Anti-Racism Videos to Use in Edpuzzle

This past summer a certain quote by activist Rosa Parks really spoke to us:

“To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.”

Oftentimes many of us are too scared to talk about racism with our friends, family, and colleagues. Either we’re afraid we’ll say the wrong thing or that we’ll be called ultra-sensitive.

As educators, we have a responsibility to not just be a part of this conversation but to lead the way forward. The choices we make with our curriculum or professional development sessions can have a big impact on our students’ development.

We’ve compiled a list of excellent videos to help get you started and how to use them in Edpuzzle. Whether it’s for young children, older students, or your own coworkers, there’s a video lesson for you!

Use Music and Storytime with Elementary Students

Starting anti-racism education early is important. And now more than ever, there are plenty of resources to choose from!

We love a classic read-aloud, especially when the story has a message of fairness, something kids can strongly relate to. Check out this one by teacher Akiea "Ki" Gross of Woke Kindergarten:

The added animation will captivate your students. For extra engagement, consider using Edpuzzle to embed your own questions or the ones suggested in the video.

Because little ones love to move around, a song is another great resource to share in Edpuzzle! Sesame Street’s YouTube channel has various great videos that talk about loving yourself, in this case your hair, like this one:

Take a tip from an elementary school Edpuzzle fan and try ending the video with an open-ended question so that students can share their favorite part of the song or add their own lyrics!

Use Live Mode for Class Discussion

With older students, you can start to look more at the complexities behind the structures of racism in the United States. This video goes into the history of redlining in a funny yet thought-provoking way:

We also love this video for getting young adult’s experiences with race and culture:

You can edit these videos by adding reflection questions or comments throughout and then use Edpuzzle’s Live Mode feature to watch it together as a class.

As you play through the video, students’ responses to your questions will be displayed anonymously. You can use these pauses for questions to start a class conversation and dig deeper into their answers.

Create an Open Class for Teacher PD

We don’t expect all teachers to go into this conversation with lots of confidence. Take this opportunity to conduct a PD session that will prepare your staff to talk to their students.

With Edpuzzle, you can make PD sessions that teachers will love. We make it interactive and self-paced so that teachers can do it whenever is most convenient for them!

An Open Class is a perfect way to train your staff because it doesn’t make you log in to the platform. Anyone can join and learn, as long as they have a link or class code.

You might want to start your PD with this video, which emphasizes why we should talk about race with children:

This video from NPR goes over what racism can look like in an educational context:

And this one goes over the "Model Minority" myth, a stereotype that is particularly widespread in schools:

Remember, anti-racist education shouldn’t be an individual effort. When your staff feels comfortable talking about race with each other, they’ll be able to address it with their students.

Assign a Student Project

When talking about anti-racism, one of your biggest resources is your students! Assigning a student project in Edpuzzle gives them the opportunity to voice their own experiences or that of their families.

How does a student project in Edpuzzle work? Students can find and edit videos that have already been created on YouTube from sources like PBS, Crash Course, TED Talks, etc.

Edpuzzle allows students to be in the driver’s seat and add their own comprehension questions, voiceover, audio notes, and hyperlinks to external sources.

Not only will assigning a student project teach your students something new, but you’ll also come out learning something as well.

Anti-racist education is a great opportunity to teach students how to respectfully engage in a dialogue, a life skill that will benefit them in the long run and help you to foster a more inclusive classroom environment!

If you liked or used these resources, give us a shoutout on social media. We’d love to know how you created your own amazing video lesson!