Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Keep Up With My Curated Lists of YouTube Videos for Math Class


Last semester I started seeking out videos to supplement my teaching.  There are hundreds, often thousands of videos explaining most major topics in math, but most of them simply won't work with my students.  Almost anything with a person in front of a whiteboard or even just problem sets worked out on the screen is unusable, and this unfortunately seems to be the majority of what's out there (at least on YouTube).

What I need are videos that are funny, memorable and engaging so that key topics stay in their brains.  Sometimes I just need a clip that reminds them why it's important to learn math.  The videos also need to be as short as possible, both to fit into the period and to keep my students' fleeting attention.

Here are the 2 lists I've started building:

Shown in Math Class
Suggested for Math Class

I've added comments where I thought they'd be helpful.  While I do teach Algebra 1 and Math Models, I think these will work in a variety of math classes.  I intend to add to each list regularly; please keep me accountable and call me out if I don't!

P.S. If you're skeptical about this, keep in mind that the majority of my students are ninth grade repeaters.  If these videos work for them, they will work for anybody.