To help, we’ve added two new guides to our instructional resource library: Key Scenes Guides and Lesson Guides. Here is what is in each one and how teachers are putting them to work.
Our Key Scenes Guides highlight the most instructionally valuable moments from the films educators use most often in the classroom. Designed for teachers who want to use a film more efficiently, these guides make it easy to identify the right segment, connect it to learning objectives and bring it directly into instruction.
For each scene, the guide gives:
Because the same scene often serves several subjects, one film can support more than one classroom. A moment flagged for historical context in social studies might be equally useful for a discussion of narrative perspective in ELA, and the guide points to both.
Key Scenes Guides also make creating bookmarks fast and easy. Because each guide identifies the scenes most relevant to classroom instruction, teachers can quickly turn those moments into targeted instructional resources. Rather than spending time searching through a film, educators can move directly from lesson planning to classroom implementation.
“The bookmark feature has been hugely popular. Teachers can set the start and end point, add directions and send it to students. It’s been a game changer.”
– District Librarian, Cherry Creek School District
Our Lesson Guides help educators discover meaningful ways to incorporate film into instruction. They are designed to spark ideas, provide instructional context and show how a film can support curriculum-connected learning goals.
Each Lesson Guide includes:
The guides are flexible by design. Teachers can adapt individual components or incorporate the ideas that best fit their classroom needs.
The resources are structured to support instruction and help align the use of video with overall lesson planning.
Before viewing: Introduce key vocabulary, build background knowledge and set a clear purpose so students know what to watch for.
During viewing: Show only the scenes selected for the objective, using bookmarks to keep every minute of screen time tied to the lesson.
After viewing: Move into discussion, writing, analysis or an extension activity that connects the scene back to the learning objective.
That structure also makes video use easier to explain. When a teacher can point to an objective, a vocabulary set and a discussion plan, the conversation with an administrator shifts from what students watched to what students learned.
Both guide types live inside the platform alongside the content they support, so there is nothing separate to download, track or store. When a film has a Key Scenes Guide or a Lesson Guide available, you will find it with the film.
We are continuing to expand both libraries, prioritizing the films educators use most and the subjects where video does the most instructional work.
We pair films, documentaries and educational series with the tools and resources that make them usable: Swank T.A. for standards and curriculum-based content suggestions, bookmarks for building focused segments, and now Key Scenes Guides and Lesson Guides for the instructional layer around both.
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