Are you looking to supercharge your SEL instruction? Use video modeling to take your lessons to the next level.
What is video modeling?
Have you ever tried to troubleshoot something with someone over the phone? How about putting together furniture with illustrated instructions? It’s almost impossible.
Video modeling solves these challenges, making learning fun and easy! To use video modeling, show a video of someone performing the skills or tasks you want to teach.
You can create your own video modeling material or use pre-made resources like Everyday Speech’s video modeling curricula.
Why is SEL instruction with video modeling effective?
A meta-analysis of 26 different studies found that video modeling had a 53% improvement rate from baseline to intervention in enhancing social and communication skills, especially for children on the autism spectrum.
The benefits of SEL instruction with video modeling include:
- Less stress and anxiety around learning a new skill
- Engages the learner
- Easy to create and implement
- A consistent form of teaching and excellent for repetition
- Faster rates of skill acquisition
- Promotes generalization
Video modeling can be used to teach a variety of skills such as:
- Social skills
- Emotional skills
- Self-care and hygiene
- Play skills
- Academic skills
Research shows that students learn faster and are more likely to retain and apply what they learn across contexts with interactive video modeling.
“The curriculum teaches social skills in ways that the students understand. The videos have children that model how to use each social skill in scenarios and they use thought bubbles to show what each child is thinking as the students interact. I feel the videos help the students see how they would apply each social skill, which is far better than just having a group discussion.”
– Gina Green, Special Education Teacher
The visual nature of video modeling can help compensate for difficulties with executive functioning skills and information processing. Our videos offer text on screen with highlighting and visual graphics to help illustrate concepts.
“The video-modeling lessons captivate kindergarten to sixth graders. The videos are just long enough and provide enough ‘think time’ for both GE and special education students. The thought and speech bubbles reinforce problem-solving skills.”
– Ann Lewis, Special Ed Teacher
Students report higher engagement in lessons when they see actors their own age. Videos can go places we can’t in real life – including seeing others’ thoughts and feelings as our thought bubbles and inner monologues reveal and teach social contexts.
That’s why we offer a 600+ video library full of videos for every type of learner. Our videos contain contrasting behaviors, thought bubbles, visuals on screen, animations, and more. View a sample video on our YouTube channel (like this one on Compromising with Others).
