Welcome back to the last post in The Power of Music “mini-series.”  When I started writing I had no intention of doing a mini-series but I also did not want to overwhelm you with too much information in one post.  So it is what it is.

Today I want to show you three tools that will allow you to use all these amazing songs and videos in your classroom.  Obviously the Internet is filled with songs and videos.  As teachers there has to be a way to get this into our classrooms.  If you are able to access sites like You Tube through your district server  and you don’t have any streaming video limitations then going straight to the source is the easiest way.  Although its still not my favorite way because of all the ads that show up which I have no control over.  Just picture a perfectly appropriate video that is accompanied by a classroom inappropriate lead-in video ad or a classroom inappropriate picture ad on the sidebar.  I will tell you that there are times when I have used a video/song straight from You Tube.  If a lead-in ad video is shown I always mute the volume and then I always play the video in full screen to eliminate the side ads.

The first tool I’d like to tell you about is a website called KeepVid.  I decided to try my hand at video tutorials because I thought this was the easiest way to show you how to download videos from You Tube.

Easy Peasy!  If you give it a try, let me know!

The next tool I’d like to tell you about is just as easy as KeepVid.  I actually learned about this tool at the I Teach K conference by Matt Gomez.  This tool is a website called SafeShare.tv and it allows you to pull up a YouTube video without all the extra “junk” that shows up on the YouTube website.  Check out this little how to on SafeShare.tv.

See – I told you it was easy to use!  What I like about SafeShare.TV is that I can show a video from YouTube even if I didn’t download it first.  I know, its hard to believe, but sometimes I just don’t everything done before the school day starts.  This is perfect for those occasions!

OK – I have one last tool to help you safely use YouTube in your classroom.  This website, ListenToYouTube.com is a little different than the first two.  This site allows you to download the audio (no video) from any YouTube listing.  This website takes the audio from a You Tube video and converts into mp3 audio format.  Click below to find out just how easy it is to use!

So there you have it – three easy ways to safely use You Tube in your classroom.  Thanks for sitting through my first attempts at video tutorials.  I hope it wasn’t too terribly bad.

I’d love to know your thoughts on any of these sites, or ways you safely use You Tube in your classroom.