Most of you might get on youtube to watch videos of dogs chasing their tails or bootleg copies of the Simpsons, but did you know that you can use it to be a better teacher? You can find a short videos on almost any subject. Let me demonstrate: Let's start with history, the easiest. Now, some of you are saying, "I already show war movies and such. I have no use for youtube." Okay, fine. but what multi-million dollar Hollywood movie do you have about the Panama Canal? Or the entire Cold War? Check this funny, short video on the Cold War. Imagine this as a preview or a review for 11th graders.
I would not want to teach Psychology without youtube! I can teach students about any type of mental disorder using a 3 minute video. Teaching narcolepsy is easy because youtube is full of videos of narcoleptic cats, goats and even a narcoleptic tree cutter (not really appropriate for the classroom). Many of the videos are designed for the classroom;many are video projects that students put together for their AP Psychology class. Most of them are funny. There are many clips from documentaries I can use rather than getting the DVD on interlibrary loan and waiting, etc. Here is a video that taught me a lot about the brain:
Math: As far as I know, good math teaching doesn't use a lot of videos, but students should use it if they need a bit of extra help. A student asked me for help factoring trinomials and I typed that into youtube's search feature and found a few professors and teachers showing how to do it. Here is a funny video for math students when they need a good laugh:
Sciences: Simply just type in a vocabulary term. Try photosynthesis, Jupiter, balancing chemical equations, atomic structure, dna, scientific method, cell structure, coke mentos, funny scientific experiments. Here is a 10 min video about the scientific method. There is also one that uses Monty Python to explain the scientific method.
English: Reading and analyzing literature doesn't always lend itself to film watching, but I did pick an author at random, Sandra Cisneros, and typed her name and found a chapter acted out (by students, I think). This illustrates how short youtube videos are.
My main point is youtube videos are short, effective, funny and efficient use of class time. To find them you simply type in key vocabulary terms into the search feature and start choosing from many options.
If you can't access youtube at school, go to http://www.real.com/ and download Realplayer on your home computer. It will save youtube videos for you to save to your USB drive. You will not need realplayer installed on the computer at school for this strategy to work. You can download Adobe Media Player. That will play the videos you save off youtube. Again, you save them using Real Player at home. You may have to play them at school using Adobe Media Player (because your district may not block Adobe's website like it blocks Real Player. Using the same laptop at home and school is ideal.
Transferring the videos can be tricky the first time. Go to the folder where Realplayer saves your videos. Go to your Start menu and click on search. Search the term Realplayer downloads. There you will find the folder where realplayer saves your videos. They are flash videos so they will have the file extension .flv Select the videos that you want to save to your USB flash drive, plug in your flash drive, right click the videos and hover your mouse where it says send to, then select your removable disk.
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