The impacts of Youtube have been huge in the past few years. This video-sharing website is filled with online tutorials, music videos, inspirational speeches, sermons, news broadcasts, pranks, funny homemade videos (typically of kids or animals)... and much, much more. Anything you want to watch is likely found on Youtube. It has become an extremely popular website making it hard to imagine the days that it did not exist.
Although this website can very quickly become the perfect way to waste time on a Sunday afternoon, it can also be used as a wonderful educational tool in the classroom. As a result of the wide number of videos found on youtube, the chances of finding something applicable to a unit or class discussion are quite high. Videos can be used in a variety of settings and for a number of different reasons. They can provide a building block for a class discussion, reinforce something already taught, increase engagement, relieve student stress, act as a visual aid, or be the basis of many projects.
As a future music educator I envision myself using Youtube in many ways, but most specifically for listening activities. Teaching my students to become active, engaged and analytical listeners is very important to me. Youtube contains a wide range of musical abilities. One way in which I could use this to my advantage is by asking students to listen to 3 different recordings/videos of the same piece. One by a professional ensemble, one by a good band and another by a beginner band. Students will then be asked to reflect on what they heard: Which video was most enjoyable to listen to? Why? What made one ensemble more advanced than the other ensembles? How do you hear our ensemble in comparison to the videos you just watched?
Youtube videos are endless and so are the ways in which they can be used in a classroom! Get creative and bring some youtube joy into your class!
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