This week, we’re showcasing Simplifying Fractions Song: Reducing to Simplest Form Math Video from Math Lessons by NUMBEROCK.
For those of us who have been with Video on TpT from the beginning, you’ll know that we originally created this new product type to allow educators to provide tips, tricks and insights that would help other educators improve his or her practice. What we quickly noticed is that there is also a growing market for what we call “student-facing” video. You can read more about this in this week’s forum post.
Here’s what we noticed:
- Math Lessons by NUMBEROCK has a large YouTube following and moved some of the videos onto TpT as paid content that includes supporting documents. It’s a great way to keep folks on TpT rather than jumping from site to site.
- While there isn’t a custom preview, the 30 second snippet of the song is enough for a potential Buyer to get a great sense of what they’re purchasing by hearing the music and seeing the visuals.
Let’s hear more about creating video!
1. How would you describe your videos?
NUMBEROCK videos are the visual, lyrical, and aural culmination of a decade spent developing my songwriting skills by night in order to creatively develop my students’ minds by day. I aim to find the perfect blend of pure fun and emotional engagement, while never sacrificing the educational merit of the lesson.
2. If someone is afraid to take the leap into video, what would you tell him or her?
When you put your voice or image out there, you find yourself thinking: “Is what I’ve created worthy of being widely watched?” If you’re considering beginning any new creative video work for TpT, my advice to you is to leap and the bridge will appear.
3. What inspired you to create student-facing videos?
Have you ever experienced the magical power of hearing a song from the past, and then suddenly being transported back to distant memories? Using my music videos in this way, you’ll transform your classroom into a multi-sensory learning environment, resulting in an amazing amount of energy and enthusiasm being brought into your math lessons.
4. What was the most challenging part of the process?
Parents telling me about my songs being sung in the car, at dinner, and even being taught to younger siblings, led me to an “Aha!” moment where I envisioned writing a song and animation for every elementary math standard; but to do this well takes time. When you watch my videos, you’ll see why each takes hundreds of hours of writing, recording, concept planning, designing and animating. Finding the time is certainly the most challenging part of the process.
5. What’s your tip for someone new to video?
The key to my approach to video is combining my life as a songwriter with my life as an educator, which comes naturally because I love both so much. If you’re interested in creating videos, my advice is be creative and choose topics you love.
