Youtube

Oh, where to begin in the world of video.  Where would history teachers without images to grab student’s attention to events, issues and people.  Back when I was in school, the only imagery we sometimes had was the 20 years (already) black and white film from the state of Georgia. Oh how far we have come in 30 years.  There is not a day that goes by in which video is not incorporated into my lessons even if it is only for 3 minutes.  One 1 minute video can affect the whole student engagement in a lesson.

Teacher Tube does offer many advantages.  The web site is a safe environment for teacher and students to be able to upload video projects.  Teacher can only be sure the videos on the site and other material is safe for the classroom.  I have used the site to upload a video presentation I was doing at a conference for holding place.  Teacher Tube does offer many opportunities for teachers to gain content resources and a use for professional development.

Luckily, my school district does not block You Tube for teachers.  I have incorporated videos from this site many times.  In a lot of cases, I have made screen cast of the videos in advance to wiped out any ads.  I do this because you never know what is going to pop up and next selection of videos when yours is done.  You tube has a wide variety of any type of topic you might need.  I generally play music in my classroom while students are working.  In the past, I used Pandora for a particular station but it has ads and it can drain your phone battery. However, the group which I always played I found as a You Tube channel.  So now I can just pull them up on my computers.  Check them out the channel is called Vitamin String Quartet.  They play current hits with no words.  Students Love It.

I do have my own channel for my students which I have videos saved my different subjects which students can subscribe to as well.  I follow different channels to find videos to use in my classroom.  If you want to learn how to do anything just searched for a You Tube video.  I had a problem with our coffee maker and found a fix to solve the issue.

I would have to say my favorite channel on You Tube is History Teacher.  How can you top Lady Gaga giving history lessons?