How-To Heroes

Students turn a skill or process they know into a short instructional video or animated tutorial designed to help others acquire it too

image of a question mark with a cape above a skyline at night

Task

Students design and produce a short multimedia "How-To" that teaches viewers how to do something clearly and accurately—just like the creators they watch on YouTube, TikTok, or educational channels. As they break down a process into steps, analyze key actions, and consider audience needs, students deepen their understanding of procedural writing.

Creating an animated tutorial or short instructional video requires them to reorganize information, sequence events logically, and communicate ideas through narration, visuals, and pacing, strengthening both content mastery and media-literacy skills.

Engage

To get students hooked on the idea, share a few how-to videos that demonstrate how visuals and pacing make a process come alive. You can find a range of short explainers or simple process clips like these from video sharing sites.

After watching, ask students what made the videos easy to follow. List student's ideas on your whiteboard or an anchor chart. Be sure students identify important components of procedural writing and effective visual communication such as:

a clear goal
a list of tools or supplies
ordered steps with transitional words like first, next, then
precise, actionable language
visuals that highlight key actions
narration, captions, or labels that guide viewers

You will also want to encourage students to identify how specific media choices like camera angle, text overlay, and animation, also help an audience understand so they can repeat the process.

Create

Let students know that they will be creating their own how-to tutorials to share a skill they already know.

As a class, brainstorm things they already know how to do well. They might come up with ideas like a craft, a recipe, a strategy for studying, a sports technique, a tech tip, a simple science demo, or even how to care for a pet.

Have each student choose their own process or form a team to work together on a shared goal. Have them choose the format for their explainer, such as a how-to manual, video tutorial, animated explainer, or comic book. (If you prefer to make project management less complicated on your end, share the product format you want them to use.)

Before crafting the video, students should clearly articulate what they will teach and why someone wants to do it. They should create a list of tools or supplies the viewer will need and craft a clear and concise outline of the steps necessary for someone completing the process for the first time.

Once students have a script with these basics ready, they need to consider how they will show each step in the process. Not only what visuals will be shown, but whether the visuals will be reinforced with narration and/or captions. Can they use still images, or does the process require motion? Does it need sound effects or music to engage or will this be distracting?

Have students use a productivity tool like Wixie or Canva to create their designs. These tools allow for a range of output options so students can export their work as videos, animations, and printed books, giving students agency and responsibility for choosing the best format for teaching their process to others.

Sharing student work with authentic audiences adds excitement and give purpose to student work. Presenting work to others motivates students to be accurate, clear, and creative while giving peers and families a chance to learn from student's effort.

Feature videos on the school website or morning announcements or present them to classmates or younger grades during advisory periods. Host a family night with QR-code galleries or combine them into a fun "How-To" hands-on event for your community.

Assessment

Creating an animated tutorial or short instructional video requires students to reorganize information, sequence events logically, and communicate ideas through narration, visuals, and pacing, strengthening both written communication and media-literacy skills. When you evaluate student's procedural writing and communication, look for for clear introductions, logical sequencing of steps, precise vocabulary, and explanations that help the audience understand. When you evaluate media literacy, assess how a student's use of visuals, narration, and editing support clarity. Voice overs are also opportunities to evaluate fluency, intonation, and expression.

In addition to assessing the final product, collect research, outlines, and drafts to coach students to success, identify misconceptions, and allow students to improve on their efforts. Introduce peer reviews and feedback to prompt student discussion and thinking, helping them recognize components of effective procedural writing and effect multimedia communication.

Resources

Instructables - How-to instructions for a range of topics

MacMillan Publishers - Maker Comics

David Macaulay - The Way Stuff Works Now

Standards

Common Core Anchor Standards for English Language Arts - Grade 4-10

Writing Standards

Text Type and Purpose
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Production and Distribution of Writing
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Speaking and Listening Standards

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
5. Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.
6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.sk, purpose, and audience.

ISTE Standards for Students:

6. Creative Communicator

Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals. Students:
a. choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.
b. create original works or responsibly re-purpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
d. publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.

by Melinda Kolk

Melinda Kolk is the Editor of Creative Educator and the author of Teaching with Clay Animation. She has been helping educators implement project-based learning and creative technologies like clay animation into classroom teaching and learning for the past 15 years.