The Child Care Business Podcast
The Child Care Business Podcast
Season 5, Episode 4: Using Videos Effectively in ECE Classrooms, with Nermeen Dashoush
Dr. Nermeen Dashoush is the chief learning officer of MarcoPolo Learning, the award-winning global developer of educational products and instructional resources, and she's also a clinical associate professor of early childhood education at Boston University.
In this episode, she shares her insights about how early childhood education programs can use videos in their classroom to supplement lesson plans. She explains the appropriate length for videos in classrooms, as well as the importance of showing videos that are developmentally appropriate.
She also gives examples of how videos give context to learning to help children understand topics, and how videos aid in lesson retention through visual storytelling.
An integration between Procare Solutions and MarcoPolo Learning offers educators a way to improve teaching practices and support quality teacher-child interactions in the classroom.
Check out our blog on how to integrate math into daily routines and how MarcoPolo Learning builds foundational math skills.
Learn more about how the MarcoPolo Learning integration with Procare works and get started today!
<silence>
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, and welcome to our latest episode of the Childcare Business Podcast. My name is Leah Woodbury. I'm the head of content here at ProCare Solutions, and we are thrilled to have you with us today. We're gonna be talking about a topic that is really important in ECE and education and in all sorts of ways, and that is using videos effectively in ECE classrooms. And we have someone with us who is really smart and knows a lot about that. Um, her name is Dr. Ine de . She is the Chief Learning Officer of Marco Polo Learning. Um, if you haven't heard of Marco Polo, it's a really great company. It's an award-winning global developer of educational products and instructional resources. Um, and she also teaches at Boston College Today she's gonna share her insights about early childhood education programs and how you can use those videos in your classrooms to supplement your lesson plans. So welcome nme . We're really glad to have you with us.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Alright , so can we start this with getting a little background on you? Um, tell us how you became involved in ECE and chose this as your, as your career path.
Speaker 3:I, I, I think I've always wanted to be a teacher, so I don't know how I can't go that that far back. And I was a classroom teacher for, for many years, for over 15 years in New York City, which I think is really important because I'm of the belief that if you've never been in a classroom , uh, and if you've never actually been on the ground with children and working with children and families, then please stay out of our business. Like, it's like you don't know <laugh> or we, we , if you haven't walked in our shoes , uh, don't make shoes for us either. And so I feel kind of confident that I have , um, really had that experience in a genuine way and really connected to children and what teachers want. And a lot of what we create and solutions now stem from what we are seeing on the ground. 'cause I think there's a, a massive disconnect between what is happening in schools and sometimes what policies or decisions being made of what , what is happening. Um, then I kind of went into teacher education and teacher preparation. Um, I was an instructor at, at , at , at Columbia University or where I graduated from, and really wanted to figure out multiple ways to reach children. So whether it be through working with their teachers , um, or reaching them through creating resources. So that's where 13 years ago, I , um, I was the educational co-founder of Marco Polo Learning, which creates high quality resources for young children. Currently, I'm also a professor of early childhood education at Boston University. So I know you met , you said Boston College, but they are , oh , I'm sorry . They're <laugh> . No , no . I was like, wait, the rivalry?
Speaker 2:Oh, no, lemme even ,
Speaker 3:Uh , it's interesting. I think it'll actually, you know, it maybe increase comments in <laugh> in , in the , in the , they're like, no, we were different. Um, they're really close to each other too. They're also geographically close to each other. So I'm at Boston University, the , uh, wheel Off School of Education, human Development. Okay. Um , and my role there is as a , uh, clinical Associate professor of Early childhood education. And I think it's really unique because now I have the being on the ground. I'm also still on the ground , uh, on multiple ones in my multiple roles that I have in Boston University, engaging in research and practice, and then actually using Marco Polo to implement that research and practice because it's kind of like three different buckets of like what is happening in the classrooms, what is happening in the universities, and the research, and then what is being made and resources being made for teachers. And there are three almost different silos. And since I work in all of them, I have the , um, the , the pleasure of being able to combine all three.
