Why I Started A YouTube Channel for My Classroom | Why You Should Too

There's nothing that makes me feel old like talking about when I started teaching, and in this case, when I started my teacher YouTube channel as a second year teacher.

But why?  Why would I do that as a second year teacher?  Why would I put myself and my teaching out there for the whole world to see?  What's the purpose?  And what happened when I did.

These are all questions I'm answering in this week's YouTube Video, "Why I Started a YouTube Channel for My Classroom | Why You Should Too".

1. I flipped my classroom - simple as that.  By why did I do that?
1. Needed to not be the only person in the room with the answer - maybe having the video accessible would empower them to find the answer for themselves in a way that they felt compelled to use
2. I needed more classroom time - simple as that - to do the things that lit me up and lit up my students, sometimes, for the most part.
3. Now, some people are going to comment below and say things like “flipping is the easy way out” or “it’s for lazy teachers”... and I’m here to say that all those who believe this are dead wrong, and haven’t seen the impact of a successful flipped classroom.  Is it for everyone - no, yes, maybe. Could it be a lazy person’s way out of teaching their class - absolutely, just like showing sitcoms or movies all day can, but flipping is not the problem in those cases.
2. But why did I choose YouTube as the platform
1. My students had access at our school
2. My students were already there - that’s where they went to learn how to get to the next level on their video game, learn to play the guitar, and so many more things.
3. Easiest to embed on my website - google sites, using anything Google… well, sorry to break it to you but YouTube is Google and they works great together
3. What I didn’t know would happen and is a reason you should start a Teacher YouTube Channel as well… all the other teachers and students who benefited from my content, style of teaching, etc. across the world!
4. Story time… after 5 years of flipping and videos on YouTube, and almost 1 million views, I realized that my YouTube channel could have been monetized, but because I used my school gmail account to create the YouTube channel I was not legally allowed (or physically able) to monetize the channel.
1. And that’s when I spent hours upon hours transferring my existing videos and working to remake most of them anyway.
2. So - not just a why in this video but a what NOT to do in this case.. You’re welcome.
5. Lastly, the barrier to start was next to non-existent.  Make your video, follow the super easy prompts to upload it to youtube, and you’re live!
1. Now some may be asking, well what did you use to make your vidoes - like record, edit, produce to mp4, etc.???  Great question and I’m excited to answer… I’ve only ever used one tool since I started flipping my classroom back in 2011, and that’s because it is so easy to use from day ONE, and yet has some really fun and educational advantageous tools inside when you’re ready to explore and learn about them - but even if you never use those, the basic tools are so great and easy for newbies to video creation.  Teacher discount, plus my discount!
6. Closing
1. Thank you
2. Here’s the plan - I’ve got the plan created where I will push out a YT video each Sunday, and a podcast episode on Tuesdays (which I was doing for over a year straight and then fell off the band wagon… which I actually explain in the episode coming out this week, so go check that out) so if you want to see those, be sure to subscribe :) easy peasy lemon squeezy
3. Come see me on the gram, and I’ll see you here next time!

To get the support you deserve when flipping your classroom so you can be effective with students WHILE having a personal life, check out my online course (and earn grad credit for the work you'll do for your classroom) Flipped Classroom Formula™.  It's a self-paced, 6 module course that hundreds of teachers have used to flip their classroom in a matter of hours, saving their evenings and weekends for their personal lives instead of more work.  You don't want to miss this opportunity so check out the course now.