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...
Curated OER
The Many Meanings of Cool
A very neat word with multiple meanings is the center of attention in a fun musical video. The Read Between The Lions team of Sierra, Lionel, Leona, Cleo, and Theo get together to sing a song defining the word cool. Kids will sing...
TED-Ed
How to Build a Fictional World
Hear one author's take on what makes a compelling fictional world and how to build a story within it. A series of questions check if the kids were listening, and a compendium of six rich resources for expanding on this concept also...
TED-Ed
Situational Irony: The Opposite of What You Think
What does it meant to be ironic? Through a well-thought out series of examples and non-examples, this video seeks to put an end to misconceptions about this word's meaning. Entertaining and memorable, the video leads to a quiz. While...
Curated OER
The Story of 'True'
The history of the English language is a long and winding road, forsooth. Here’s a short video that traces the truth about the history of the world true, from its Old English origins to modern usages. Consider generating a list of words...
Curated OER
Mysteries of Vernacular: Yankee
An American? Someone from New England? Anyone who lives north of the Mason-Dixon line? A New York baseball player? A dandy? A short video doodles around with the etymology of all an American word and how its meaning has evolved from 1601...
Curated OER
Mysteries of Vernacular: Odd
Odd, isn’t it, that even when you think you know how to match a word with its definition, you learn that some meanings are at odds with others, that some subject fields devise interpretations that don’t correspond with others, and that...
Curated OER
Telling a Story
Junior high and high schoolers watch a short video about effective storytelling strategies. As they take a virtual field trip to the Hans Christian Andersen story hour in Central Park, learners differentiate between writing a story and...
Curated OER
The Alphabet
While teaching your students the alphabet and letter sounds, show this colorful video! The author gives a real-life example of an object for each letter.
Curated OER
Similes and Metaphors
It only takes 90 seconds for this student to explain the differences between a simile and a metaphor. He gives examples of different phrases, along with helpful definition.
Curated OER
Quotation Marks
Take just 54 seconds to remind your students how to use quotation marks with this short video. A student narrates information about quotes.
Curated OER
Listen
Tell students to listen up and watch this video to help them practice being an effective listener in the classroom. Colorful animations provide students with key tips to start practicing.
Curated OER
Homophones
Just because words sound alike doesn't mean they have the same definition. After viewing a short video about homophones, learners come up with their own list of homophones.
Curated OER
Commas
Comma man reminds students when to use a comma in this entertaining video! This is a wonderful video to use as an introduction to your next comma lesson.