Methods for Projecting YouTube Videos Without "Related" Videos

Methods for Projecting YouTube Videos Without "Related" Videos

The righthand margin on YouTube can be a laden with "related" videos that you don't want to display to students when you use a YouTube video in your classroom. Hare are some tools you can use to display YouTube videos without displaying the sidebar advertisements and related videos.

View Pure is a simple little tool that strips way all of the distractions of related videos, comments, and promoted videos. To use View Pure just copy the link of a video into the "purifier," click purify, and your video will be displayed on a blank white background. You can also install the View Pure bookmarklet to accomplish the same goal.

Quietube is a handy little browser extension that removes all the clutter from YouTube allowing you to view only your selected video. Quietube removes all advertising, sidebar content, comments, and ratings. Installing Quietube requires nothing more than dragging the Quietube button to your toolbard. Then anytime that you're on YouTube click the Quietube button to remove all of the clutter and just watch your selected video. Quietube works for Viddler and Vimeo videos too.

SafeShare.tv makes it possible to view YouTube videos without displaying the related videos and associated comments. To use SafeShare.tv simply copy the url of a YouTube video and paste it into SafeShare.tv. SafeShare also offers browser bookmarklet that eliminates the need to copy and paste links.

VideoNotes is a neat tool for taking notes while watching videos. VideoNotes allows you to load any YouTube video on the left side of your screen and on the right side of the screen VideoNotes gives you a notepad to type on. VideoNotes integrates with your Google Drive account. By integrating with Google Drive VideoNotes allows you to share your notes and collaborate on your notes just as you can do with a Google Document.

From http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2014/04/methods-for-projecting-youtube-videos.html#.U2BRHOhX-uY

I’m dreaming of this headline: Sticker Sales Plummet: Teachers Say Rewarding Curiosity Is More Powerful than Gold Stars

Making the Most of Kids’ “Why?” Phase

by Lisa Hansel
April 16th, 2014

“If you finish your peas, I’ll tell you why the sky is blue.”

“If you put your toys in the bin, I’ll explain why kangaroos have pouches.”

“If you brush your teeth, I’ll tell you why some Native Americans used to move frequently instead of building permanent homes.”

Win-win. Sounds too great to be true—but it might not be. A recent study finds that young children will voluntarily do a boring task if they are rewarded with “causally rich knowledge.”

Perhaps this should not come as a surprise. Young children are delightfully infamous for asking why over and over. Long ago, a walk along a river bank with one of my nieces became downright existential within 20 minutes. The sun, the moon, the water, the frogs, the people—why do they shine, sparkle, jump, talk … why are we all here…. I answered as best I could, took mental notes on books to buy, picked one topic to research together when we got home, and suggested we make dandelion bracelets.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Even if you’re not surprised by the main finding, this study is still worth a quick read. Why? (Sorry, couldn’t resist that.) Because the researchers tease out exactly what is motivating the three- and four-year-olds to persist with the boring task (putting 25 pegs in a peg board). The four conditions tested—no reward, stickers, causally rich information, and causally weak information—offer some interesting nuances. Stickers worked, of course, but not as well as you might guess. Being rewarded with causally rich knowledge was the only condition that significantly increased children’s persistence. (I’m dreaming of this headline: Sticker Sales Plummet: Teachers Say Rewarding Curiosity Is More Powerful than Gold Stars.)

Strikingly, causally weak information had no effect—the results were the same as in the no reward condition. Motivation came specifically from being told why—not merely being told that. To ensure that causal richness was the only distinguishing factor in the two knowledge conditions, the researchers created images of several animals and artifacts to show to the children and then carefully crafted descriptions. Here are two of the items invented for the study:

Do you want to read the rest.  Click here. 

Join Frank's Virtual PLC w/GANAG

Have you heard about this?  I know many Waterford Graded School District Teachers who might enjoy this PLC or creating your own!

Take a look at Frank's website called PLC and GANAG:  http://virtualplcganag.wordpress.com/

 In addition to a great website for his Art classes at Waterford High School (http://korbartwuhs.wordpress.com/) in Wisconsin, Frank also has a virtual PLC for GANAG.

New Google Apps Launcher is Customizable

Well, Google has done it again!  They have come through on a feature for which I have been waiting patiently....or not so patiently.  You can now edit the apps launcher, which many people have nicknamed the "waffle" that appears in the upper right hand corner of the screen when you are in a Google app.  This means you can put the ones you use most at the top. 

Take me for example.  I use Gmail, Calendar, Blogger, Sites, Drive and Groups the most.  I can now make sure they are at the top of the list.  All you have to do is drag and drop the ones you want at the top.  If there is an app that does not show on the More list, it is still simple to add them.  First, go to the app and then click on the app launcher (waffle grid).  At the bottom will be a shortcut to the app and a question asking if you would like to add it to your grid.  How easy is that?

I can arrange my apps in my personal Google account, but can't do that in my school district Google account.  I searched several times trying to find out if it is going to be released for school district accounts as well.  I will keep you posted on what I find.  Please post to the comments if you know the answer to that question.

For more information and more detailed directions, check out the Google support information page on how to switch between products. Scroll down to the section on how to "customize your menu".