CSMP Video Collection
CCEE is proud to partner with the California Subject Matter Project (CSMP) in developing this collection of microlearning modules to support substitute teachers, paraeducators, and non-certificated instructional staff in the classroom. These microlearning modules are short, focused learning resources for those who may not have access to more robust professional learning opportunities.
Focused on a single resource or activity in a specific subject matter, each module includes a short 5-10 minute video, as well as accompanying materials, to support student learning in a variety of settings. Teacher-leaders from one of the nine projects will guide you through immediately usable skills, tools, and strategies they implement in their classrooms to support classroom management, instruction, and social-emotional well-being.
California Reading and Literature Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California Reading and Literature Project.
Classroom Management In Secondary Grades
Setting and managing expectations with secondary students is the key to building positive relationships and maintaining classroom management. Watch this video to learn about some key tips and strategies before walking into your classroom.
Chunking a Text: Supports for Accessing Grade Level Texts
Learn a powerful strategy to help middle and high school students analyze and summarize complex texts by “chunking” them.
Four Corners
Find out how you can use the four corners of your classroom (or any room!) to engage students and encourage them to listen to each other’s perspectives.
Counting in a Circle (Sparkle)
Learn an easy, engaging and flexible routine that can help prepare young learners for counting and spelling.
Listening Word Games
Learn about three listening sound games you can use with young learners to prepare them for reading and spelling.
Sentence Stretchers
Kate Bowen, a retired Elementary teacher, shows us how to apply “Sentence Stretchers” to help students add detail and variety to even the most basic of sentences.
Interactive Read-Aloud
Dr. Liliann Patterson, third grade teacher at Westmorland Union Elementary, tells us how to use the “Interactive Read-Aloud” activity to help students learn, use, and practice new language through meaningful conversations.
Summarizing with the ABCs
Janine Campos, language arts specialist in the National School District, tells us how to use the “Summarizing with the ABCs” activity to help students identify and differentiate between the minor and major details of a text.
ABCs for Positive Classroom Management
Janice Anderson, a primary grade resource teacher at Encanto Elementary School, tells us how to apply the “ABCs for Positive Classroom Management” strategies to create a safe learning environment that allows for students and teachers to interact and engage in a positive way.
Before, During, After
Evy Baca, kindergarten teacher in the National School District, tells us how to incorporate the “Before, During, and After” activity when doing a read aloud to build students’ vocabulary and support their reading comprehension.
California Global Education Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California Global Education Project.
The Turn and Talk
Daina Yousif Weber, English and AVID teacher in San Diego Unified School District, tells us how to apply the “Turn and Talk” strategy to empower students to make their own meaning by exploring open-ended questions, sharing their thoughts and perspectives, and building upon each other’s ideas.
California Mathematics Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California Mathematics Project.
Stand and Talk
Sumita Jaggar, teacher leader with the Monterey Bay Area Math Project, tells us how to use the “Stand and Talk” activity to engage students in conversations about math concepts or ideas that provide them with enough base understanding to tackle a problem.
Fractions Strips
Lori Fury, math teacher in Western Placer Unified School District, tells us how to use the “Fraction Strips” activity to help students build their understanding of what a fraction is and how various fractions compare to one another.
Three Reads Protocol
Gloria Hurtado, 8th grade math teacher at Hillsborough Junior High School, tells us how to utilize the “Three Reads Protocol” to help students better understand what a math word problem is asking them to do.
Fun Visual Math Puzzles
Learn a fun and engaging way of using visuals to introduce algebraic concepts to students from grades 3-12.
California Science Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California Science Project.
Fist to Three
Celia De La Loza, TK-5 teacher at Valencia Academy of the Arts, tells us how to apply the simple “Fist to 3” strategy to help teachers quickly gauge student understanding across any content area or activity.
Guided Inquiry
Learn how to use the “Guided Inquiry” process as an engaging way to introduce a new topic and promote higher-level thinking with students.
Ask Small Questions First
Kyle Dimla, a high school environmental science and
biology teacher, shares how he generates engagement and discussion in the classroom by asking small questions and using the see, think, and wonder framework.
Did You Know That…?
Learn a quick write strategy that helps you build relationships with your students by giving them a low-stakes platform for sharing information or asking questions.
Asking Open-Ended Questions
In this video, Dr. Susan Hawkins introduces the impactful instructional practice of asking open-ended questions. This approach encourages deeper thinking among students by placing value on their ideas and fostering their capacity to build knowledge.
California History-Social Science Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California History-Social Science Project.
WOW (Word of the Week)
Kate Bowen, retired elementary school teacher for the Davis Joint Unified School District, tells us how to use the “WOW (Word of the Week)” activity to channel students’ creativity in learning new vocabulary and developing their writing skills.
See, Mean, Matter
Learn a three-step strategy that can help students think of visual imagery in a more complex way and explore how messages are constructed.
Build Rapport at the Door
“Build Rapport at the Door” is a long-term relationship building strategy so students are more likely to be engaged in learning, feel supported and comfortable asking for help when they need it. This strategy works for all content areas and all ages, and is more effective when implemented at the beginning of a new term and used every day.
California World Language Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California World Language Project.
Name Acrostic
Name Acrostic: Nancy Perez, Spanish teacher at El Diamante High School, tells us how to use the “Name Acrostic” activity to encourage students to talk about and share their identity in a creative way.
Partner Talk: “I am, I Can”
Valerie Sun, teacher specialist at Glendale Unified School District, tells us how to apply the “Partner Talk” strategy to help students practice using instructional language to talk about themselves in a low stakes environment.
Four Corners
Find out how you can use the four corners of your classroom (or any room!) to engage students and encourage them to listen to each other’s perspectives.