Speaker 2:Wow , that's amazing. So when was it you decided to pursue your PhD?
Speaker 3:I was a, I was teaching , um, in New York City and Uhhuh <affirmative> , um, in a lovely school. And then I was realizing it was something during my master's program, I took a science course, a science education course. And I remember in this course they kept talking about how , um, science is not taught in our schools, that it's not something that is part of the curriculum. Usually it's an afterthought after reading and math, or sometimes there's cute activities like, oh, like we're gonna get a pumpkin and we're gonna count the seeds. I'm not not hating on any seed pumpkin counters here. Like it's, I I still do the activity, but it's always kind of like, oh, it would be nice to have science. But when we were, we think about, well , like science is for young children, asking questions, making comparisons, experimenting, problem solving. It's like, how are we not including science? And there's some staggering statistics out there around only 19% of children in the United States, especially in early childhood, have access to regular science education that science receives , uh, receives I believe like a third of the instructional time if they do receive it at all , uh, compared to other subjects. And so , um, I saw the impacts that that has. And if somebody re really cares about math and reading , uh, you would still need the sciences. Like you could, you, the science is kind of the context in which you apply it, right? What are you reading about? Uh , what are you applying science , what are you counting, what are you, what are you measuring? Right? Science is that context. And so , um, that was, that was something that was mentioned to me in my master's . And I was like, oh, okay. Right. And then when I went into practice, I was like, oh, no, no , they're not kidding. There's no science. Like, there's very little science. Um, and so, and even when I saw in like grade schools committed to , to children , um, it really was not part of, of that day. There's a lot of factors around. Teachers don't feel like they're prepared to, to teach science. The resources don't support it. They don't feel, they don't have time in the day, so they don't feel like it's integrated into things that they're already doing. Um, and so I went back to , uh, Columbia University and pursued my doctorate , um, at that point in STEM education. And so I, my first, my first round there was in curriculum and teaching and then STEM education. Um, and really was committed to making sure that children have access to learning and high quality learning. And then with a specific focus on STEM education, because it is, if you wanna, if you wanna create problem solvers, if you wanna , even children love it. Like also I was like, why wouldn't we teach us what they really love is what they can't stop talking about. Uh, and then we're not giving it to 'em. We're not meeting their needs if we're not doing that .
Speaker 2:That's, that is a well-rounded background, if ever. I've heard one <laugh> . So let's shift to today. What is your job at Marco Polo Learning entail? And can you tell us a little bit about the company?
Speaker 3:So Marco Polo uh, learning was , um, started about 13 years ago, and it was really, really small 13 years ago. Uh, and it was started on the wild idea. It's very wild that children deserve better <laugh> when it comes to, to media. I think , uh, justice , who our , our, our CEO and founder, he was like, he had a , a daughter and he was like, Ooh , what's this? Like, what is, what are these choices? What is this like flash? And there's, there's, there's high quality children's media out there, but like very limited. Uh, and it's, and and overly animated too. Like if I wanted to watch something about the natural world, it's like, is is it even, does it even exist? Like, show me what it really looks like. Um, and so , uh, it's , we, we wanted to show, give children access to high quality , uh, content , uh, and create high quality content for them. They are, they are deserving. Um, and they, they know the, the difference too. Um, so it's not just like, oh, this is high quality because adults want it to be high quality . The children also know the difference between something that is serving their needs and not. And so we started creating like standalone apps, sandbox experiences for young children where they can manipulate the environment. Um, we had one where they could , uh, go play in the ocean and, and manipulate fish in the ocean and put fish and see what the impacts of that are. And then we had one where they go explore the arctic and weather. And then we started thinking about like, video based content of what we want our children to be able to watch. We believe that children are like curious. They are researchers. Uh, the first line, and this is I this is not to be replaced of getting information, is through their senses and observation. Uh, they also ask somewhere between 75 and a hundred questions per hour. That's what research is telling , because they, they , we are limited to , uh, what information you can get from your, from interacting with your environment. And there comes to be a point where they're like, well, what's the fastest train? Like, how does this magnet