Video Help

One of my favorite ways to introduce (or conclude) a topic is by watching videos posted by Westerville South High School (Columbus, OH) on youtube.  They have these fantastic music videos that they put together, taking popular songs such as "Teach Me How to Dougie" and change them into math such as "Teach Me How to Factor".  Although students are not becoming masters on the topics immediately from these videos, it certainly grabs their attention.
Aside from the entertainment value in videos, I also like to post video links on my Blackboard for students to watch as supplemental help.  There are a surprising amount of math videos that are lessons on specific topics, and the students really enjoy these.  They provide me with great feedback because students come in and share when they learn something, as well as when the video did not help and they recommend I never use that again.
The newest way I have used video in my classroom is to create a "flipped lesson" where I record myself talking and writing on the Smart Board so that students can watch and take notes at home the night before this topic is addressed in class.  I primarily created this because of the anticipation of a snow day, and it worked out well.  Our Algebra 2 team has done these for full units and has provided intense classroom structure to properly adjust to students who are at different learning levels.
As far as my students being the creators in the classroom, I have had some previous success with projects where Pre-Calculus students are given a variety of options, a video being one.  Last year, two students decided to make a lesson into a cooking show, and filmed that.  Two years ago, a group of boys created their own version of "Cash Cab" to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic.
While these were great, I did not have to actually teach the students anything on video editing.  As a matter of fact, a lot of my students are already incredibly talented with this in high school and are in other classes that teach them these skills.  Thinking about this as well as the lesson plan has made me realize that while there is always something to teach these students, perhaps I would have to structure the lesson differently than planned, to adjust to their previous knowledge.  Either way, my experience added to the student's experiences could make for some amazing math videos!