Topic 19 - You Tube

Six years ago when I first started teaching, I would never imagine there would be such a thing as you tube or that it would be such a hit. I love the whole idea of streaming videos because I think my students love various forms of media.

I was first introduced to streaming from unitedstreaming.com. This is a wonderful tool for teachers and I think it is really easy to find great clips to reinforce lesson ideas and make topics more interesting to students. In years past, my students have loved the Maths Mansion video clips for our math lessons. There are some really great videos for geometry that any elementary teacher should check out.

It seems like the big trend now is you tube. My students are always asking me if we can find things on you tube. As a teacher, you have to be careful and view things ahead of time as there are many things on you tube that are not appropriate for the eyes of children. However, there are so many wonderful videos on cultures, communities, and social issues that can really support various curriculum. I think you tube also makes it really easy to search for various topics as well as other videos that can relate.

I plan to use more and more you tube with my lessons. It's just hard to find the time to view everything before I show it to my class. Which is crucial. A teacher at my school accidentally showed 3rd graders a video with a bad word in it because she didn't view it ahead of time. I think that is a big lesson learned. That being said, I still think you tube is a wonderful teaching tool.