work? Or what is a, you know, what is a black hole? Why does the sun look like that? Right? Um , mm-hmm <affirmative> . And that stemmed from our observations. And so we wanted to give them ways to be able to explore that knowledge. Um, and then we started creating high quality video content in 2019. We were nominated for an Emmy award , uh, because we were like, we, that , that's that which really reflects our commitment to high quality content. And we were , um, making this content available, like in through our apps downloadable. And then we kept hearing from schools saying like, what is, what , what is this? You know, where, how can I get this? And so we wanted to make sure that content was available in schools as well. I think what's really interesting is a couple of things about us. We were always early childhood. We weren't something that was started for older children and then adapted for early childhood. Um, and we were always, we always had a teacher involved, myself and other educators. We weren't something that is created by somebody and then a , like a , a stamp of approvals given at the end saying like, yeah, that would be great in the classroom. I think this is educational. It was always from its conception for children , uh, by teachers, by educators. Um, and so we really sat on that mission and I think we've, we've really met it throughout the years.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Your videos are, they're so, like every single one I've watched, it seems like, you know, that a lot of thought has been put into like, what's developmentally appropriate and all the things that you have that a ECE teacher would know is appropriate that maybe somebody else wouldn't. So Yeah , that's really great. I
Speaker 3:Love showing , I love showing it to teachers and like educators. 'cause like we have like videos that see are seemingly silly. Like, oh, a video about like a woodpecker or , uh, a video about an , you know, an animal who, who buries its food and like wolverine and, and people are like, oh, that's, that's nice, right? But then a teacher , uh, like a person who, who knows children, they're like, oh, this is really teaching 'em like question asking. This is really teaching them even like , um, how to compare things. This is really teaching 'em how to quantify things, observations, and so these interesting topics are really engaging to them . But it's just these , the starting point.
Speaker 2:And we'll , um, I'll post this in our , um, show notes as well. But we just published a blog , um, with that we interviewed <inaudible> for , and it has a sample video, and maybe you could talk about it a little bit. The , um, it's ducklings, little ducklings , um, and teaching math. Is this ringing a bell? Yeah, I know you have a million a million videos . So
Speaker 3:We have a , we have videos that are , um, this is, so this is one, one thing that's really great when we are, we create video content and then we set it out to schools and then teachers love it. And then they say, Hey, can we also get this like, <laugh>, can we get that we need this? And this is one of those, those, those math series was one of those. We wanted to make sure that we're always responding to the needs of teachers. And we are also se seeing what they are looking for. We know that teachers spend about four to seven hours per week looking for supplemental resources, creating supplemental resources. They end up in the world of YouTube. I know I've ended up in like, YouTube as a teacher. I'm like, why ? What am I doing here looking for stuff for 4-year-old? This is not where we belong , uh, <laugh> . And so we, we were hearing over and over again that they wanted something to help with the supports of math teaching. Now for anybody out there, it's like, what is math should not be taught by screens. I would, I would also have to, to agree to, to the most part, we should , children should be manipulating things, counting things, holding things, moving things, right? Um, but there is a benefit as well. And so when, if we said, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, right? And we were going to really see where the , uh, where technology can contribute and not replace any of the learning. And so what we saw that children were really intrigued with is like storytelling aspects and art , um, that we can use, utilize digital media to , to, to really bring certain things to life. And so in our math series, again, all our videos are under three or , uh, two minutes long. We are, they're immersed in like a farm world where they're counting ducklings and there's a problem. There's too many ducklings. Where did these ducks come from? Right? And so this is a way of saying that numbers have meaning and they have context. And let me immerse you in a story where they are, where it's not just the number three, it's three ducks. And so teaching one-to-one correspondence, cardinality number sequence in a world that is full of meaning , uh, and excitement for young children on like a farm. Um, so contextualized learning has always been very , uh, important to us so that we're teaching something within a context, not just, let's count to 10. What are we counting to 10? Um, and that's, that's what , what are some of our math series , uh, really , uh, set out to do.
