More @IAmKidPresident from @SoulPancake! #EdChat

I'm excited to share some more Kid President with all of you! There are two more videos that you have to watch that explore our connections with people all around us. Please take some time to see how you might be able to share these with students in your class to have important conversations about empathy, refugees, and so much more. 

Next stop: the beach! Robby and Brad find themselves at a retreat for families who have a child that’s been diagnosed with cancer. Robby immediately befriends a group of kids to jump in the pool with, play ultimate frisbee on the beach, and launch into fierce card games. Yet, underneath all the joy, is the discovery that they’ve all been closely affected by cancer — either themselves or a sibling. Two sisters share their story of remaining hopeful and keeping each other strong, in spite of all that’s come their way. Archival clips include moments from ’Letter To a Person on their First Day Here’, the parade thrown for a postal worker, and the oft-quoted Kid President phrase “Treat Everybody Like It’s Their Birthday”. Brad and Robby are part of throwing a huge birthday party for every kid there with cake, music, and of course dancing. Brad even pulls out his ‘karaoke backpack’ to help celebrate.

Robby and Brad visit a town that’s been called ‘the Ellis Island of the South’. For more than 20 years, Clarkston, GA has served as a place of peace, community, and healing for refugees from all walks of life. They visit the Fugees Academy where they meet Luma Mufleh, who founded the organization shortly after fleeing to the United States from Jordan when she was 19. Three young refugees from completely different cultures are highlighted. Though they’re from entirely different backgrounds they’re all best friends and they don’t refer to it as ‘Fugees Academy’ but as the Fugees Family. Archival video includes the Pep Talk from Kid President To You, Kid President playing baseball with a young Muslim girl, and other select clips focused on unity, teamwork, and Robby’s love of athletics. Robby joins the Fugees Family on the field for one of their practices.

x

@iamkidpresident visits Selma in new episode of Are We There Yet

I'm excited to see another episode live on YouTube from my buddy Brad and Kid President. In this episode they are visiting Selma, AL to see some kids doing awesome things in their community and to chat with Joanne Bland. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and was arrested 3 times by the age of 11 when she marched to Montgomery with Dr. King.

I think this video is important to show students because there is this belief that you need to be an adult to make change in the world and we are seeing that is not true today with Greta Thunberg, but child activists have a long history and I love that Brad and Robby are recognizing someone that many people never learned about in History classes.

Check out this video and consider sharing with your students.

Add Some Soul(Pancake) to the Classroom #edchat

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to visit the YouTube Headquarters and talk education with a variety of people over the course of a couple of days. I met many great content creators who were interested in finding out ways to help students and teachers understand complex ideas through the use of video. There were so many great people out there who are making awesome videos, but were not getting the attention I feel they deserve.

Running a YouTube channel can be a thankless job. Most people watch a 4 minute video and assume that it took just that long to put together. That could not be further from the truth. It takes days and weeks to put together a good 4 minute video that will be watched by only a few thousand people and then they start all over again. Some videos are watched more than others, but the same process is repeated over and over again because they want to educate. There is a great place for these videos in the classroom and I decided it would be nice to feature some of these content creators and their channels on my site every couple of weeks.

The first channel I want to feature is one that I have used in my classroom and will continue to do so as long as they keep making awesome videos.

SoulPancake

Most people know SoulPancake due to the very popular Kid President videos.

This pep talked was passed all around the world and shown in schools all over the country. It is a great video and it makes me smile every time I watch it. There is so much more to SoulPancake though. They have so many different parts to their channel that should not be overlooked. Here are just a few things that are worth sharing with your students or your staff. 

The Science of Happiness

This is one of my new favorite series on SoulPancake. The host takes actual research conducted on Happiness and sets up scenarios to see if the research hold up to testing. What you see are thought-provoking moments that are great for classroom discussion and replication. The video below is one I plan on doing with my students this year.

I get choked up every time I watch this video. It is touching and it makes me wonder how often we miss a chance to express our thanks to the people around us. I can't wait to see what this will look like in my classroom. Try to watch this and not cry. Here are some videos that people sent in recreating the letter writing and the phone call. 

Here are a couple more videos that are perfect for the classroom. 

Take a Seat - Make a Friend?

Talk to You 10 year Old Self

This is still not everything that SoulPancake brings to the table. 

Have a Little Faith

"A series following Zach Anner, a self-proclaimed religious idiot, and his journey to learn more about faith and different religions!"

The Flip Side

"Our narrative series in which characters struggle with life's questions in both a comical and heartfelt way. Written and directed by award winning filmmaker Ben Shelton of SheltonFilms (recently of the web series "The Daly Show")."

My Last Days

"Our series documenting the struggles and uplifting stories of terminal illness."

These are just some of the awesome things that SoulPancake is doing on their YouTube Channel. If you check out their Twitter feed (@SoulPancake), you will see they pose some interesting questions that could be great conversation starters in class as well. A recent questions they posed was "Can good come from pain?" 

Take some time and take a look at all of the awesome things SoulPancake is doing and see how they might fit into your classroom. 

Give it a try!

@TheNerdyTeacher