YouTube

YouTube is a website that both teachers and students are familiar with.  While many use it for personal use, YouTube can be very good to use for motivational techniques in the classroom, and is a great way to introduce a topic and get conversation started.  YouTube can be used for many levels being that it offers a wide range of content.  I think that it is most appropriate in the middle or high school setting, but it may be used in upper elementary school.  As for instructional goals, YouTube is a good way to introduce a topic or give students a better understanding of a topic.  YouTube also possesses many instructional videos, which help people with the breakdown of the learning process.  I use YouTube very frequently, and find that it is very user-friendly.  All one has to do is type in what they want to search in the tool bar (just like Google) and scroll through the results.

           

As for tech support, it may be needed in certain situations.  If a computer does not have internet access, it is not possible to use YouTube.  Also, in most schools, YouTube is blocked, so there is no access.  One secret that I learned though, is to upload the YouTube video that you plan to use in a lesson plan to the website keepvid.com.  You can email yourself the video as an attachment (it will not be connected to YouTube, so it will not be blocked), or save it as a file on a thumb drive.  This is a great way to share videos in the classroom without the worry of not having access/it being blocked mid-lesson. 

A motivational activity that I have used in my Italian class.  Good for colors, foods, weather, etc.

In general, I think that YouTube is a great website to use in the classroom.  It is a great way to make lessons interesting and make students excited about a topic.  This up-to-date technology is a great way to relate to kids as well.  Having grown up with television, iPods, computers, etc., YouTube and computer technology is more “on their [a student’s] level” and is something that a student will most likely be excited to explore.