Speaker 2:That's great. So maybe before we super dive in, we should address what I know a lot of our listeners are wondering, and that you just touched on too. Um, a fear up too much screen time in the classroom. And this is something I know you and your team know a lot about. Could you tell us how the videos that we're gonna be talking about supplement lessons, they're not replacing any, replacing any learning and how you go about making that happen?
Speaker 3:I think if there's a fear about too much screen time in the classroom, that that's a very legitimate fear. I have that same fear and I've witnessed the same thing. Um, it is, it is , uh, something that everybody should be, you know , aware of that this , there should not be, screens are not gonna replace the learning experience. Um, and they, they should be a part of the learning and not the , the whole the whole learning. So, but I think one thing to understand is that like screen is not all created equal. And it's not like a random, it's not, I think people need a , a framework to understand when we say like, high quality digital media, what does that mean? I, I'm thinking of like, I know when I go like supermarket shopping and I'm given the most difficult task in my life, which is to pick out a watermelon and I'm don't know how to do it. <laugh> , <laugh> . I dunno if anybody's listening there and I see people and they're like picking up the watermelon, they're knocking, they're looking at the underbelly of it . But to me, it's a mysterious world of what makes a good watermelon. Like I don't, I could knock, I don't know what I'm listening for. I could look at the , I don't know what it is, and I could see that other people do. And I feel like the same way about screen , like screen time and, and , uh, and media. I'm like, it's not, it's, it's not as ambiguous or or spontaneous as we think , uh, it is to identify high quality media. There are certain things to look for. So whether you're looking at Marco Polo or whether you're looking at other media, there are certain frameworks that I certainly didn't establish there were established by other researchers that guide our , um, that guide our thinking. So first thing you're gonna look for is does it engage children? Um, that one is the one that is overly emphasized and misunderstood. Like engaging means, like it captures their attention. Like, oh, that's exciting. Right? And a lot of times people stop at that, like, oh, you got my, you got the kids' attention. Well, I can get the kids' attention by putting on a clown that like hops on his head, right? And that doesn't mean that they learn anything. So it has to focus, the attention has to help them focus as part of the learning goal. So if I'm, if there's something on the screen that's just popping and ballooning and all of this stuff, it got their attention. But if the purpose of it was to teach them, like counting what does the balloon, what does that have to do with anything, right? But if , for example, if it's like a clown holding the balloon every time the balloon pops , it's a number in there and the clown's like, oh, no. Right? And so the engaging part is the popping balloon, but the learning part is also connected. The counting of the popping balloon is the connection between that, that it also has to enhance learning in some way. It has to make things possible that if you remove the technology is not possible. So if you're turning on a smart board and doing all of this, and then you're taking the technology so that you could draw a triangle, you could have done that without, without the technology. So, but what we are creating or videos or insights are not possible without the technology. It's not possible for children on a , you know, if you're learning about , um, a cheetah and the speed of the cheetah , um, if you're learning about places around the world and celebrations around the world , it's not possible to go there and, and take children to see it. It's not possible to see what's inside the human body in the classroom, right? Children have questions about like, what are lungs? What's the heart? And so that is where technology comes in that doesn't replace anything, but makes certain things possible. And then the third thing when you're, you know, knocking on that watermelon of technology is does it extend learning? And this is one that is really important. Technology's always fe feels like it takes you away from human interactions. Like it focus , the kids are like looking at the screen and not interacting with people around them . Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Good technology actually , um, allows you to cultivate human interaction. So is it maybe giving you talk prompts? So you turn and talk to the child next to you? Is it maybe , um, part of an investigation and telling you like, okay, now you build something, or now you make something. Is it a piece of the puzzle? Does it help , uh, cultivate and bridge two , two humans together, two people together? Um, and that is the third kind of feature. Does it extend the learning outside of the screen? And so with these three in mind, is how we created, does it engage? Does it enhance, does it extend , um, how we created the content of it? And so it's, it's on the screen, but it impacts so much that is off the screen. And then the simple one is you are worried about screen time, don't show a 30, 40 minute video. Um, it's the simple solution. All of our videos , um, you know, there's, there I think the longest one because there's like drawing involved in it and, you know, they have to do something while they're watching. The video is five minutes, but the average video is about two minutes long. Uh, and so we real really do mean keep it short, and our videos keep it short.
