Issue 9, Volume 12 October 13, 2011     Thought for the Week Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke. -- Benjamin Disraeli   Remember... October is National Bullying Awareness Month Empower students to stop bullying in its tracks with Verizon Thinkfinity lessons, videos and activities designed to help address both in-school and online bullying. Don't wait another minute. Learn more today. Bullying is prevalent in schools and society as a whole and can negatively impact students and their success at school. Help stop bullying by helping students understand how to quickly identify bullying and by giving them the tools to properly respond. Through a network of partners like Common Sense Media, you will find resources on Thinkfinity.org that address not only in-school bullying but also online bullying as well. http://www.thinkfinity.org/anti-bullying Nominate Outstanding Professionals for 2011 LACUE Awards Do you have an educator who uses technology in an innovative way? Then, you need to nominate them for one of the LACUE (Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators) Awards to be given out at the LACUE Conference in November of this year. Calcasieu Parish has numerous educators who should be recognized for outstanding innovative technology integration. Nominate your educator today! Award nominations must be submitted via email to lacueawards@gmail.com by October 21, 2011! You can download the nomination applications for either award at http://www.lacue.org/awards.htm. 2011 LACUE Award: Each nominee should be an educator who is using computer-based technology in an innovative fashion. The first four awards will be given to educators who have made their contributions in a classroom setting. Award five will be given to a person in a non-classroom setting (including state administrators). Award six will be given to the most outstanding nominee, regardless of their level of instruction. Award seven will be given to an outstanding volunteer, parent, or student who significantly contributes to a school’s technology program.   These outstanding professionals can be nominated in the following classifications: 1. Elementary Teacher of the Year (K-6) 2. Middle/Junior High Teacher of the Year (6-9) 3. Secondary Teacher of the Year (9-12) 4. Post Secondary Teacher of the Year 5. Leader of the Year (Non-classroom Personnel) 6. Educator of the Year (Overall winner from each region) 7. Special Person of the Year   Making IT Happen Award: This is a new LACUE award, given in conjunction with the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), that will be given out for the entire state. Making IT Happen is an internationally recognized awards program for educators and leaders in the field of educational technology integration in K–12 schools. The program identifies and rewards educational technology leaders around the world for their commitment and innovation. Each nominee should be someone who is using computer-based technology in an innovative fashion. The first four awards will be given to educators who have made their contributions in a classroom setting. Award five will be given to a person in a non-classroom setting (including state administrators). Award six will be given to the most outstanding nominee regardless of their level of instruction. Award seven will be given to an outstanding volunteer, parent, or student who significantly contributes to a school’s technology program. A state award winner will be named from each of the seven categories:    Teacher of the Year Award (Elementary, Middle, and High)   Special Person Award   Leader of the Year Award   Higher Ed Award   Making IT Happen Award Nominations for both awards will be accepted from teachers, students, administration, parents, etc. The awards program is open to all educators associated with private, public, and parochial schools located within the state of Louisiana. These individuals will be recognized at the opening session on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at the LACUE conference. Nominate your outstanding educator for LACUE today using the online nomination form. Regional winners will be selected in each category. Regional LACUE winners will be notified no later than November 7, 2011. Complete details are available on the LACUE web site at http://www.lacue.org. Don't procrastinate! Remember the deadline for nominations is October 21, 2011! 2011 LACUE Student Video Contest - Deadline to Register - October 15th! Please take a look and consider submitting a video for this LACUE Student Video Contest…last year CPSB had a couple of winners….this year we could have many more…..you have the students with the talent and the brains to win….$200 for your kids and your classroom! The October 15 deadline is only the date to submit the SHORT application….you don’t have to submit the video until November 9….YOU can do it! This year’s LACUE Conference is slated for November 28 – 30, 2011 in New Orleans. LACUE is once again sponsoring the video contest because it has been so successful! The deadline to register to participate is October 15th, and the deadline to submit a video is November 9, 2011. Details for this year are available on the LACUE website at www.lacue.org. Please take some time to review the details and consider planning to get your students involved. Awards will be given for Pre-K through 12th Grade teams with the same three theme options; Academic, Artistic, & Social Civic. Register to enter your video NOW!!! Each winning team will be awarded a $200.00 prize to the teacher sponsor of the team. ISTE Classroom Observation Tool The ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT®) is a FREE online tool that provides a set of questions to guide classroom observations of a number of key components of technology integration. The ICOT can be used by individuals, teams, or groups to document the development of a project, how technology is being used at a site, or for documentation of a variety of uses of technology in selected classrooms. http://icot.iste.org/icot/index.php Watch ActivTips on Your Portable Device Did you know you could watch Promethean ActivTips on your iPod or iPad? Promethean ActivTips feature best practices for ActivClassroom users looking to integrate Promethean technology into everyday classroom activities. The podcasts are specifically designed to demonstrate effective teaching strategies in various curriculum areas through the use of Promethean software and teaching tools. The tips are usually 2-5 minutes in length and, best of all, you can pause and practice while you watch.   1. Open up iTunes. 2. Type ActivTips in the search bar. 3. Click on Promethean Planet- ActivTips. 4. Tap on the name of the episode that you wish to preview or click on Free to download it to your device. 5.  Then click on Get Episode. 6. It will then download to your iTunes library. Utilizing Comments in Excel In Microsoft Excel you have the ability to create comments in each of the cells. Comments enable a user to get additional information about the cell such as what the value represents. Here is additional information about creating and editing a comment in Microsoft Excel. To create a comment: Select the cell to which you wish to add a comment; any single cell can contain a comment. Right-click on the cell and select Insert Comment. Type in the comment and then close the comment by clicking the mouse somewhere else in the spreadsheet. You can quickly identify what cells have comments in them by looking for a red arrow head in the top right of the cell. When you identify a cell with a comment you wish to view, move the mouse over the cell. This pops up the comment bubble. To View, Hide, Edit or Delete comments right click on the cell, then you may choose your desired option. Best on the Net!! -- Visit this site for hundreds of websites for teachers! We would love to hear from you about the best educational sites you have found on the web. Please submit, via email, the sites you feel merit inclusion. Send to tech.connect@cpsb.org. Please include the URL and a short sentence about the site.  Featured Sites: (These sites were submitted by teachers in Calcasieu Parish) Digital Literacy Tour http://www.google.com/educators/digitalliteracy.html Google offers these multiple resources for educators to help guide students in staying safe online. Three workshops include instructors' guidebooks and student handouts, as well as presentations.   Math and Spreadsheets http://teach.fcps.net/trt10/spreadsheets.htm From how much your students would weigh on Mars to probability or creating a scale model of the solar system, try some of these spreadsheet applications with your students.   Fraction Concentration http://www.theproblemsite.com/games/fraction_concentration.asp All of the matching cards in this interactive math game have equivalent fraction counterparts. Students will play against the computer to test their fraction powers.   An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department For Technical Support:  help.cpsb.org Calcasieu Parish Homepage  Technology Department  Tech Help Site  Best on the Net Tech Guides  Computer Purchasing Information  Tech Connect Archive