Remember Cliffs Notes? There’s a new video on YouTube that is basically like reading Cliffs Notes but without all that, well, reading. Rather than you spending even a half-second reading one of the great American novels, John Green walks you through the broad themes and character developments at breakneck speed.
In the first video of what will likely be a series, John whips through the introduction of The Great Gatsby and does a pretty great job at making his video fun to watch and easy to understand. He throws in pop culture references, relative descriptions, vivid imagery, emotion, and really fast talking. Combine all that with some creative editing (each shot is about 5 seconds long so viewers don’t lose interest, sad isn’t it?) and you’ve got a pretty entertaining walk, err, sprint through the first chapter of The Great Gatsby.
Would you use this video to teach about the book? Would you hope students don’t find it? Would you, as a teacher, create your own set of videos just like this one? I’d love to hear your thoughts down in the comments or by mentioning @edudemic on the Twitters! Now, enjoy the show:
I would probably show students this video in order for them to get a basic understanding of The Great Gatsby. This is kind of like a preview or a movie trailer, but for a book. I would certainly require that students actually read because if they have never heard this story before it is unlikely that they will remember all the details in a five minute video going insanely fast. Later, I would encourage students to make their creative own videos about their interpretation of chapters.
Great point carrie, I love the idea of a 'book trailer'