At this time, I've been building an expository writing unit that utilizes speeches to help students understand the idea of making a claim and supporting that claim. To enhance the process, I wanted to find speeches that provide kid examples. For some reason, kids are just more receptive when a message comes from other kids. Kid President is an obvious choice, and the kids always love his message, but I wanted to find speeches that went deeper. One of my favorite speeches is by Birke Baehr, discussing our food system. The fact that this speech is well presented by someone close to the age of my students, and it encourages them to think more deeply about a topic that is relevant to their daily lives makes it particularly engaging. It has an easily identifiable opinion and is well supported, enough to make many 10 year olds change their own thinking.
Teacher Tube does not offer the same selection of videos as You Tube, but it's a safe place to find videos that are tried and trusted by other educators. One of my favorite finds on Teacher Tube is a poem that I hope will engage my reluctant boy writers in our poetry unit.
Poetry Slam
You Tube and Teacher Tube are packed with resources to supplement nearly any lesson. Whether an educator chooses a video already made, or refers to the many posted videos as motivation to create their own resource, the learning experience for students can be truly enhanced through the use of these media tools.
Thanks for the post about creative ways to use technology (you tube) in conjunction with improving expository writing!
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