We have been suffering from withdrawal. YouTube was given to us, and then, for the last three weeks, YouTube was taken away. I'm still not clear why; it had something to do with testing. I use YouTube almost every day. I look at the latest clips from the news, as I am the journalism teacher, and share them with my class. My husband, the Bluegrass Club adviser, shows students how to play songs. We watch videos of how to do things in Photoshop that we can't figure out in yearbook class. Teachers use YouTube for excellent short videos that engage students better than a talking teacher in front of the classroom, and usually in a shorter amount of time.
I heard that higher ups were not particularly concerned about our loss of YouTube. There is a general feeling in certain circles that YouTube isn't really useful in the classroom, and that teachers use it to avoid teaching. Hard to believe, in this day and age, that there are those who would dismiss the power of visual learning, or of immediate access to information. And best of all, it's FREE! It doesn't cost them a dime! unlike all of the movies that teachers used to show, which typically cost about $20 a pop.
It's high time teachers spoke out about the benefits of resources like YouTube. I use it so that the information comes from the source, and I am not pushing a political agenda. Other teachers use it for instruction that is seamless in their classrooms. It shouldn't be looked at as something that teachers use because they are "lazy."
We got YouTube back on Friday. Smiles throughout the building. It truly is the little things that make us all happy.
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