Wednesday, August 19, 2009

YouTube and TeacherTube

YouTube is an interactive website where participants can upload their own videos for public viewing or download others' videos for a variety of reasons. YouTube has grown dramatically over the years, and can deliver clips relating to almost every possible known topic.

Not only is YouTube a source of entertainment for children and adults alike, it also provides a foundation to learning and a gateway to all subject area units.

Since the creation of YouTube, many sister sites have evolved, including TeacherTube. Here, educators will find a massive range of instructional videos, that both engage and teach their students.

The above video I located on YouTube, under the section of Education. This video would assist prep and grade 1 students with the recognition of the alphabet, using catchy tunes and bright, bubbly cartoon characters. It is something that the Learning Manager could play regularly in the classroom.

It is well understood that rote learning is an age old teaching technique, and not one that is looked upon favourably in today's practice. However, there are many tasks that require the process of practice and repetition to gain mastery. It is almost impossible for mere human beings to learn something once and become and expert at it. "The use of various forms of repetition, forms the bedrock of virtually all memory." (Verfaellie; Rajaram; Fossum & Williams, 2008).

Regards,

Erin.

Sources:

Verfaellie, M.; Rajaram, S.; Fossum, K. & Williams, L. (2008). Not all repetition is alike: Different benefits of repetition in amnesia and normal memory. J Int Neuropsychol Soc. [Electronic resource] (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2396955). Retrieved 18 August 2009.

1 comment:

  1. I loved the clip, very catchy!I'm with you on the rote learning. The good thing about this clip is not only are the students singing and saying the letters they also have the letter displayed on the screen, which I beleive is great for letter recognitiion. With a background in child care I always hear "My child Knows their ABC's" and more often than not the child just knows the song and has no letter recgonition. Your idea would be a great way for educators to over come this.

    Thanks for your insights
    Antoinette.

    ReplyDelete