I never thought I’d see this in grade school
I've grown accustomed to seeing computers in school now. Even in elementary schools. Kids these days just "get" computers. They don't even see them as a challenge. It's just second nature to them.
But here's one I didn't see coming. My first-grade son came home from school yesterday and started telling me about Benny Goodman. When I asked him where he learned about Benny Goodman he told me he saw him on YouTube.
Did you just say YouTube?
I actually had to ask my son if he really just said YouTube. He did. In fact, my son asked me if he could go on the computer to show me the YouTube video he watched in school.
This one was a little tricky for me. I have no problem letting my kids use the computer and even go on a few web sites on their own. But the web sites I let them visit are sites like Webkinz and Playhouse Disney. Not YouTube. Although YouTube has rules in place about what content they do and do not allow, one mistyped search can get you into some troubled waters pretty quick.
Only if Dad is driving
But since I encourage my children to embrace technology (they really don't have much of a choice living with me), I told my son that he could show me the YouTube video but only if he let me do all of the navigating on the computer. Luckily, he was perfect ok with this.
So on to YouTube we went where I did a quick search for Benny Goodman. My son immediately recognized the video in the search results and gave me a resounding, "click that one!"
If you're feeling nastalgic and have a couple minutes to burn, here's the Benny Goodman video, dating back to 1937:
If you are not reading this on the Noobie web site, use this direct link to the video: Benny Goodman - Medley (1937).
12 comments for this blog post so far...
February 28, 2009 at 5:50 am
Dan Wheeler
Looks like Gene Krupa on the drums.
March 01, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Marla
P., a few months ago our son brought home some math that he had lousy notes on and for the life of me I couldnt remember the key to the method. I made several phone calls and still on help Finally while he was trying to work it out I Googled the exact dialog of the problem and viola - results. I hit the first two sites they didnt really help, it just showed some examples, the third search result was a youtube.com things, I hit this and a teacher popped up talking us through this exact problem logic in just a few seconds our son heard the key words (and so did I) that unlocked the method for us. I then did a seach on this guys name and had almost a 100 videos related to math, of course I saved this info, and it has helped us a few other times. I left him comments each time for taking the time to do this.
March 01, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Marla
P. Our 13 yr old’s computer with internet connection is in the family room positioned so I can see the screen even when i’m watching t.v. He’s never allowed to go to youtube by himself and to date he doesnt know that I can check his history, he’s 23 year old brother didnt even think his Mom was that smart and got caught on some sites I dont approve of. I never said a thing, I just added a password and renamed the screen to “ask yourself, could you show your Sunday School teacher, and your favorite Aunt the sites you’ve been on?” I’ve always told them to let that lead their moral compass.
March 03, 2009 at 9:09 am
Christina W.
um. So, You Tube is acceptable school curriculum now? We had one of the first school-computer labs way back when I was in 1st grade. It was a BIG deal. When the world wide web came along, there were strict rules about how you absolutely positively could not in no way EVER access it from school. (For reference, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 1.0 was introduced to the world the summer before my senior year.) Now you are telling me that not only is internet-access part of the educational process (which in and of itself isn’t a problem) but YouTube? I watch people blow things up and snarky product reviews and 90’s music videos and 80’s sitcom theme songs on YouTube. (Admittedly, this entire comment just dated me.) As a an educational gateway, though...Maybe I really am getting old.
March 03, 2009 at 9:25 am
Patric Welch
@Dan: Your dating me on that one!
March 03, 2009 at 9:27 am
Patric Welch
@Marla:There are definitely some very educational videos on YouTube but like you discovered there are plenty of *other* ones as well. That’s why I made sure I sat with my son and didn’t let him roam around on YouTube. And even then, I worried about the “recommended” videos that pop-up next to the one you’re watching.
March 03, 2009 at 9:29 am
Patric Welch
@Christina: If you’re old, what am I? The Internet didn’t even exist (at least to the public) when I was in high school.
I’m hoping that the schools use the YouTube videos as a presentation only. I would definitely be upset if I found out they cut kids loose on YouTube.
March 03, 2009 at 10:33 am
katy
It’s not just youtube, On rainy days when the teacher had to find something to fill the time, they show PG13 movies to elem kids that I think are not appropriate.
Without Youtube, our kids would never even hear of Benny Goodman, much less watch him...a good cultural history lesson!
March 03, 2009 at 10:37 am
Patric Welch
@Katy: Good point. Like you said, without YouTube, our kids would still be looking at 1970s film strips with still shots of Benny Goodman!
Video makes education fun.
March 03, 2009 at 11:30 am
Christina W.
@Katy: On rainy days in junior high we invariably watched “Field of Dreams”! (Talk about educational video, lol)
March 03, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Becky
Hey Patric - Wow I never knew these things existed on YouTube. I must be old too as there was no such thing as the Internet when I was in high school. You really got my attention when you wrote Benny Goodman. Being a clarinet player and also loving jazz I watched more than just the Benny Goodman video. Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” is by far my favorite jazz and dance piece. Thank you for sharing! I have found a whole new world.
March 05, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Patric Welch
@Becky: Glad you enjoyed the blog post. You’ll have to keep me posted what other great videos you stumble upon.
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