Teacher Tube and You!

Teacher Tube is a great resource for teachers with Internet access, a decent ceiling-mounted projector, and a high-teacher IQ. The last part's the most important because so many teachers don't recognize the value of user-generated content. I've shown dozens of uploaded videos from Teacher Tube and Youtube... these resources are a force to be reckoned with. If I was an English teacher, I'd say "it's a force with which to be reckoned." But I'm a Social Studies teacher. And instead of telling my students about the Running of the Bulls and how it illustrates the significance of bravery in Spanish culture... heck, I'll just show them first-hand fotoage! Think they'll forget that?

This video is from Youtube... it's a popular math rap. It's informative, catchy, and classroom-friendly. Most people don't know about Teacher Tube, so for now the best place for informational user-generated content is Youtube. I dont' teach math, but this rap trumps the social studies ones I've seen.



Teacher Tube has a few advantages over Youtube, obviously. It's pre-approved for the classroom and offers so much more than videos. The audio is just as useful as the video, the blogs are an interesting prospect, and the site is interactive with Facebook. That last part will be more important in a few years when Facebook's becomes mainstream for communication between students and teacher.