Is YouTube being used in a lot of classrooms by educators regularly now?

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who started working at an Arlington elementary school this fall. She says in every classroom she has been in with the except of art, teachers are using YouTube at every imaginable opportunity, from modeling diagraphs in spelling, to showing addition of manipulatives in math, to movement breaks (that one is understandable), to reading aloud times (instead of reading to the children the teacher puts on a video of someone else reading.

I'm curious if other parents have a handle on the degree to which this is happening in your kids' schools and if it happening a lot, how you are thinking about it. I'm asking because it sounds concerning to me, but like something that likely got traction during the online learning era and never stopped. I'm curious if this is a one-off in a particular school culture or pretty widespread now.

[Anonymous]

Yes, in my kids FCPS elem school. I realize this board is not for FCPS. But helpful to compare.
3rd grade AAP teacher also showed those garbage “satisfying” videos like soap scraping to keep the kids quiet. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

It's happening everywhere and as a teacher it disturbs me so much. I don't see any training reminding teachers of how to vet a source, when to use it, why, etc. It's a free-for-all with technology. I use brief clips to show something I can't--what a wolf howl sounds like, how an octopus shoots ink, a quick video about an important Virginian when there are no books suitable, etc. But 20 years ago I was taught "no video longer than 5 minutes, and it must have a purpose."

The read aloud videos rally grate on me. Our schools have great libraries and interlibrary loan systems. There's no reason to use a video, which is so much less engaging and instructive.

[Anonymous]

Huge class sizes and kids can’t be separated by ability. Teachers have an impossible task now. Line up for your bit of government cheese.

[Anonymous]

I actually use videos less now than I used to. Fifteen years ago kids had the attention spans to watch a full documentary, but the TikTok generation can only pay attention to a video for 2-3 minutes max before they loose focus.

[Anonymous]

Not a teacher in VA, but I also use it less than ever except for videos the curriculum requires and links to. I’ve used it to show a lot of space videos (Mars rover, models of rotation, star “movement” etc). Things that do need a visual. Maybe occasionally a song? I do use some of the timers that play calming music behind it just because it’s there and we can’t otherwise stream music, but that’s maybe once a day. I’ve never show ASMR videos and only know one (terrible) non-classroom teacher who ever did.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher and I use it all the time. It’s the easiest way to get engaging, short videos for tons of things, such as video timers, read-alouds if we don’t have the book and I don’t have time for interlibrary loan (or a trip to the public library on my own time), and content specifically tailored to our state standards. All of which I vet carefully beforehand.

[Anonymous]

OP here, sorry for misspelling digraph. More sorry for the kids who are being told to "pay attention to the video" when it's not holding their attention or effectively teaching them math.

It's good to hear from teachers who have found thoughtful, effective applications, it's helpful to hear about what does work well.

[Anonymous]

My kid's teacher puts on ASMR vids on YT when they are doing work. DD finds them annoying, ha! But luckily the kids also have the option of wearing headphones when doing solo work to focus so DD does that.

[Anonymous]

At my elementary school 35 years ago, there were maybe 2-3 tvs and they traveled the school on a rolling cart. Tv was rare- like I remember one teacher reserved it to show a major current event that was televised on the news.

There was something to be said for the good old days...

Sorry I know this is not responsive to OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's happening everywhere and as a teacher it disturbs me so much. I don't see any training reminding teachers of how to vet a source, when to use it, why, etc. It's a free-for-all with technology. I use brief clips to show something I can't--what a wolf howl sounds like, how an octopus shoots ink, a quick video about an important Virginian when there are no books suitable, etc. But 20 years ago I was taught "no video longer than 5 minutes, and it must have a purpose."

The read aloud videos rally grate on me. Our schools have great libraries and interlibrary loan systems. There's no reason to use a video, which is so much less engaging and instructive.

+1 million. Plus all the research on how reading aloud builds connection between the reader and the listener. We spend all this time on talking about classroom community and let YouTube kill one great way it can be built.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my elementary school 35 years ago, there were maybe 2-3 tvs and they traveled the school on a rolling cart. Tv was rare- like I remember one teacher reserved it to show a major current event that was televised on the news.

There was something to be said for the good old days...

Sorry I know this is not responsive to OP.

OP here, no need to apologize! I'm an elder millennial (fancy way to say almost 40, hah!) with kids on the brink of elementary school so I am trying to learn what is going on now. I ask myself what is just nostalgia for the days when the tech wasn't available and what is legitimately problematic, just like the previous poster mentioned about teachers losing the chance to build relationship by not doing the reading themselves. It's such a a tough job, though, I bet it's hard to pass up any little break you see available. Again, thankful for the teachers who know how to use technology and when. We can learn from their insight here.

[Anonymous]

Well, I don't teach elementary, I teach med students physical exam, but I used a YouTube video in my class this week.