Web Tools and Teaching

I found this video posted on the facebook page of the "Librarians and Web 2.0" group. I thought it was interesting and worth sharing further. I have mixed feelings about teaching students only how to do things that are interesting or fun or comfortable. However, I also have issues with doing ONLY things that they find boring or hard or difficult. As a school librarian and teacher, I find that I have to work to find an appropriate balance to make work interesting and challenging without making it only fun or too difficult.

Thing 18 -- You Tube

A teacher at my school discovered this song explanation to help her math students learn the differences between mean, median, and mode. It was frighteningly effective. I heard fifth graders walking around singing it for days after she showed it to them. It really makes clear what sort of learners our students are!

I guess that experience made clear that You Tube could be helpful. I just find that as a teacher I have to moderate between the students and the site, since there is also much that I would prefer they didn't find.