My Video Integration Library
The focus on this library is on Common Core Reading Standards for grade 7 students. The following list introduces each video, explains the standard it meets, and includes the embedded or linked video.
- Textual Evidence - This humorous video explains textual evidence and how to use it to support written statements / arguments and to address analysis questions. The video uses an example from Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games and foreshadowing as a literary technique. The instructor breaks down the student's question and the provided example to simplify the somewhat difficult concept of using textual evidence. In particular, I would use this video to demonstrate how to answer short answer analysis question for students' first novel test, The Outsiders.
CCSS.RL.7.1 - Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
- Theme - In this short video, D4Darious explains the "ins-and-outs" of theme including what it is, what it is not, how to find it, and pop culture examples. He also discusses the idea of theme vs. subject, specifically how a subject is not the same as a theme. In particular, D4Darious discusses theme development over the course of multiple popular films. I would use this video to get students thinking about their first theme statement, which they write following Ponyboy's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" recitation in chapter 5 of The Outsiders.
- Summary - This video focuses on 5 quick steps to writing a summary. To meet this objective, students will first determine a story or novel's theme, then concisely explain its development by summarizing key ideas and details. This video uses a great example text, Roald Dahl's The Witches, and explicitly states each step. Summarizing is an essential skill that I like to teach students during our short story units which come before our first novel study.
CCSS.RL.7.2 - Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
- Character Development - This PowToon video breaks down character traits (internal and external) and character development. The instructor in this video uses classic examples like Jack and the Beanstalk and the Three Little Pigs to illustrate the differences in internal and external character traits and character development. I would use this video during our study of Lois Lowry's The Giver, since we do a lot of character change charting for Jonas.
CCSS.RL.7.3 - Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
- Figurative Language - This video focuses on the figurative language technique alliteration. The instructor in this video examples alliteration using multiple examples. In particular, the instructor stresses that alliteration is not the repetition of the same letter but the same sound. I would use this video after chapter 5 of The Outsiders before we analyze and annotate Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
CCSS.RL.7.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g. alliteration) on a specific verse of stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
- Poem Structure - This PowToon video addresses the different poetic techniques that contribute to a poem's form or structure. In particular, the video focuses on the following: rhythm, rhyme, and techniques. As a multimedia asset, the PowToon's simple, straightforward layout enables an instructor to stop, explain, and/or add additional notes. I would use this video after chapter 5 of The Outsiders before we analyze and annotate Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
CCSS.RL.7.5 - Analyze how a drama's or poem's form or structure (e.g. soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
- Point of View - This great video comprehensively breaks down point of view, including its different perspectives, the advantage to each, the usage of each, and its reliability. The instructor provides classic examples like Pip from Great Expectations, Charlie from Flowers from Algernon, and the narrator from The Tell-Tale Heart. In addition to the classic examples, the instructor provides examples from modern Young Adult Literature and pop culture. I would use this video to specifically examine Scout as an unreliable narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird.
CCSS.RL.7.6 - Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
- Compare / Contrast Book & Film - This short clip from The Outsiders movie is a great moment for comparing and contrasting the characters and scene. In this clip, Ponyboy is reciting Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" as he a Johnny watch the sunrise one morning.
CCSS.RL.7.7 - Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g. lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).
- Compare / Contrast Fictional Portrayal & Historical Portrayal - Multimedia gives students the chance to experience events and places that they might not otherwise have the opportunity. For example, as my honors students read Shakespeare for the first time, they can use the video below to visualize The Globe theater and compare/contrast its function as stated in the play. Additionally, as my regular class reads Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water, the second video below gives students essential background knowledge but also lets them compare/contrast Park's description of Salva's life and living situation vs. the actual place that we see in the video.
CCSS.RL.7.9 - Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.