study of Charles M. Scultz's famous comic strip Peanuts in your language arts class. Class members read and discuss the baseball-themed book POW! A Peanuts Collection. After talking about themes and vocabulary, they complete...
Jen Johnson
Independent Clauses, Dependent Clauses, & Fragments
When is a clause a complete sentence, and when do you need to add a subordinate conjunction? Practice complex sentences and avoid fragments with a grammar video. With fun pictures and interesting graphics, the video will get through to...
senseipalmer
Independent vs. Dependent
Clarify the difference between independent and dependent causes with a video lecture. At just under five minutes long, it's a great tool for your grammar unit.
TV411
Dependent and Independent Clauses Join Forces
Young grammarians are often confused by clauses, especially the difference between dependent and independent clauses. Clarify the confusion with a color-coded worksheet that clearly defines and illustrates the differences and then gives...
Crash Course
Holden, JD, and the Red Cap- The Catcher in the Rye Part 2
In Part 2 of a course on The Catcher in the Rye, the narrator examines J.D. Salinger's life and considers how the author's experiences during World War II may have influenced his portrayal of Holden Caulfield. How Salinger creates...
Crash Course
Love or Lust? Romeo and Juliet Part II
"Do you believe that fate is inescapable, or that people forge their own lives?" This is the essential question at the heart of Romeo and Juliet, according to the narrator of a series on Shakespeare's tragedy. Short but dense, the video...
Crash Course
Of Pentameter & Bear Baiting - Romeo & Juliet Part I
Thinking about using Romeo and Juliet with your honors or AP class? Consider showing this video as an introduction and overview to Shakespeare, Elizabethan theatre, and the play. The narrator's obvious scholarship, fast pace, and quirky...
Crash Course
How and Why We Read
"Stories are about communication." Or so contends the narrator of a series of short videos. In this first video of the series, the narrator presents his argument for why people read, models the approaches that will be used, and...
Crash Course
Frankenstein Part II
Part 2 of the course on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein takes up the issue of the viewing the text as an example of the romantic novel, a format that causes the reader to consider difficult questions. The narrator asks viewers to consider...
Crash Course
Don't Reanimate Corpses! Frankenstein Part 1
"Who is more human? Victor Frankenstein or the nameless monster he created?" This, according to the narrator of a two-part presentation on Frankenstein, is the essential question. The video begins with a summary of the action of the...
Crash Course
Race, Class, and Gender in To Kill a Mockingbird
In the second video in a series about To Kill A Mockingbird, the narrator considers how Harper Lee uses the contrast between Scout's attitudes and those of the people of Maycomb to critique the ingrained southern attitudes toward race...
Crash Course
Before I Got My Eye Put Out - The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
Everything you wanted to know about Emily Dickinson in 10 minutes. John Green’s rapid pace and hyperkinetic personae may not appeal to all viewers, but the video is, as advertised, a crash course in Dickinson’s life and her poetry. A...
Crash Course
Reader, it's Jane Eyre
Who is Currer Bell? The narrator his course on Jane Eyre with an overview of Charlotte Bronte’s life, her writings under the Currer Bell pseudonym, and a brief summary of the plot of the novel. He approaches the story as a mix of the...
Crash Course
Ophelia, Gertrude, and Regicide - Hamlet II
In Part Two of a video course in Hamlet, narrator John Green looks at the gender dynamics in the play. He presents Ophelia and Gertrude as powerful characters and argues that these women do have options that affect the course of the...
Crash Course
Fate, Family, and Oedipus Rex
"Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise." Is knowing a good thing? This course in the history of Greek drama uses Oedipus Rex as an exemplar. The narrator measures Sophocles’ play...
Crash Course
A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey
The narrator begins his presentation on The Odyssey with background information about Homer, the Trojan Wars, the oral tradition, epic poetry, and plot summaries of The Illiad and The Odyssey. And all in under four minutes. The narrator...
Crash Course
If One Finger Brought Oil - Things Fall Apart Part I
"See other human beings as human beings." China Achebe’s message is echoed in a two-part video course that focuses on Things Fall Apart, Achebe’s novel about colonial Nigeria. The narrator's focus in Part 1 is on Okonkwo, the...
Crash Course
To Kill a Mockingbird, Part I
Harper Lee’s 1961 Pulitzer prize-winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird gets the Crash Course treatment in two short videos. The first quickly summarizes the plot and the conventions of Southern Gothic Fiction before examining what the...
Crash Course
Things Fall Apart, Part 2
"If you want to bee it well, you must not stand in one place." The second of two videos devoted to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the narrator focuses on the historical contexts and the "crossroads of culture," where traditional Igbo...
TED-Ed
Different Ways of Knowing
“Words have colors, emotions, numbers, shapes, and personalities.” Daniel Tammet welcomes viewers to his world with a 10-minutes video that illustrates how he, as an autistic savant, perceives the world. Class members are then...