CrashCourse... the BEST Channel on YouTube!

"Don't forget to be awesome." - John Green CrashCourse on YouTube I stumbled upon CrashCourse last year during my summer planning.  I had a grand plan to "flip" my classroom and needed videos for my kids to watch.  (While I haven't totally given up on "flipping", but I didn't do it right enough, and my middle school students didn't have the technology tools / parent support, so the excuses got to me and I went back to a format I'm more comfortable with.  Will I try it again? Yes.  Will I make it my 1st nine weeks technology goal?  No.) Anyways, if you teach high school or collegiate courses (and perhaps late middle school - read more to see why), you should definitely WATCH this channel (and maybe even use it in class)!  John & Hank Green teach a plethora of courses through 9-12 minute videos that are numbered in each course topic and sorted into playlists ways that make a LOT of sense.  Currently their channel includes these playlists: CrashCourse Playlists (a.k.a. Courses) I say late middle school because they do tend to be VERY sarcastic, occasionally drop in an H-E-double hockey sticks, and use sex as an attention grabber.  There is nothing graphic, I mean, calling a Carbon atom a sexy minx doesn't not make me fear for my public education job.  However, (as with EVERY VIDEO YOU PLAN TO SHOW IN CLASS), definitely preview the video so that you feel comfortable in case you have an administrator or peer evaluator pop in unannounced for your "walk-through" evaluation during the middle of the showing. I started off last school year with a "flipped" homework assignment of watching this lab safety video.  (It is already linked to my Week 1 Agenda on Student Space.)  This is by far the most entertaining lab safety video I've ever watched, and the kids loved the ending.  (They wanted me to recreate the ending in class, I said no.)  But I did have them do a Lab Safety One Pager in their Interactive Notebooks as a response, and many drew lab showers, imagine that.  (I'll be posting about Interactive Notebooks and One Pagers in the coming days.) CrashCourse: Lab Safety I'm currently watching all of the Biology course, since I'll be teaching Biology this year.  I'm liking the idea of assigning these for homework, using them as a reteach method, maybe as whole class instruction with discussion following, or as part of my technology station... there is a LOT I can do with it.   I think that if I DO assign them for homework, I will imbed the video into a post like this... the comments can get a little racy on YouTube.  Now I know that I can't shield my kids from everything, but, I don't really want to assign them to sit in front of uncensored comments.  That would be irresponsible. Brush up, learn something new, use it as another vehicle of learning, what will you do with CrashCourse this school year?  Leave a note in the comments.