Key Strategies for an Epic Win: Using YouTube in Your Classroom!

Open, open, open… remember the commercial where the shopper stands at the front of the store with her nose pressed to the window? Like the woman in the commercial, many of us are very excited about having access to YouTube at school.So, when it's open will you be ready? Can you navigate YouTube?

Getting Started:

• Create an account. When you create an account, you can save and organize videos using playlists. 
• How to create a playlist
• Using favorites and the “watch later” feature
• Preview before you hit play. Always, always, always preview videos before using them in your lessons. 
• Download videos for offline viewing. For Curriculum Night, evaluations, and other important presentations always download the video just in case there are network issues.
• One method for downloading videos can be found here.

A Few Advanced Tips:

• Annotate your videos. (ones you upload) Directions. 
• Add Captions. Directions
• Edit videos using the YouTube Video Editor. With the editor you can combine multiple videos, add music and transitions, or trim the video to the most important part of the video. Directions

Some Classroom Applications:

• Flip your class using YouTube’s web cam feature. Here’s my test video and directions.
• Testing, testing...
• Directions
• Create playlists for reviews and tutorials. You don’t have to create everything. Use existing videos from Smithsonian, PBS, Khan Academy, etc.

For more ideas, check out The Teacher’s Guide To Using YouTube In The Classroom.

Grow Your Professional Learning Network:

• You can follow channels just as you follow colleagues on twitter.
• The 10 Most Important Educational YouTube Channels For Teachers


• Explore YouTube channels created just for educators.
• YouTube for Teachers
• YouTube for Schools
• YouTube for Education

How will you use YouTube in your classroom? Post your comments and ideas. We’d love to hear from you.