So The Videos Aren't Perfect.

Because I spend most of my time in my dark, quiet science prep room these days while my student teacher slaves away setting up conditions for learning in my classroom, I get a little stir crazy from time to time.  My colleague next door knows this, so she steals me every now and then to make videos for her flipped classroom.  She started doing this because she recently attended a session with Jonathan Bergmann at the ICE conference, and one of his tips for making quality videos is that you make them with someone else.  She decided that "someone else" would be me.
Now, I have seen teacher-made videos that are brimming with professional quality.  Their cup runneth over with prettiness and video-editing proficiency.  These videos have a shiny perfection that makes "oohs" and "ahhs" escape my lips without me even realizing it's happening.  I am usually awed by their professional and educational goodness. 
Our videos aren't like that.  Nope.  Not one bit.  We obviously don't use fancy video software (although we would love to).  We do practice and plan out our videos ahead of time, even if it doesn't look like it.  Our videos aren't perfect, but we do try and focus on the objective and what students should be able to do when they have mastered it.  Our videos may (will?) make you guffaw and cringe and roll your eyes.  In fact, that's what they make my colleague's students do, so I'm pretty sure that's what you'll do when you watch the one we made recently below. (It's a little long; however, you should watch the end of the video below about making Bohr diagrams for a good laugh.)
It's pretty obvious that our videos are far from perfect.  
But that doesn't matter to us.  Her students report back to us that, while they really are cringe- and eyeroll-inducing, the videos we make together are more engaging.  Why?  Because, apparently, it is more interesting to watch us interact than a talking head babbling on and on about science.  (By the way, I still find it fascinating that students are more engaged watching videos of us than watching us live and in person.)  
What I'm interested in is the learning, however.  I want to see if the learning is any different, better, or worse.  It's hard to do, though, when you sit in a dark office all day.  But my colleague is reporting positive results so far on her students' progress checks, so I'll have to take her word for it.
At least she lets me have a bit of fun (some say too much fun) during the day.
(I sincerely apologize for any damage done to your brain by our behavior at the end.)