Whee! Let's Go Youtubin! Using Videos in the Classroom

Most teachers shudder when they hear Youtube uttered in the classroom. I can understand why. Youtube has a bad reputation. It can feature the dregs of society or the finest society has to offer. It is up to us, as teachers, to navigate that mess and emerge victorious with just the right video to make the point we wish for the students to grasp.
One of the biggest drawbacks to Youtube is the often unsavory content that is featured on the sidebar. There is nothing like pulling up a video featuring the ABC song only to find an ad highlighting a scantily clad woman prancing around on a beach!

There are ways around this problem. One is to use something called Teacher Tube. The sign up is free and they have a pretty large variety of offerings. As always you must use your professional judgment when choosing a video. Also, please, for heaven's sake, watch the WHOLE video! You don't want to wind up in a bad situation because you skimmed through it and missed that one little thing that the kids picked up on and you wound up in trouble for!

All the resources you need to know about math, art, educational videos, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more.

Another thing you can do is snag videos from Youtube. Now, I am not a lawyer but videos that do not have a copyright usually fall under the "fair use" umbrella. For example, my kids are crazy over the video "What Does the Fox Say?" so I used it as a teaching moment to give them a lesson on conservation, fur farming and what sounds the fox actually makes by using a video about a lovely fox named Kevie! You can hear her chatter here if you are interested.
There are many programs that allow you to snag videos from Youtube but the one I use is the one I downloaded from Cnet. You can look at it and even download it here.

There are also videos that can be used directly from their parent sites. Obviously this is not a comprehensive list. I will add more as I go along.
Discovery Channel has videos but here again you have to be careful what they advertise before the actual video. No one wants the kids to view a commercial for Naked and Afraid!
Nat Geo Kids
NASA Kids
Kids dot gov
Wake Up and Smell the Freedom - this is for the older kids and adults that want to learn about the Constitution as well as our government.