The best lessons are interactive – stimulating the senses and capturing the interests of your students. Using video is one of the best ways of making every day teaching more involving. Sights and sounds on screen can make a real difference to auditory and visual learners, bringing subjects to life in a way text can’t always match.To help you use video to its full potential, we’ve found three of the best sites for you and your students to use. 

Early Years teachers should try Mr Thorne Does Phonics, a site filled with videos for each phase of the Letters and Sounds programme. Each clip introduces a sound, models pronunciation, then provides examples of words containing the sound. It’s a great way to add some excitement to a topic that can get a bit stale.

Watch Know Learn is a site that’s useful for teachers needing footage to use in introductions or plenaries. The video library can be filtered by subject and age group, making it easy to find what you want. However, we recommend selecting the videos yourself as it could be tricky for younger children to navigate.

Finally, for a selection of the best quality clips, try Educational Videos. With footage on everything from Tony Hawk to The Photosynthesis Song, there’s something for everyone. The clear layout makes it simple for children of all ages to explore independently at home or school.

We know it can be a problem watching videos at school, so if you’re having any trouble streaming a clip, use Keep Vid. This site can be used at home the night before a lesson to save any website’s video. You’ll then be able to play it using a normal media player.

Mr Thorne http://www.mrthorne.com/

Watch Know Learn http://www.watchknowlearn.org

Educational Videos http://www.educationalvideos.com/

Keepvid http://keepvid.com/