Issue 9, Volume 10 October 15, 2009     Thought for the Week Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. -- George Washington   Use Blackboard Wikis As An Administrator Tool As an administrator, why not utilize a Wiki tool to collect, capture, and assess important materials? A Wiki is a web site that allows users to add and update content on the site using their own Web browser. The term “wiki” comes from the Hawaiian phrase, “wiki wiki,” which means “super fast.” Thousands of users can actually add content to a web site on a regular basis using a wiki format. Since most of our schools already have a school Blackboard site for staff collaboration, consider using the Blackboard Wiki tool for staff members to create and edit content? Then teachers could expand its use by allowing students to create content within a classroom Blackboard site. Hurry...Register NOW Online For LACUE 2009! The 2009 LACUE (Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators) 25th Annual Conference is coming soon! You don't want to miss out on Louisiana's largest conference for educational technology! Help us celebrate the extraordinary successes of our Louisiana schools and gain valuable information on improving student achievement using technology. Register now – online registration and conference information is available at www.lacue.org. Do not delay….early registration is only $110……after October 30th, it increases to $135. Full conference fees include a complimentary LACUE membership. The pre-registration cut off date is Wednesday, November 19, 2008. If you have any questions please feel free to email Eva Smill at esmill@ebrschools.org  – LACUE Conference Chair or email Yvette Ardoin at yvette.ardoin@cpsb.org or Diane Mason at diane.mason@cpsb.org – LACUE Conference Co-Chairs. Any questions about the program, please contact Sheryl Abshire – sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org - LACUE Program Chair. If you have other conference or registration questions please email lacue@lacue.org. Mark your calendar now for December 2 - 4, 2009 and prepare to participate in a premiere technology learning experience! Mark your calendar NOW for LACUE 2009! 25th Annual Conference December 2-4, 2009 River Center Baton Rouge, LA LACUE EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE *** October 30, 2009 *** Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Lessons Do you want to use popular music to teach across the K-12 curriculum? Do you want to deepen your students’ engagement with language arts, history and the social studies, music, technology, and beyond by bringing into the classroom an art form that speaks to students? The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum offers teachers many opportunities to learn how to energize their classrooms with popular music. Workshops, institutes, and forums demonstrate ways to integrate popular music across the disciplines so that students meet and exceed educational standards. The museum’s rich resources can transform learning with the history, artistry, and innovation Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees that both reflect and comment on society. Teachers learn methods to engage students with the creative sounds, diverse life stories, and powerful messages encompassed in the history of rock and roll--from blues to rock, hip hop and beyond. Check it out at http://www.rockhall.com/teacher/sti-lesson-plans/. Customizing Color On Your Tool Bar On the Promethean tool bar, you will find a variety of colors that can be used with your pen or highlighter.  If you wish to limit or expand the number of colors available, you can click on the Main Menu of your tool bar.  Click on Customize then Colors to select the number of colors that you wish to be available for use. Free Online Classes Available For Basic Proficiencies HP offers free online classes 24/7 in their online Learning Center. Anyone can register and sign up for free classes in The Learning Center which has a variety of types of content to suit your needs. If you're short on time, you can watch one of their quick how-to videos or read one of the quick lessons or notebooks. If you want more in-depth coverage of a topic, check out one of the online classes--complete with lessons, assignments, quizzes and an instructor. Learning center classes are offered online and are accessible from any computer with an internet connection. Classes include two to six lessons and may also include interactive demos, quizzes and assignments. You can review all the lessons at your own pace and at any time of day. During an active class session, you may also interact with your fellow students and instructor via the class message board. Find out more at http://www.hp.com/go/learningcenter. Search For Images In New Ways With Bing When you search for images in Bing, you’ll encounter the Infinite Scroll feature. It basically puts all the image results on one page to reduce the amount of clicking from page to page while looking for the perfect picture. To help you quickly narrow your image search, the Explorer pane provides filters for narrowing your search results by using attributes such as size, layout, color, style, and people. (If you are searching for an image with people in it, you can narrow to just faces or head and shoulders.) If you find an image you like, but it’s not quite what you are looking for, hover over the image and select Show Similar Images to refine your search to images that share a similar characteristic. Disney's Planet Challenge Disney is embarking on a nationwide launch of Disney's Planet Challenge, an environmental science competition for students in grades 4-6. It is a free environmental project-based learning program with ready-to-use curriculum developed by leading educators with science and environmental experts. A theme of outdoor adventure, an abundance of multimedia resources and easy navigation combine to make the website for Disney's Planet Challenge, an exciting and useful destination for classrooms participating in the competition. With a design that evokes exploration and sparks imagination, the site will help teachers get their students revved up to learn about the environment. Find out more at http://disney.go.com/planetchallenge/. Win A Portion Of $1 Million In Technology For Your School Samsung's Four Seasons of Hope -- a goodwill program designed to minimize the technology gap in the U.S. educational system --recently announced a 100-word national essay contest that calls upon parents, students, and teachers across the U.S. to improve technology in classrooms by submitting an essay for the chance to win a portion of over $1 million in technology from Samsung. The initiative will reward winning writers with a Samsung GO Netbook and their local schools with cutting edge Samsung products, Microsoft software, DIRECTV educational television programming and cash grants as well as special @15 gift cards supplied by Best Buy. All entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on November 1, 2009 to be considered. Find out more at http://pages.samsung.com/us/4seasons_hope/education.jsp. 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) Bats: Why Should You Care? http://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/bats/index.htm Learn all about bats in this online presentation for early elementary (K-3) students. Students can learn and research about bats and the issues surrounding them; they are fascinating creatures that are ending up on the endangered species list. There are almost 1000 species of bats with a huge variety of living conditions, diet and habits. There are many resources on the Internet to assist students with reports and information gathering.   Fractions Quiz http://www.softschools.com/quiz_time/math/fractions/theme150.html This game provides a simple fractions quiz for students recently introduced to the concept of fractions. Visuals provide the clues, and students are not required to reduce fractions for correct answers.   Infection Detection http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/infection/03_inf/03_inf.html A real life entomologist leads students through a brief online overview of microbes, investigating how germs can enter our bodies. In the game at http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/infection/03_inf/03a_inf.html, students click on microbes of influenza, measles, polio, etc., role-playing the germs involved to see what kinds of conditions promote their growth.   An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Webmaster. 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