The One-Pager Activity
This video introduces ‘The One-Pager’, a versatile teaching tool that allows students to express their understanding of lessons creatively and concisely. The tool can be used across various forms of content, including text, film, and songs. It provides an efficient way to fill extra class time and makes grading more enjoyable for educators. The One-Pager is easy to adapt and modify to suit the needs of language learners and students with special needs. The video offers valuable tips on structuring the activity, suggesting the use of a gallery walk at the end of the class to exhibit students’ work.
California Writing Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California Writing Project.
Concept Circles
Chris Mullin, high school history teacher in the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District, tells us how to leverage the “Concept Circles” activity to help students communicate their understanding of key words and concepts, and how their selected terms relate to a larger theme.
Think-Pair-Share
Learn how to use the “Think-Pair-Share” strategy, an engaging discussion technique that gives students a chance to formulate their own thoughts to a question before they have a chance to talk about it with a partner, and then the whole class.
The Writing Roadmap
Learn how to use the “Writing Roadmap”, a helpful list that provides guidance to students in any writing activity while also allowing them to track their progress.
Reading Like an Actor
“Reading Like an Actor” is a reading and thinking strategy used in the theater that can be valuable in the English Language Arts classroom to help students dive deeper into a text.
Possible Sentences
“Possible Sentences” is a fun pre-reading strategy that gets the students a little bit of context of what the article or the reading is going to be about, and offers for you as the educators, some insight of what prior knowledge they have coming into it.
The Raffle Ticket Activity
“The Raffle Ticket Activity” is a positive behavior support strategy that encourages students to engage actively in lessons and promotes behaviors such as raising their hand and communicating effectively within their groups. It can be implemented for a single class period, an entire day, or throughout the school year. This approach works well in elementary and middle school for general education, special education, and English language learners.
Power Writing: A Writing Fluency Activity
“Power Writing” a writing fluency activity that is quick, easy, and requires no prior preparation. It engages students in a meaningful writing activity and is best used in kindergarten through third grade.
Using Jamboard to Build Rapport with Students
In this video, bilingual educator Monica Galvan from El Cajon, California, shares her strategies to build rapport with students using Google’s Jamboard, a free digital whiteboard tool. Monica demonstrates how to use Jamboard for daily class check-ins, engagement activities, community-building, and interactive games. She also explains how this versatile tool can be used to assign both individual and collaborative projects, as well as to help teachers check-in with students about their feelings. Whether used for daily check-ins or content projects, Jamboard is presented as an accessible and effective tool in the digital classroom.
California Physical Education-Health Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California Physical Education-Health Project.
High School P.E.
Terry Piper shares best practices and tips for anyone wishing to teach High School P.E. (This is the fourth video of the four-part Physical Education video collection.)
Teaching Physical Education
Terry Piper kicks off the four-part Teaching Physical Education video series by sharing best practices and tips for anyone wishing to teach P.E. in schools.
For tips specific to Elementary, Middle, and High School, watch the other videos in the collection.
Elementary School P.E.
Danielle Della Gala shares best practices and tips for anyone wishing to teach Elementary School P.E. (This is the second video of the four-part Physical Education video collection.)
Middle School P.E.
Kimberly Steffen shares best practices and tips for anyone wishing to teach Middle School P.E. (This is the third video of the four-part Physical Education video collection.)
Supporting Mental, Emotional, and Social Health – Middle School
Savannah Linhares, a middle school science teacher, introduces a proactive approach to address student mental health issues. Drawing on alarming CDC statistics, she emphasizes the critical need for mental health awareness in the classroom. She presents a ‘Mood Meter’ activity, where students identify their emotional state using colors and reflect on their emotions through discussing their week’s highlights and lowlights. Savannah advocates for this practice among both students and teachers to foster a healthier learning environment. The video concludes with a call to check out other resources for mental health promotion across different school levels.
Supporting Mental, Emotional, and Social Health – Elementary School
Daniele Della Gala, a teacher leader with the California Physical Education and Health Project, shares specific ideas and actions to help elementary school teachers support their students’ mental health in the classroom. She emphasizes the importance of understanding and expressing emotions as a crucial skill for children’s social development by encouraging teachers to engage students in activities that help them identify and communicate their emotions effectively.
Engagement Through Feedback and Choice
Join Kelli Merrill-Topliff as she discusses how ‘perceived competence’ impacts student engagement. In this video, she reveals how specific feedback and thoughtful choices in the classroom can bolster a student’s self-perception and intrinsic motivation. Drawing from her experience as an elementary physical education teacher, Merrill-Topliff provides practical examples, illustrating how to provide constructive feedback and offer meaningful choices aligned with learning objectives. A must-watch for educators aiming to create a more engaging, learner-centered classroom.
Breathing Exercises to Support Mental, Emotional, and Social Health
Join nationally board certified Health Education Coordinator Michelle Presley as she addresses student stress and the importance of mental health. In this video, Michelle showcases deep breathing exercises, an accessible and effective coping strategy to help manage stress. Follow her as she demonstrates belly breathing, a technique to help calm the nervous system, slow the heart rate, and release endorphins. This go-to resource is perfect for educators seeking to create a positive, stress-free learning environment and improve the mental wellbeing of their students. Don’t miss out on this essential guide to student mental health!
California Arts Project
Learn about high leverage skills, tools, and strategies from master teachers with California Arts Project.
Exit Tickets
Kim Guadagnoli, theater teacher at Grand Terrace High School, tells us how to use the “Exit Ticket” strategy to help students review and reflect on their learning.
Connecting to Emotions Using a Student-Generated Playlist
Charity Tanaleon, former band director at Norwood Junior High School, uses student-created music playlists as a way to learn more about students and engage them to reflect and express their emotions through music.