TeacherTube (https://www.teachertube.com)
Previous to the start of the exploration phase for the Internet Tools assignment, I had not heard of TeacherTube. This site falls short of what I imagined it would be. Similar to YouTube, this site provides videos to its users. However, TeacherTube only provides videos that have an educational base and are mainly geared to aide teachers in their lesson and activity planning. There are many different categories of videos to explore, which is a great resource for teachers of all grade levels. There are 25 general categories of video as well as audio resources. A few of the categories include educational songs, health & physical education, holidays & seasons, history, language arts, math, Spanish, and special education. In addition to the previously mentioned categories there is also an “Upload” tab for teachers signed up for the site, meaning videos from all over the country could be featured.
As a 6th grade physical education teacher, I was able to locate the corresponding tab without trouble. In this category there was a written overview of the importance of physical education and health in schools as well as suggested games, activities, and moral lessons that can be tied into unit plans. Shortly after the written description were featured videos on meditation, alcohol and the human body, and the fruit and vegetable diet. At the bottom of the page there is an option to look for additional videos. In this section about 7 more random videos were added, then a section for “Things You May like” which consisted of ads and unrelated articles. I had just about given up when I finally reached the very bottom of the page and saw addition numbers indicating there were more pages to look through.
Although I appreciate the fact that this site included a tab for physical education and health, I was disappointed in the materials being presented. The videos were not organized by category (example given: soccer, basketball, nutrition, goal setting). Instead they were seemingly all unsystematically placed into this category. If the educator conducting the search has a little more time on their hands there is a handy “Search” bar at the top of the page. I found the results of an easy search to be quite confusing. The first four suggested sites were for ads with different websites. The links featured after the initial four were for TeacherTube but didn’t reflect my initial search.
Overall, I feel this site has great potential to be an effective resource for educators. I do believe the execution of the site could be much better. A more organized, less ad-focused site would benefit educators far more than looking through videos hoping one will be relevant to what you are teaching. Again, the search bar could be used and with luck you may just find exactly what you’re looking for. With that being said, I would recommend TeacherTube to be used during school breaks because it may take longer to find what you are looking for.
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