Issue 3

Thought for the Week
“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” --John Cotton Dana

Attention Certified Lab-N-Bag Users!

A new email account has been set up for the Lab-N-Bag requests. Certified users may email lab.bag@cpsb.org to request the bag labs from the Tech Center which is coordinated this year by Phyllis Gain. Remember to include the requested dates (two-week period) in your email along with a 2nd & 3rd choice just in case your 1st request is unavailable. Also, describe how you will be using the laptops so the Tech Center can best service you and designate whether you need MAC or PC laptops. Teachers will be notified through email confirmation of the checkout dates. LNB sets can be reserved only once per semester by a participant. Any other requests will be considered only if there is availability. In the event you are approved for additional checkout time, you will be notified no later than one week prior to the request date.

To view a list of Certified Lab-N-Bag users and check availability, click here. Interested in becoming certified to check-out six laptops and a hub for you to use with students in your classroom??? A training session to become certified will be held at the TNT3 Conference....register now www.cpsb.org/tnt3! Questions about Lab-N-Bag, email lab.bag@cpsb.org.

TNT3 Conference -September 29

Registration is continuing for this conference and we still have spaces for those of you that want to submit a presentation! Join us for a GREAT conference for only a $20 registration fee.

Many "big name" companies have committed to host a booth including Adobe, Dell, Apple, Compaq, Casio, and Knowledge Adventure, just to name a few. A complete list of exhibitors and sessions will be available on the TNT³ website after September 6^th.

For more information, to register or to submit a presentation visit the TNT3 website: www.cpsb.org/tnt3

Grant Winner!

Kay Johnson, resource teacher at Dolby Elementary, recently received a grant from Curriculum & Associates. She was named to the Excellence in Teaching Cabinet. Her project is called "Lights, Camera, Understanding"- Students in grades 1-5 create infomercials on numerous health and safety-related topics and showcase them over the school’s morning closed circuit TV broadcast. Students invite field-related professionals to speak at the school, videotape their presentations, then edit the video programs. Students in the lower grades work on scenery and interview other students for opinions and facts about the topic. Computer-generated brochures are designed for school-wide distribution. Measurement of the success of the project will be performance in Language Arts on the LEAP/ITBS tests, and by teachers’ observations.

For more information, visit their website: http://www.curriculumassociates.com/cabinet/

Courses Offered through Region V TLTC

In the last issue of Tech Connect, The Region V Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center listed several classes that they would be offering during the Fall Semester. An additional three classes, entitled 50 State Quarters Project (K-1), (2-3), and (4-6) have been added. To learn more about these innovative classes, visit http://www.cpsb.org/scripts/regionvclasses/courses.asp

A Capitalizing Idea…

When you are in any Microsoft Office program, there is a neat trick for capitalizing text. If you type a sentence: "Welcome to Calcasieu Parish Schools." You can make your text stand out by using small caps. Office has a quick key combination just for you. Select the text you want to convert, then hold down the Ctrl + Shift + k. Your new sentence will look like this: "Welcome to CALCASIEU PARISH SCHOOLS."

Technology Standards for School Administrators

Have you seen the latest version of Technology Standards for School Administrators? Visit http://cnets.iste.org/tssa/index.html to view the Standards, Scenarios, and Profiles as of August 28, 2001. From this site you can provide feedback to the writing team.

I-TEC GRANT RECIPIENTS!!!

I-TEC (Implementing a Technology-Enriched Curriculum) grant teachers were selected through an application process and were awarded to teams of applicants who demonstrate effective technology-based strategies that support and enhance curriculum providing a catalyst for fundamental change in the overall teaching and learning processes. The following teachers were awarded the I-TEC grant for the 2001 - 2002 school year:

Joshlyn Foreman (J. I. Watson)

Patty Hamilton (Westlake High)

Heather Mallett (Oak Park Middle)

Carol Shelton (Dequincy Elementary)

Sabra Soileau (Moss Bluff Middle)

Tammy Suarez (Vinton Middle)

Kathy Walsh (W.W. Lewis)

Denise Whitley (S. P. Arnett)

Attention Librarians

If you are doing incremental backups, be sure you are using a different diskette for each day . For example - if you do a full data backup on Friday, you might then use diskettes labeled for Mon., Tue., Wed. and Thurs. The backup uses the same file name each time, so if you use the same diskette, it erases what you backed up before. You could then start another set like this for the next week. It is better to use at least two different sets in case you have problems that have not shown up at the time of backup.

