By Janet Pinto, Curriki’s Chief Academic Officer
If you’re not yet using video in the classroom, we’re excited to announce the winners of Curriki’s Video Lesson Plan Challenge and we’ve made all six video-based lesson plans available free for you to use as-is or adapt, saving you valuable time and adding rich, new interactive video elements!
“ I wanted to infuse media literacy with my unit on African geography and decided to look at current events and mesh that with Public Service Announcements,” said Sara Thompson, a Florida Language Arts and History teacher who won the $5,000 grand prize for What is a PSA, Issues in Africa. “Students not only learn how PSAs are used, but they create something positive that brings awareness to a real-life issue in Africa today.”
Sara is starting to integrate more technology, such as laptops and SmartBoards, into her classroom. “The use of media is important to this generation of students, because they’re surrounded by social media, networking, TVs and computers – everything is fed to them in a visual, shorthand way.”
Sara Thompson
“I definitely recommend Curriki . It’s a great resource and if I’m struggling to find a teaching resource – whether it be a whole unit or something specific like an interactive worksheet, this is a great place to start,” said Thompson.
Several other excellent video lesson plans include these runner-up winners, who each received $500:
- Diana Laufenberg (Pennsylvania) – Election Day
- Andrea Payan (Wisconsin) – Taking Care of Your Body PSA
- Joe Estephan and Pamela Porter (Canada) – Exploring the Environment through Trees and Wildlife
- Sarah Lorntson (Minnesota) – Political TV Advertisement Project
Make sure and check out these new resources today! Tell us what you think.
Africa photo courtesy of Oxfam.
