We all hate when the teacher rolls out that 30 year old TV to the front of the class, sticks in a warped VHS, and forces us the watch 40 minutes of interviews with old people and black and white pictures. It's even worse when you have to take 20 notes of the whole video, and turn it in at the end of class. How could you possibly glean all of that information from one viewing? Well, as I've said often, work smarter, not harder: much like taking actual notes in class, focus on what it important and only that.
For instance, one of these note sheets will usually have an outline over what the teacher is looking for from viewing the video. This means that this information is what they WANT you to know; everything else must not be as important for your learning or else they would've put it on the sheet. All you need to do, then, is listen for key words from the questions, like this:
2. Who was President in 1933?
3. Why did the banks not give people their money?
The bolded parts of the questions are the key words, and they'll usually be said either by the narrator or the interviewees in the documentary at one point. If you miss an answer, move on; someone will have gotten it and you can get the answer from them, or search it on Google with what little time you have left. What's important is that you learn and record what the teacher is looking for, because that's what they want you to learn; everything else can be focused on at another time and place. All I know is, we've watched 5 of these things in APUSH and I'm starting to get tired of it!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
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