12 Ways to Use a Math Medic Video Subscription

The Math Medic Video subscription offers a full-length video for each and every Experience First, Formalize Later (EFFL) lesson within a course. These lesson videos feature master teachers from both the Math Medic team and schools around the country. Currently, the Math Medic Video Subscription is available for our 3 Advanced Placement mathematics courses - AP Precalculus, AP Calculus, and AP Statistics - but will be available for all of our courses for the 2026-2027 school year. 

Learning via video is often met with a cringe reaction or a long groan. I get it - many of us think back to the hoop-jumping certification course videos or the recorded webinar with disdain. What I’ve learned though, is that not only is there a time and place for video-recorded lessons, but they can serve as an extremely valuable part of robust instructional materials. Here are 12 ways you might use a Math Medic Video Subscription.

Missing School

1. Student Absences. One of the most direct use cases for Math Medic lesson videos is to help students who have been absent catch up on content they’ve missed. While we know that a recorded video is not a one-to-one substitute for an in-person lesson – absent students miss out on valuable classmate collaboration and whole-class discussion – students can still benefit from working through the activity and watching a skilled debrief. What’s more, our master teachers use an absent student as the intended audience while recording their videos, intentionally directing the viewer to pause and work at opportune times.

2. Teacher Absences. Every teacher knows that there are various reasons throughout the year that we need to miss class and leave sub plans. Unfortunately, we often aren’t able to hand-pick the ideal day within our scope and sequence to miss. Enter the Math Medic lesson videos. While we would of course prefer to facilitate the lesson in real-time with our students, a lesson video may provide us the opportunity to keep our classes on schedule while we are out. As a bonus, our substitute will be thrilled to learn that our only requests of them are to press play, press pause, and provide encouragement and support to our students. 

Communication

3. Parent or Caregiver Communication. Shifting to EFFL instruction from a traditional model may feel like a major change for both our students and for us. If it feels like that to us, how might our students’ parents and caregivers feel? Sending a link to a lesson video to caregivers not only provides them with enough context to support their children during homework time, it also gives them a glimpse into the power of the EFFL model as a way to build sustained conceptual understanding.

Professional Learning

4. Lesson Planning. I remember spending hours planning my first lesson as a new preservice teacher. It was so helpful to spend the time thinking through my transitions and anticipating student reactions. It was also the last time I spent that much time planning a lesson. There just isn’t enough time in the day. Eventually, lesson planning became quickly reviewing the next day’s content and choosing a few go-to discussion protocols or group structures to make sure the class ran smoothly. Then, the real “planning” would happen while I facilitated the lesson for the first time, noticing what worked well and what went poorly. If I was fortunate enough to teach the same course again that day, the second lesson was invariably more successful than the first. Well, what if we could do this kind of “planning” without using our first hour as the experimental class? That’s what a Math Medic lesson video allows us to do - watch a master teacher in action and pick up a few effective cues to use. Our first hour won’t have to be the guinea pig class any longer.      

5. Lesson Reflection. One of the most important ways we can grow as educators is to reflect on our practice. Informal reflection happens all of the time as we evaluate ourselves in the moment - e.g. “that question really got my students thinking,” or “I need to say those directions more clearly next time,”or “oh boy, that joke didn’t land.” Formal reflection that focuses on the efficacy of our strategies, however, is all too rare. I have found that the ideal formal reflection includes a conversation with a trusted colleague after we each taught the same lesson. Now, some of us are lucky enough to have that person as a next-door colleague. For the rest of us, the Math Medic lesson video offers a close alternative - we get to see a master teacher in action and compare their instructional moves to ours. Plus, when using 1.5x or 2x playback speed, this kind of formal reflection can be accomplished in about 10 minutes. 

6. Teacher Mentoring. Teacher mentoring programs, whether via instructional coaches or assigned mentors, are on the rise - now nearly 60% of schools have at least one instructional coach or mentor for their teaching staff according to the latest available federal data from 2023-2024. This emphasis on teacher mentoring underscores the power of learning from veteran colleagues. For me, there was no better professional learning opportunity than learning from an experienced teacher - and the best learning came from watching them in action with students. While the Math Medic lesson videos don’t show student interactions, there is still much to glean from observing the way these master teachers take student work and tease out important ideas and themes. 

Student Support

7. Co-Teaching. Many secondary schools have implemented co-taught classes as a support for special education students. One challenge for special education teachers in a co-taught setting is anticipating effective accommodations before the lesson is taught. Math Medic lesson videos can help. Watching the lesson beforehand can help the special education teacher prepare accommodations for students and plan strategies for supporting students during the EFFL activity. Lesson videos can also make planning time more effective for co-taught classes. Instead of discussing the “what” of the lessons, co-teachers can view lesson videos beforehand and focus their planning on the “how” of supporting special education students.      

8. Additional Content Exposure. Sometimes a student is present during class, participates in their group discussions, tries their best during the lesson, and still doesn’t quite understand the content enough to have confidence completing their homework. Lesson videos can provide the reinforcement students need for certain concepts to “click.” They can be a handy support for students while working at home. 

9. Differentiation During Class. For whatever reason, some math topics seem to create a massive chasm between students in the same class. Half the students catch on quickly while the other half give us that wide-eyed look of confusion (dividing polynomials, anyone?). Here, I’m referring to something beyond the normal everyday variance in our students. These “chasm topics” don’t come around all that often, but how we handle them can be critical to the success of our students. One option during these times is to divide our class in half: one half puts on headphones and watches the lesson video, while we work with the other half. In this way, we’re able to spend more time with students who need our support - a form of Tier 2 instruction. I should note that I do not recommend this kind of classroom structure to be used more than every once-in-a-while, as it can undermine classroom dynamics and culture if overused.   

10. Homework Help Class Periods. Many secondary schools are instituting homeroom, lunchtime, or afterschool homework help structures. Still others are providing an extra math class option for students. These programs aim to provide students with the extra time they need to be and feel successful. Unfortunately, these structures can fall short when the educator providing support doesn’t have expertise in mathematics. Lesson videos can help any educator feel more confident providing support to students who need help. Again, the claim here isn’t that a video is a perfect substitute for an experienced math teacher. However, when a math teacher isn’t staffing the homework help room, the lesson video could be the difference between a helpful discussion and a not-so-helpful shrug of the shoulders.        

11. Multi-Language Learners. This use case is very similar to the Additional Content Exposure case above. The difference here is that Math Medic lesson videos can provide not only additional math exposure for the multi-language learners when working at home, but also additional language exposure. Visual aids and repetition are key supports for any language learner, and the lesson videos provide both in spades, whether at home or during a homework help class. 

12. Assessment Review. This one might seem obvious. I mean, of course students could watch lesson videos before taking a quiz or test. However, the use case here isn’t about rewatching a lesson and calling that studying. We know that kind of “studying” creates a false confidence in students due to the added familiarity that rewatching a lesson provides. A far better way to prepare for an assessment is to use the videos to self-quiz. Encourage your students to pause the videos and write down their answers on a separate sheet of paper, and then play the video to check their work. This could be helpful with the activity portion of the video, but it may be most effective for the Check Your Understanding questions. 

The Math Medic Video Subscription offers teachers, students, and caregivers a flexible way to engage with high-quality EFFL lessons led by master teachers. From supporting absent students to strengthening teacher planning, communication, and professional learning, these videos serve as a versatile tool that enhances instruction without replacing the richness of the in-person classroom. With thoughtful use, they can deepen understanding, reinforce concepts, and expand support structures across a variety of school settings.