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Poetry On YouTube

I spent a significant amount of time yesterday looking for performance poetry that was school appropriate - sadly, just when I thought I'd found a really good one, out would fly some word that I can't use in class. It did, however, make the Taylor Mali's "Whatever" a little more meaningful... the whole lack of vocabulary thing.

Taylor Mali - Whatever
Taylor Mali - What Teachers Make (cleaner - does have lower level swearing)
Nayeli Knutson, Priceless
employeed poor ( includes the word shit)
Billy Collins - Forgetfullness (Animated Poetry)
Billy Collins - Now and Then (Animated Poetry)

I don't know if I'll be able to use any of these in class. Novemeber's storm wiped all the categories in our filtering system. In the restoration process, the filtering system software company informed our technology people that NO other schools had as much openness as we do. I immediately pointed out that their pool of information came from their own clients... but this whole idea of blocking out the world via the internet is extremely enticing for our administration. Not because students might stumble upon something nefarious (which they can do with ease anyways), but rather because it's cheaper and requires less staff members to watch everyone to make sure there's no porn surfing at school. As we were told last year, it's not about the people, it's about the money.

I hope it's resolved by next week, but I'm making alternate plans.
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Comments

Mr. B-G said…
Do you know you can download the FLV player, then use Firefox's Download Helper program to download and save YouTube videos on your computer?

If school blocks the sites, you can download the videos at home, save on a USB drive, and play them on your computer at school.
10:51 AM
Mr. B-G said…
Favorite Poem Project also has some great videos of students, regular Joes and Janes, and even former President Clinton reading poetry! Check out their site.
10:52 AM
Jenna said…
I've tried several options in "saving" youtube videos... all resulted in long hours wasted for what amounts to a minute of the lesson plan.

I don't have the time to do that and still have a life, so the student will have to do without if I don't get access.
8:59 PM
Cours d'Espagnol en Amérique Latine et ailleurs said…
Very interesting blog.
And design is nice.
I'm a teacher too.
Best wishes from Buenos Aires.
Silvina.
Spanish Teacher.
Argentina.
8:32 AM
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