Speaker 2:And another time we spoke, you were, you gave this really great example of , um, music, like with the instruments. There was a video like describing, and, and it goes into what you just said, like the piano, like going inside the piano, like really illustrating those things that I don't think most childcare centers or ECE programs have a piano sitting in there. Yeah . So yeah, like getting, getting that viewpoint that you can't get in a classroom.
Speaker 3:And then, I'm glad you
Speaker 2:Touched
Speaker 3:On it . If you watch a video like that, like inside the piano, I've , and I've, and I've showed it to children, it starts off with them playing with instruments and they're manipulating it. Then they're certain like, well, how does the piano work? How does this work on the inside? Let's watch this video. And then it scratches some of that itch, but actually they're left with more questions. Like, what else is, what's inside the guitar ? What's inside, you know, and what now they're wondering what's inside other things. And so the videos are not meant to be like, well, let me tell you, it's not a documentary. Like a , you know, and now you, now you know, everything. They're meant to scratch a itch and create a itch like scra , you know, like, give , let me, let me give you some information. Right. That's so interesting what's happening inside the piano, but also leave you wondering for more.
Speaker 2:All right , so here's a big question. Um, let's talk about the benefits of the type of technology that Marco Polo provides to children. And I know it's a long list, so whatever you wanna talk about would be great.
Speaker 3:Yeah , the first thing that came to mind for me is , um, benefits for differentiated learning. And so there, we have diverse learners in our classroom. I, myself was an English language learner. Um, and I remember like sitting, I remember this one moment, I was like sitting in the class in kindergarten, and the teacher kept like, bringing out this container of eggs. And I'm like, and the kids kept looking at the eggs, and I thought they were like, just breakfast eggs. And I'm like, what is happening? Like, <laugh> , you know, why are these kids, why are these kids in the United States so interested in eggs? Like we just eat it ? And I didn't know , like, I was like , what is going on ? A couple of weeks later, those eggs hatched <laugh>, you know, and, and it was an incubator, and I know I was like, what is ha ? And so differentiating learning is possible mm-hmm <affirmative> . Not just the benefits of showing you parts of the world , uh, within showing you parts of the world. Some of the benefit is exposure to vocabulary. But what we are hearing from teachers is I have like diverse language needs in the classroom, and we can't expect teachers to be like multilingual in every lesson. So this is where, again, this technology enhanced , this is where technology makes something possible that's not possible. I can then pull up a video on make , could be eggs and chickens, right? And click on that same video, and it's available in English, and it's available in Spanish, and it's available. We have it in, in , um, chi Mandarin Chinese, and we have it in Haitian Creole, and we have it in modified versions with subtitles, which are slowed down and simplified. And we're always adding , uh, more, more languages. So that's just one of the benefits. Um, the other benefits for what we really do , we create really to support the teacher. And then in supporting the teacher, we, that benefits the child. What we were seeing is that language is really important in the classroom. The, the interactions between children and, and adults. If we could impact the types of questions that teachers are asking, we could have an impact on like, multiple domains of the children of , uh, of children's development or cognitive development or literacy development, or language development, or social development. And so we've all been in classrooms where like a teacher is like reading a book or something, and it's like, I'm like, oh , ask this question. Ask them, like, have , have they ever been to the beach? Right? Um, or ask them like, what does this remind you of? And it's hard to come up sometimes with those questions on the spot. And so what we do is provide those questions both through educator guides and embedded in videos so that they can, we can elevate adult child interactions, which is a, for those who are engaging in like, assessment of high quality learning in the classrooms, there's multiple assessments being used nationwide. No matter what assessment you're using to assess high quality , uh, instruction, there's going to be something about concept development, question asking, responding to children posing questions. And so , uh, we, we provide those questions to teachers that make it possible. Um, there also the benefits of, you know, cultivating and recognizing your interest and curiosity. We have children who are like, wanna know about a certain topic, and now it makes it, it facilitates teachers in , uh, ability to address those, those needs. Sometimes it us should just teachers watch the video so they can learn more about the topic, the themselves , uh, because it's presented in a very kind of clear way. And so they feel more confident in now talking to a child who's interested about sharks , uh, and, and, and engaging them in that conversation. Um, and then we also provide offline activities. So it's not just the benefit of, you know, the conversation and the video itself. We also give children like, hands-on offline activities for, for them, for teachers to set up in centers, and then they could do that as well. There's, I think, multiple benefits , um, from the child's perspective. They're just watching a short but very interesting video about something that they really wanna know about.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you said too, that it's a , a resource for teachers when they're wanting to learn something more about it. Um, the other day, my son, who's a kindergartner asked me how condensation worked. And I was like, you in the grocery store with the watermelon? I was like , um, I think <laugh> maybe once upon a time I remember to learn this. Yeah , yeah . But yeah, I, I had to look it up and try to find a way to explain it really simply. So,
Speaker 3:And , and we say it's like now with like a tool like this, we could be like, well , how do you think it works? How do we find out? Right? Let's find out together. And something like condensation is very difficult to explain without visuals. Like how do you even explain ? And so it takes things that are abstract and makes them more concrete and, and , and obtainable , uh, for young children.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you were talking about how your videos, most of them are around two minutes. The absolute longest is five minutes. Um, why is that length? Have you found that that length is the most, the most suitable for what you're doing?
Speaker 3:I wouldn't keep a child sitting on a rug for like 20, 30 minutes , uh, to do anything <laugh> , not just video. Um, yeah. And so there is no magic number in research that says, I , I know there's this , this rumor out there. There is a rumor out there. It's like, if you're five, that's five minutes on the rug. If you're six, that's six minutes. It should be the, the number co corresponding to their age. There's no , there's nothing really that's just a rumor. Uh , there is no magic number. But why would we make it longer when we can? We could, if the , if the purpose is to spark , uh, and to limit screen time, then we, we get to the point, right? Mm-hmm . We can do that in two minutes. Mm-hmm . Uh, and it's, it's one thing to tell teachers, if we tell teachers keep screen time short, and then we give them a 30 minute video, we're contradicting ourselves. We're not facil , we are not the, the , the material is not lending itself to our message.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm <affirmative> . So age appropriateness, that's another, another major factor as well. What factors should center leaders, ECE program leaders , um, teachers take into account when deciding if a video is appropriate for a certain age group? In, in that ece
Speaker 3:Yeah .
Speaker 2:Range .
Speaker 3:Well, I know that I've ended up on YouTube. YouTube was not created for young children, <laugh> or to instruction of young children. So though , when teach , when teachers are not given resources, that's where they end up and they end up there for good reasons. Like, they're like, you know, if you're a director and you're listening and be like, well, then I , I don't want my teacher's using any video. They're, they're there for good reasons. They're there for a visual. They're there to explain to somebody how condensation works, or show them a visual or get like a movement activity or something like that. So they , they're there for a good reason. They just don't find what's made for young children. So in terms of dec decide , deciding or create or selecting things that are developmentally appropriate, it has to have specifically been made for young children and not adapted for young children. And that's why I said as this conception, we were a team of teachers saying, this is, we have young children in mind from the creation of all of the, the scripts that materials the content. Does it speak to young children? Is engaging, does, is it connected to multiple , uh, domains of their development? Um, is it break down concepts? We also limit animation and show them real life footage , uh, a lot. So why we reason we have real life , uh, animation is because we know that children are, it could help us break down concepts that we would not be able to sometimes, like, you know, if we're doing that example of the water, water vapor and evaporating, sometimes you could see , you know, we need to show it going up and little rays . And so animation's only used as a scaffolding method. Uh, and then the rest of it is real life footage. So the children need to be able to see examples of real, of