Teacher Tube

YouTube, with it's massive source of videos, can actually be a useful resource tube. However, as public domain, many schools prohibit the use of YouTube because of the advertisements and their inappropriate nature. Consequently, TeacherTube was created. Here, teachers can search for videos that have been approved to play within the general education classroom. While these videos have been approved by someone to play in the classrooms, not all school systems allow certain concepts to be shown, so its important to check with a supervisor for any questionable uses of TeacherTube.

After creating a free account, teachers are able to search for videos, in the same way that you would search for anything on Google or YouTube. However, in TeacherTube, you can select for only the videos to show up in the results, as TeacherTube normally reveals blogs, google docs, audio files, video files, and members and groups relevant to the search. While many of the results are most useful to the teacher to incorporate elsewhere, the videos are best used for instructional purposes. Here are some videos that were personal favorites:

The Safety Song-
Good for any grade level prior to the implementation of a lab into the unit. Good for review and a comical transition within the classroom.

Dr. Loopy experiments with the states of water-
Working with the properties of matter, these comical "professors" explain the three properties of matter then conduct a short oral quiz, complete with answers and explanations. (VA SOL 2.3)

podcast 4.1 - intro to waves and sound-
More of a book on tape, this video explains sound waves, frequency, and amplitude through many audio examples and explicit explanation. (VA SOL 5.2)

Smart Board Applications

While technology has become an increasingly prevalent part of education, it is the job of the teachers to best fit the technology to the lesson in a manor that will enhance the learning, rather then distract from the core principles. SmartBoard has been implemented in many classrooms already, and comes equipped with the templates to create games and educational outlines of information. Vocabulary match-up, analogy correlations, picture references, and a multitude of activities can be found in a range of template available with Smartboard. Simply put, teachers will have the ability to pick a template, fill it with the information key to the lesson at hand, and allow the students to utilize the smartboard as a center for independent study.

Google Custom Search Engine

Google Custom Search Engines are meaningful for all research purposes within the classroom. in today's technology-based classroom, it is impossible to have complete control over what the students will and will not see. With GCSE, the teacher, or whomever is the creator of the site, is in complete control of the actual sites that are searched. For example, in my Presidential Engine, students can only search for information regarding the presidents from the cites I have chosen. This provides the creator the opportunity to "weed-out" all the sites with invalid information or misleading information. With appropriate research, the GCSE allows students to do independent research with minimal guidance. This will help students acknowledge what a credible source is and how to decipher information as valid or false. In just a few short moments, anyone can limit a search engine to produce only the desired results. From an educational aspect, this allows for effective teaching to build lifelong learners through their experiences.