Thing 12 - Discovering YouTube

I have come to really appreciate YouTube throughout this Masters Program as I have used it quite often in previous activities and projects.  I think I was somewhat aware of YouTube, but I did not quite realize all of the videos that are available and the various applications of these videos both professionally and personally.  I also have run into more resources to use in the classroom, which up until about a month ago, we were unable to access at school.  Now that our district is allowing teachers to access and use content form YouTube, I am finding a lot of really interesting and engaging material that otherwise would not be available to me.  I chose the following clip because in second grade, we have several historical figures that we are required to teach the kids which are not in our textbooks, nor do we have readily available materials.  The Navajo Code Talkers were some of these citizens.  I was amazed at how much the children truly enjoyed watching it, and they requested several times to watch it again.

I think one of the challenges I find in using YouTube, however, is when I do search for certain topics, I get a lot of "hits", however, many of them are unusable or inappropriate.  I wish there was a more specific or detailed search that might make it easier to filter out certain videos or find what I am specifically looking for more quickly.