About TV on a Rolling Cart

Dear Educators,

My name is David. When I was 9 years old, I told Ms. Drake “I’m going to be a music teacher just like you someday!” Two degrees and 7 wonderful and challenging school years later, I left the profession for my health (both mental and physical - I was always getting ill around the littles!).

When I still taught, there were times where a class handoff was running late, or testing took half of my class away, or I woke up feeling ill, but getting a sub was impossible and in some cases detrimental to my students, so I would go to school in a mask instead. And just as I did, I also watched many teachers respond to the various teacher curveballs thrown at them with “emergency lesson plans”, usually involving a screen for maximum attention and minimal behavioral issues.

It wasn’t until years later that I came up with the idea for this website. I wanted to bring educators a true lifesaving resource: videos that aligned with whatever they were trying to teach today, not just a video that would hold their attention. No more showing videos that are a disservice to kids. No more feeling of guilt for a teacher doing their best.

And so, this website was born. I genuinely hope it is a valuable resource to you. Thank you for all that you do, and stay strong.

Sincerely,

David

David at nine years old, kneeling on a patterned rug over a checkers board.
David, 9
David student teaching at twenty-two, kneeling between two young students whose faces are covered by the site's television logo.
Student teaching, 22
David at eighteen with the same music teacher, eight years later.
Choir, 18
David at ten, standing with his music teacher after a choir performance.
Choir, 10
An empty elementary music room, with a large treble-clef rug in the middle of the floor.
David in his classroom during the pandemic, wearing a black face mask.
Covid-19, 29
The illustrated virtual music classroom David built for remote teaching, with a desk labelled Mr. Dingess.
the practical part

What you actually get

Every title in the library is vetted before it goes in, and arrives with a plain summary of what is really in the video, a viewer-safety note in teacher-to-teacher language, the standards it lines up with (including your own state’s codes if you tell us where you teach), a few discussion questions, and a quick work-a-long where one genuinely helps. That is the whole list. We do not write the lessons, because you already know your class.

We do not host or stream a single video. Every title lives on somebody else’s service, whether that is YouTube, PBS, a library card, or a subscription your school may already have, and we link you there. There are no accounts, no paywall and no paid tier, and there never will be. Hosting is covered by a single ad at the bottom of a page and by teachers who chip in.

More detail is on the questions page. If something is missing or broken, write in and it will land in front of a person. If the site has saved you a prep period, you can chip in on Ko-fi.