Social Skills and Videos: Making the Most of Your Videos

Last week we posted about five of our favorite series to use with students when teaching social skills. It's challenging  for us to find a good series with characters who use only nonverbal communication that are also student-friendly.  We often find the one-shot fabulous short film, but then we are left trying to find something else the next time.  (If you'd like to check out that post, you can find it here.)

So now that you've found your perfect video. What next?  

Decide how you are going to present it.

Will you be using a SmartBoard?  iPads?  Personally, we love to use Zaption, which is a video editing tool that allows you to create a "tour" with a video.  You can add captions, questions, other clips or pictures to create a tailored learning experience.  (If you'd like to learn more about Zaption, click here.)  

Decide which skill(s) you want to focus on.

This is HUGE for us.  If we do not stay focused, we become tangential because there is so much that can be done (and because we are a tad bit passionate about what we do).  We target a variety of skills, which often lend to Social Thinking® vocabulary and the Zones of Regulation®:

• predicting and inferencing
• "thinking with your eyes"
• identifying thoughts and feelings in multiple characters (perspective-taking)
• "me thinking" versus "thinking about others"
• identifying emotions through facial expressions
• identifying emotions using the Zones of Regulation®
• "following the groups' plan"
• "brain and body in the group"
• identifying problems
• discussing solutions, why they did/did not work, and generating alternative solutions

Brainstorm questions.

This may seem like common sense or a pain when you are in a hurry, but it really only takes a matter of minutes.  Getting a few questions down on paper will help you to start your lesson; you will begin to improvise very quickly.  It never hurts to have a simple guide because, as we all know, things never go as planned!

Make it a big deal.

Get excited.  If you're excited, your students be excited.  Our students become so eager when they know they get to watch videos.  Just saying the word YouTube with our students resonates enthusiasm.  Why? Because we make it a BIG deal!


Explain the skill.
Share the skill you will be working on and why it is important.  Let the students know what you expect them to know by the end of the session.

Encourage students to take the lead.

Our students LOVE when they get to play the role of "teacher;" they love to have a voice.  It really helps to involve all students, even those who are quieter.  We find students participation increases as they are able to build on ideas presented by others.  Their thoughts trigger other thoughts, and they begin to have a shared understanding of a certain skill or skills. (The hidden benefit to this is that you can informally asses students, too!)

Wrap it up.
Ask the students to make a connection whether it is a personal experience, a fictional scenario, or whatever it is they may have to share.  By doing this, you are making their learning experience authentic.

We hope you have found a helpful nugget of information.  Please share anything that you have found helpful, too.  We'd love to hear it!

Good luck with your video venturing!