Memo to Administration

MEMO

To: Ed M. Straightor

Ref: Proposal for TeacherTube.com at Supercool High School

From: J. Scott Spinetto

____________________________________________________

I am seeking your approval for trial use of TeacherTube.com for the Math Department teachers here at Supercool High (no student access). The tool is free and would only require an IT adjustment to our network to allow teachers access to this site on campus (currently blocked under video website restrictions in place). I personally would lead the trial, manage the usage within my department, and provide a full report to you after 10 weeks.


What is Teacher Tube? It's an amazing shared public web resource in the model of the dreaded YouTube, but MUCH more appropriate for our school through specifically designed, managed, and controlled content within the educational community. It's not just for videos, though. We can find best practices in videos, photos, spreadsheets, powerpoint documents, audio podcasts, and flashcards. This site even has teacher blogs and user communities organized for very specific subjects - from Spanish to Honors Geometry...and it's global, too! The tools embedded on the site make for a very efficient experience for our teachers as well. We can set up RSS feeds to keep up with the latest content without haveing to 'surf' every day, as well as mark our favorites within the site for future reference in our classrooms. As users we can rate each piece of media and see how others have rated the content. If we do come across an inappropriate posting, though, a simple note to the administrators will prompt a review and possible removal of the content.


Why should we try it? In addition to the incredible features I've noted above, there are many benefits to our teaching staff beyond the core content of the site. First of all, we already have the LCD projectors in every classroom, so the infrastructure is there for us to leverage the right content from this site to augment our current suite of teaching tools. Second, kids love this stuff!! Visual learners respond very well to these enhanced teaching lessons and relate the format to their home lives of tv, video games, and the internet. Third, the content alone on this site gives us the potential to expand our teaching capabilities well beyond the walls of our classrooms, becoming much more effective and driving our test scores up. Just check out this one example on a very different, "hip" way to introduce fractions: http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=24266&title=Mr_Duey___Fractions_Official_Video. Or this slick spreadsheet with math puzzles: http://www.teachertube.com/viewArticle.php?article_id=162&title=Algebraic_Addition_in_Excell.


Thanks in advance for your consideration. I look forward your favorable response and am prepared to carefully lead us into a more technologically integrated approach to our studies here at Supercool High.



Respectfully,

Scott