Passwords and Computer Security

To maintain good computer security, use strong passwords for your network logon and the Administrator account (in Windows 2000) on your computer. For a password to be strong and hard to break, it should be at least seven characters long and contain a combination of letters and numerals (make sure to have at least one numeral in the second through 6th position). Your password should be significantly different from prior passwords; it also should not contain your name, any common word, or numerals in sequential order.

The Education Connection

As a feature site of the American School Directory, The Education Connection has several things of interest to educators such as funding resources, national standards and assessment, and specific resources for various disciplines. You will also find interactive learning activities, virtual field trips, and K-12 connections for educators, as well as links for parents and students. http://www.asd.com/asd/edconn/page5nf.htm

Quiz Hub

This new educational Web site contains a growing collection of online interactive learning games, puzzles and quizzes in many subjects including English, geography, history, French, German, Italian, Spanish, art, music, math and the sciences. The site is designed to for all students from elementary through college. http://quizhub.com

Windows Tip

If you have a computer running Windows 95 and want to create a shortcut from a program listed in your start menu, then follow this procedure. Right click on the start menu in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Select explore. Select Programs. Find the program you want to create a shortcut for. Right click the icon and select copy. Now, close all the windows you opened. Right click anywhere on your desktop, except over an icon. Select Paste Shortcut. Congratulations! You will now be able to launch the program by clicking on the icon on your desktop.

"Success One Day at a Time"

by John Maxwell
J. Countryman Publisher. Nashville, TN Copyright 2000
ISBN# 0-8499-5511-4
There are seven steps to success, according to the author, John Maxwell. Those include:

Make a commitment to grow daily.
Value the process more than events.
Don't wait for inspiration...persevere.
Be willing to sacrifice pleasure for opportunity.
Dream big.
Plan your priorities.
Give up to go up...be willing to trade one thing you value for something of greater value.

Understand that growth and success may not be obvious to others all at once, but you will see your progress almost immediately. Sometimes you will experience excitement; other times, only discipline will carry you through. Success is waiting for you to make the first move. Let the journey begin !!!

MS Word Tip

When you're working with columns or lists, you may find that you need to modify text that falls within the same location on each line. For instance, if you've created a list of agenda items, you may wish to apply bold formatting to the first character of each line. At first glance, this may seem like a laborious task, but Word offers a selection feature that makes formatting columns of characters a snap. To turn on Word's column selection mode, press [Ctrl][Shift][F8] ([command][shift][F8] on the Mac), then use arrow keys or the mouse to select your text. To select text columns even more quickly, simply press and hold the [Alt] key ([option] on the Mac) and then click and drag the mouse to select the desired text. Once the text is selected, perform whatever formatting or editing operation you wish on the selected text. When you've finished, Word automatically turns off the column selection mode.

Best on the Net!! NEW FEATURE!! -- We are in the process of creating a resource site for Calcasieu Parish educators that will feature the best sites on the Internet. 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)

TeAch-nology.com: http://teachers.teach-nology.com/
--> Offers teachers FREE access to lesson plans, printable worksheets, over 150,000 reviewed web sites, rubrics, educational games, teaching / technology tips, advice from expert teachers, current education news, teacher downloads, teacher finance help, web quests, and teacher resources for creating just about anything a teacher could need.

ABCTeach it: http://www.abcteach.com
--> A quality educational site offering FREE printable theme units, word puzzles, writing forms, book report forms, ideas, lessons and much more. Great for new teachers, student teachers, home schooling and teachers who like creative ways to teach. Check out the NEW! ABCTeach it! A Must See!

edHelper.com: http://www.edhelper.com
--> The site designed for teachers. Thousands of free worksheets, over 10,000 searchable lesson plans, thousands of webquests educational programs, and more. Try edHelper.com, you will like it!

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