My search this week first yielded the discovery of an entire YouTube channel devoted to Broadway’s production of August Wilson’s Fences, starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis; YouTube has several clips of this performance available. Since drama is meant to be viewed, rather than simply read, I think it is important to either allow students to act out certain scenes or to provide them with some examples of how specific scenes may be acted out. Washington’s portrayal of Troy Maxson is superb and the few clips available definitely help the students to more fully grasp the many facets of his character. Several other relevant videos can also be found on the Fences Broadway channel, including interviews with the actors in which they discuss the themes of the play.
In relation to A Lesson Before Dying, I located an interview with the author, Ernest J. Gaines, produced by Lawrence Bridges, in which Gaines discusses the process of writing and preparing to write A Lesson Before Dying. I really liked that this video offered still shots of the type of plantation on which the novel could have been set as well as relevant pictures describing the political and cultural turbulence of the 1940s, both of which help students to better visualize where and when the story is occurring. I also discovered several examples of student-produced media related to A Lesson Before Dying on both YouTube and Teacher Tube; projects included video montages depicting the racism of the era, news programs reporting on Jefferson’s death, and student-produced songs retelling the story or evoking the themes present in the novel. The creation of videos with meaning that extends beyond the classroom is certainly a benefit of YouTube and video production that Richardson (2012) describes. I can definitely see my students creating similar videos, along with original commercials, dramatic interpretations, or even simply videos of in-class presentations for friends and family to view.
I did prefer YouTube over TeacherTube, especially because of Teacher Tube’s overwhelming advertising; perhaps TeacherTube would be best served for posting digital content created by students, since the platform is billed as safer than YouTube; however, YouTube still has a significant advantage in terms of content available for classroom instruction, and simply searching in safety mode or downloading clips for students to view, instead of directing them to the entire site, can eliminate some potential issues.
On a related note, I also explored several instructional videos related to Edmodo, an educational tool that I plan on using during the next school year. I’ve been hesitant to implement Edmodo in the past because I was already overwhelmed by tools and I felt that most of the features available on the site were things I could accomplish on my school-provided website—including blogging, polling, and quizzes. I do like, however, Edmodo’s new ability to sync with Google Docs and since I’ve already trained my students to submit typed work using Google Docs, I hope to take the step into Edmodo next school year. I will certainly turn to YouTube for tutorials on Edmodo features.
Finally, I searched for a video related to something I heard my students discussing in class recently. I truly do not remember how our conversation started, but we deviated somehow into a discussion about a YouTube video students had seen in which soy sauce is poured over a dead squid. Something in the soy sauce causes the dead squid to literally begin dancing around, flinging its tentacles around. Although this video will certainly not find a way into my teaching library, it was entertaining to view! I've included this video below.