I am sure that you have heard all about TED talks and have probably seen a few of them.  TED talks are all about “Ideas worth sharing.”  Well, the TED people have come up with another “idea worth sharing” for educators, called TED-ED (ED.ted.com).  This website (in Beta) features video lessons some awesome features:

1.     The videos are all a collaboration of an educator and an animator!  (=fun)
2.    Each video is accompanied by a lesson:  short comprehension questions, deeper thinking    questions and extra resources!  
3.    When you register, you have the ability to “flip” the lesson for your use- you can customize the lesson to meet your student’s needs or use it as is.  
4.    It is so easy!!  

Take the Ted-Ed tour and you are ready to go!   
I was up and running in 10 minutes:
1.     I selected the humorous video “Why do Americans Vote on Tuesdays?” ( You will have to watch it to see why)
2.    I watched the videos, clicked through the “Quick Quiz” “Think” and “Dig Deeper” tabs and selected the big orange button “Flip this Lesson”
3.    Editing the lesson could not have been easier.  You can keep their questions and/or add your own.  I made some of my questions easier for younger students and used the common vocabulary that we use with the SCAN critical thinking strategy.  I added my final thoughts and declined to add any links.  
4.    Click on the publish button (you are warned that you cannot edit after that)and you are given a unique URL to share http://ed.ted.com/on/UBAruWsV  -Check it out!

One more FANTASTIC  feature:

You can take ANY Youtube video and flip into a  TED-Ed lesson!  All you need to do it click on the Youtube link, select your video and Flip it!  I immediately saw one of the Mythbusters videos and could imagine the potential of this option in the classroom.   Hmmmm….I wonder if I could somehow make our Ellen’s Dance Dare Easter at the Bee Hives video into a lesson?

Bottomline:  TED-Ed is an amazing tool to customize a video into a lesson to get kids thinking and writing!  So easy even a cave girl could do it.  Try it, they’ll like it!!

crossposted at SCAN: We're Critical to Thinking