real life, what we haven't talked about. I think we , I know we focus a lot on the sciences, the maths. We, we also have literacy videos. We also have social emotional videos and a , so , and a strong social emotional library about recognizing facial expressions , um, dealing with frustration, anger , um, self-management techniques. And so when teachers see this, they're like, these, every single one of these videos is what I need in my classroom. Talk about like, you know, developmentally appropriate. We are very aware that these are the things that children need in that age group. They're having, they have a difficult time, and this is not, they're not doing anything wrong. This is just what their age group needs. They have a difficult time identifying and giving, putting words to their feelings. And so they end up screaming or tantruming or kicking because they don't have the vocabulary. And then they have a hard time self-managing. Telling somebody to calm down means nothing to them telling somebody to even take a breath. How do I do that? And so our videos understand where they are in terms of their developmental range on multiple domains, including their social and emotional development, and provide teachers the resources that they , they they can do to, to help with that development. And so something like , um, you know, there's a, there's a good one. We always say like, make good choices. Like, you know, how do you make good choices? Well, that's, that involves thinking of choice A and choice B, and what will, what happens if I do this and happens if I do that? That involves teaching them a sys system of like, weight your choices and thinking about what will happen. And that's a lot of cognitive processes happening right there. And so in our videos, there's like a , there's a child who's about to take a muffin, and it's like, well, should I take it? And I was like, well, let's use video to talk about, like, you know, stop and think. And so something that is really takes a lot of, like, you know, it's hard to explain what happens in our mind as we're making these choices. The video kind of brings it to life. And so that facilitates a conversation between a teacher and a child, and a parent and a child. 'cause we also , uh, have parent facing resources as well , uh, around what they truly mean when they're telling a child, okay, let's make , let's think about our choices.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So let's jump back to how these videos support a lesson plan or curriculum. Um, but this time I'd like to take a look at it through, through the lens of supporting teachers. Yeah . Um, one thing that we hear a lot , uh, hear a lot at ProCare Solutions is that many teachers now are younger, maybe don't have the education or the experience that experience that other teachers have. How do Marco Polo learning videos help them do their job and really take some of the stress out of their, their daily routines as they're already spending all this time on lesson planning?
Speaker 3:If you're , so you start with your curriculum, so it's like, mm-hmm . I know, first thing I said when you said , you told me to introduce myself, I said, I've been a classroom teacher mm-hmm <affirmative> . And so one thing I know is I don't need one more thing. Like, I don't need, I don't need one more thing. Stop giving me this and that, and this. I need to focus on my children. And if I have a curriculum, I need to implement that curriculum, right? And I don't need one more thing. And so if we give them something that's like seemingly unrelated to their curriculum, they're like, please leave me alone. And so by design, what we have in terms of our partnership and , and the tool is we don't say disconnects to your CU curriculum. We literally have it aligned. They can search their curriculum, they could lesson plan, and they could find already aligned videos that go with that lesson and they plug it into their lesson. So I even a teacher who's been teaching for, for two months or 20 years, unless they see its relevance into what they're already doing and is relevance in their curriculum, and they could plug it into their planner, it , um, it is , it's not useful to them. I don't, I don't blame them. Like they have too much, too much to do. And so this is what our tools allow us to do. I am teaching a study on, on ocean animals. Tell me the , the, the spec on , on this unit we're talking about , um, like predators in the ocean. Give me specific videos I can use for this lesson. Here you go. Right? And so the guesswork is taken out of it. You don't have to spend hours going on, on the internet looking for that and ending up in places where they don't belong. And so we, again, designed by teachers , um, for teachers in this situation because we, we, we hear you. It's a, it's a real , it's, I'm gonna go out there and say it's the toughest job out there, right? There's a lot involved, and we don't want to give one more thing for them to do. So we know it has to integrate into their curriculum and their daily practices.
