Great Teaching Ideas

video project

What Is The Great Teaching Ideas Video Project?

"You can speak a thousand words with one picture." That's the idea behind the Great Teaching ideas Video Project, SuccessLink is currently videotaping a select number of lesson plans and placing them online in a "streaming video" format to compliment the text version of the lesson. The video-clips are approximately 3 - 4 minutes long and contain footage of teachers and students interacting in the classroom. To view a sample video clip click here.

Lessons which have an accompanying videoclip display a "video-clip" icon at the top-right of the page. To view the video lessons you must have Windows Media Player 8 or higher installed on your computer. For the best results, we recommend Windows Media Player 9. To download the free version of Windows Media Player, click on the button below.

For users with a dial-up connection (28.8kb/ps, 33.6 kb/ps or 56.6kb/ps) it may take approximately 30 minutes to download & install the player application.

If you have contributed a lesson plan and would like to participate in the Great Teaching Ideas Video Project or you have questions or comments about streaming video you can contact Georgi Forman at 888-636-4395 or send an e-mail to gforman@successlink.org

• Ancient Civilization Success

  Introduction As 6th graders you have become expert historians! You have thoroughly studied the following ancient civilizations: Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome. The curators of the Missouri History Museum need your help deciding which civilization should be their next big display. Task Your job is to decide which civilization was the most successful. You will do this by deciding which contributed the most to society and our world today.You will use your prior knowledge and complete some research to help you make your decision. You will type an essay stating your findings and then as a class we will have a debate to determine which civilization should be the next big display at the Missouri History Museum! Process 1. Using your prior knowledge of the ancient civilizations, narrow down your decision to two civilizations. 2. Complete your research using the internet sources below. You may also use GOOGLE. Make sure to take notes in your Social Studies journal and cite your sources. 3. Complete an online Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two civilizations.Print your finished diagram. 4. Using your Venn diagram, make your decision as to which civilization you believe was the most successful. 5. Complete the online interactive essay map in order to organize your thoughts. 6. Print out your essay map once it is completed. 7. Hand-write a rough draft of your essay. 8. Have at least 2 peers edit your rough draft. 9. Have your teacher edit your rough draft. 10. Revise the rough draft. 11. Type your essay in 12 point font, double spaced. Remember to use quotes when needed, and cite your sources. Please include a reference page. 12. Jot down some key points from your essay that you can use in the debate (your essay map could come in handy as well). 13. Submit your Venn diagram, essay map, rough draft, and final draft of your essay.

• Blood Unit

  The unit on blood gives students the ability to understand the different types of blood and how they play a role in transfusions. This unit also helps the students to understand the process used by lab technicians when it comes to finding illnesses.

• Books have VIPs Too - Very Important Points, That Is!

  The comprehension strategy Determining Important Ideas should be taught over an average of six weeks. The components in this unit focus on the concept of main idea and details. Instruction should begin with extensive teacher modeling in a whole group setting. As students become more proficient, the concepts should be moved to small group guided reading instruction, and finally to independent work.

• Career Connections

  After a discussion of the difference between jobs and careers, students learn how values, goals and attitudes play a role in long term career choice. Students use the personality quizzes to determine their likes/dislikes, career preferences, personality and values. They then analyze the information and determine career choices that fit into their interests. From this list, they choose one career they would like to learn more about. They research that career using a variety of on-line and print resources. They take the information they learn and put it into a presentation they share with the class. This way students not only learn about their career but they learn about other choices as well.

• Chemistry Bingo

  9th grade physical science students play this game to review basic chemistry concepts by matching chemical symbols to chemical names, atomic structure, and other information.

• Citing Your Work

  Students will learn to write a bibliography for an encyclopedia, a nonfiction book, a magazine, and a website.

• Cotton Ball Weightlifting

  Learn place value by counting cotton balls.

• Crash!

  Complete an experiment that proves Newton correct.

• Don't Tell the Principal--But There's a Whale in the Parking Lot!

  After completion of this unit, students will be able to graph lengths, illustrate whale characteristics and make predictions of lengths of various whales.

• Exploring in the Age of Exploration

  Students work both independently and cooperatively to extend their learning about the Age of Exploration. The class would have already done the textbook reading & correlating assignments, so they would have some prior knowledge about the history of the period.

• Food Chains

  In this unit, students will learn that sunlight is the primary source of energy plants use to produce their own food; classify organisms as producers, consumers, herbivores, omnivores, or carnivores; show the flow of energy through a food chain; and predict the effects of removing an organism from a food chain. Several different instructional strategies are used to teach these concepts including questioning, cooperative learning, and identifying similarities and differences. At the end of the unit, students will take a MAP-like Performance Assessment to determine if they have mastered these concepts.

• Frisbee Toss

  The student will collect, analyze, and graph data from a Frisbee toss class activity.

• Great Radio Mystery Theater Project

  Students step out of the norm and into the unique by firing the imagination through play writing and sound effects.

• La Salud y La Nutrición

  This unit is based on eating habits and exercise routines. Once the vocabulary for the chapter is learned, students will fill out some “realia” that mimics what they would fill out in a doctor''s office. Then, once the unit is reinforced with the subjunctive verb formation, they will perform oral and written prompts that require them to decipher certain health issues and respond appropriately, whether it's giving advice or recommendations or expressing how they feel about a given situation.

• Letter Home - West Indies Island Unit

  In this unit, students will write “letters home” pretending they are a person who has left the West Indies region to live in the United States. In the letter, students will identify major reasons why people leave the region, and characteristics of the area. Students will expand their learning with a web research activity on teacher approved sites. Students will also write personal unit goals and keep a goal journal. In addition students will study maps of the West Indies and complete a map assessment.

• Lewis and Clark Pamphlet

  The students will research and record information about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and present this information in the form of a pamphlet.

• Lights On Conservation

  The students will work in cooperative groups to investigate how the use of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL’s) can help reduce carbon emissions. They will write and graph linear equations, develop a spreadsheet, and create a poster and flyer.

• Mimbres Geometry

  Explores the design motifs on black and white pottery through research and writing, analyzing and categorizing, and creative constructions.

• Personal Reading Device (PRD)

  Device can be used improve oral reading, reinforce phonic skills, practice spelling works, math facts and proofreading.

• Plant Life Unit

  Lower elementary students explore the stages of plant life.