Speaker 2:So as we start to wrap up, could you give us a rundown of some of the biggest mistakes you see when educators try to incorporate videos that they are just finding anywhere, you know, the , the YouTubes, the Google searches , um, when they try to incorporate those into lessons. And we've talked, you talked about a lot of them too, but are there any, any other ones you think we should, we should mention
Speaker 3:Not , not made for young children, they weren't originally made and you're trying to, to adapt it using too much animation and not really . You wanna show something that is in the real world , um, not make , using technology where technology has no business, it doesn't add value to the experience, right? Why are you here? You could , why are you here to , to show them a video about , uh, something that they could experience hand first, first hands on , right? Uh, only when it's, you need to take them to that next level. Only when you wanna make sure that you're creating something or giving them access to something , uh, common mistakes we discussed, it's too long. You don't keep them. It is part of the learning experience and not a whole thing. Um, videos that don't have any context to it, let's count to a hundred. What are you counting? Like, you know, it's videos that are engaging but not engaging on the learning. It's, there's popping , there's bubbles, there's balloons. The kids are excited, but there's nobody that's learning anything, right? <laugh> . So again, that's a lot for them to consider. Like, I'm just listing , oh, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. Um, and I think this is why , uh, our, our, our solution has been well received. Instead of telling teachers, don't do that. Don't go here, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. They're out there, they're struggling. Support them. What are they? What , what am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go to for language instruction, for resources, for co , for multiple mo ? What am I supposed to do? And I think that's where we come in. Instead of telling teachers don't do that, we actually give them and say, you know what? Do this, this will help you. Uh, children love it too. <laugh> .
Speaker 2:Yeah . So those are some of the problems. And we have the solution, which is an integration between ProCare and Marco Polo Learning , uh, Marco Polo's, comprehensive library of developmentally appropriate short videos. Educator guides and activities can now be accessed in ProCare, making it easier for educators to incorporate the resources into their lesson plans. Uh, could you please describe how this integration works?
Speaker 3:Yeah . So we meet teachers where they are. They don't have to go to another, to another platform, another system. You don't have to download anything. While teachers are planning their lesson, they select , uh, they select what they're already doing, and then they can add a Marco Polo video. Again, it's already, it's already aligned for them from, for their curriculum. They can search by curriculum, they can search by, by subject, they can search by theme. And so the really, because we know that's, you know, ways that teachers want to find content, and we wanna , however you're searching by it, we want you to be able to, to find, and then it adds it directly to your planner, so you don't have to find it later and search for it later with, it also is those educator guides that I discussed. So, and we're not just saying, here's, here's some video content. We're giving them specific questions to ask before the video, during the video, after the video, so that we can cultivate that high quality , um, like teacher child talk. And then also, we talked a lot about YouTube. Well , after YouTube, there's the migration into, into Pinterest, give me an activity I can do, you know, that , you know, and then you end up in Pinterest. Um, and so again, Pinterest is great, but not necessarily created for early learning. Um, and so we wanted to give them, and again, time consuming too, like to , you just search through all of these things. And so teachers also are given , um, examples of like centers and other activities that they can do that goes beyond the video. So I think in short, if you're watching this and you're like, well, I don't wanna give my teachers one more thing to do, I think they, the , the, the beauty of this solution is that it already meets them where they are. And it actually gives them less to do, less, less, you know, work looking all over , uh, so that they can , um, add visuals, modify learning, differentiate instruction. Um, we have heard so much from teachers that how much time it has saved them and how much the children love it.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much for coming, for making time outta your day. We really appreciate it. Um, could you share where folks listening can find out more about Marco Polo learning anything, any other links or , and we can add those in the show notes too. That's the best way .
Speaker 3:We are , I , I believe we're featured on, on your website your source as well, through our partnership. Um , yeah . And then also Marco learning , uh, marketable learning.com. Um, but yeah, I think we , we can, we can also send out some, some resources as well.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks again. It was great hearing from you. Great spending time with you today. And to all the ECE providers who are listening, we wanna give a heartfelt thank you for all that you're doing every day . I do agree that you guys have the toughest job. And as a working mom, I so appreciate everything that you're doing. Um, until next time, have a great day everyone. Bye.