If you are having trouble viewing the newsletter, visit the Tech Connect Archive:  www.cpsb.org/techdepartment/tech_connect

Issue 1 Volume 3

August 15, 2002

 
 

Thought for the Week
 Know your qualifications; realize your responsibilities; grasp your opportunities; banish fear to the side-lines--and success is inevitable.  --Jerome A. Waterman

 
Welcome Back
Welcome back to the 2002 - 2003 school year and the third year of the CPSB electronic resource - Tech Connect! The CPSB Technology Department had a very busy but productive summer. We conducted training sessions for hundreds of school system employees in preparation for beginning the new school year. And.....for the very first time we held the annual Tech Camp for students at our Tech Center. Over 85 students in grades 3 - 8 enjoyed ten days of fun and intense learning conducted by our technology department staff. Students researched various topics, created projects and web pages while learning how to use a Palm handheld PC that they took home! Visit our camp website to learn more about this exciting summer event. www.cpsb.org/techdepartment/techcamp2002.

This summer also found us busy preparing to take our new CPSB.org website live. We believe you will find it easy and quick to navigate. Take a look at our new image on the World Wide Web and let us know what you think! www.cpsb.org

Last year many of you submitted your favorite websites to be include in our Best of the Web site. We have recently completed that newest addition to our Resources section of our webpage. Visit this site for some of the best web pages available to help you in your work in the district. Don't forget to keep sending us your favorite sites so we can add them to Best of the Web! www.cpsb.org/resources/bestofweb/sites.asp

We look forward to working with you this school year. Let us know what we can do to help you and have a great school year!

Sheryl Abshire, Administrative Coordinator of Technology
sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org
We Are Looking for a Few Good Women and Men!
Share your expertise with your colleagues and sign up NOW to present a short 50 minute session or hands on workshop at the TNT4 Institute, Saturday, September 21, 2002 from 8:00am - 3:00 pm at the Calcasieu Parish Technology Center and Reynaud Middle School. Share an innovative idea used in your classroom or perhaps some tech tips and tricks that work for you....maybe share some neat websites that make your life and teaching easier or just talk about how you use technology in your classroom or office and share some of your student's work....Whatever you have to share.....WE NEED YOU!!! Visit the TNT4 website www.cpsb.org/tnt and click on "Call for Presenters" and sign-up now to present a session!
Sign Up NOW to attend TNT4!!!

Saturday, September 21, 2002
8:00am - 3:00pm
Calcasieu Parish Technology Center and Reynaud Middle School
600 Shattuck St., Lake Charles, Louisiana

Over 500 educators attended last year....don't miss the "Premier Technology Embedded Staff Development Event of the Year" TNT4

Visit the TNT4 website to register....NOW!!!!!! www.cpsb.org/tnt

This conference is geared to classroom teachers, school administrators, Title I program coordinators, library media specialists, and others with an interest in educational technology.

Highlights of the conference will be:

  • Informative spotlight speakers

  • Hands-on technology workshops

  • Vendor exhibits

  • Door prizes (We are giving away a computer!!!!)
Conference cost: $20.00 (Lunch is included)
Make checks payable to:  Region V LACUE
TNT Conference
CPSB Technology Training Center
600 S. Shattuck St.
Lake Charles, LA 70601

Questions: 337.491.1797 or email the webmaster
New Version of WebTools is Available!
Version 9.2h of Webtools, our electronic grade book program, is now available on the Teacherlink website http://teacherlink.cpsb.org/tech_help/file_listing.htm. This version allows for the five point (A,B,C,D,U) grading scale used in elementary and middle schools. Directions on how to set up a class using this grading scale is also available on Teacherlink. Please remember that before you can upgrade to the latest version you must first install the program with the original diskettes that were given to your school.
Register Now!
The Region V Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center will offer the following classes for teachers, administrators and other support staff during the Fall semester:
  • K-6 Intech
  • 7-12 Intech
  • Intech II Science (K-12 Teachers)
  • Intech II Social Studies (K-12 Teachers) NEW!
  • Introduction to Word XP
  • Introduction to Web Design
  • Intermediate PowerPoint XP
  • Intermediate Excel XP
  • MarcoPolo

For course descriptions, dates, times and registration, visit the following link:
http://www.cpsb.org/resources/regionv
For more information, e-mail Kim Leblanc (kim.leblanc@cpsb.org)

CBT is now ONLINE
FINALLY!!!!  What you’ve all been waiting for. Drum roll please! The New Classroom-Based Technology project (CBT) site is accessible for your teaching needs. The site is available on the CPSB web site and can be accessed from any place that there’s an Internet connection. This change has been made in the place of the CD-Rom that each teacher participating in the 2001-2002 CBT training would have received. Visit this site at the CPSB home page under Grants and Initiatives/CBT. www.cpsb.org/resources/cbt
A Tip For Effective Email Writing
When you send an email message it is always a good idea to give the recipient an idea of the content before they read it. Make sure your Subject Line summarizes the content in some meaningful way so that the recipient is motivated or inclined to open and read it. Subject lines like HELP or Urgent are not usually a good way to motivate the recipient to read your email.
Send An Office Document Without Opening Outlook
Need to get that Word document to your boss or colleague in a hurry? Here's how you can do it without even opening Outlook!  In the Word File menu, point to Send To, and then click Mail Recipient (as Attachment).  Fill in the Receipts, Subject and Message boxes and click Send.  If you have Word 2000, on the Standard toolbar, click Email.  In the To and CC boxes, enter the recipient names separated by semicolons.  By default, the name of the document appears in the Subject box. If you want, you can type your own subject name.  Click Send a Copy.  Using this tip is a lot easier than going into Outlook, creating a new message and browsing for the attachment on your hard drive. This tip will also work in Excel and PowerPoint!
Great Teacher Resource
ABCteach.com is a comprehensive site offering materials for teachers, students and parents. You can download forms, rubrics, pre made center signs, reproducibles and much more. It has a large selection of themematic teaching units and online forums. It also has a section for student teachers and new teachers. The website is ideal for Prek-5 http://www.abcteach.com
Turn Off Word's Automatic Hyperlinking
We've all had it happen to us. You're typing a URL in Word, and all of the sudden it changes into a link, making the text smaller and underlining it. Word automatically formats URLs into hyperlinks, but chances are you don't want your text to be automatically hyperlinked. You can turn off this often-annoying feature by following these steps.  Go to Tools, then AutoCorrect.  Choose the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Uncheck the box next to "Internet and network paths with hyperlinks." Click OK. Word will never change your links again.
Classroom Connect Internet Educator of the Year Award
Are you an educator who thrives on Internet Resources in the classroom? Then consider applying for the Classroom Connect Internet Educator of the Year Award!  Nominations for the Classroom Connect Internet Educator of the Year 2003 Award will be accepted from now through 12 noon PST on October 31, 2002. Regional winners will be notified in December 2002. The Classroom Connect Internet Educator of the Year will be notified in February 2003. For more information link to: http://proflearn.classroom.com/ProfDev/ieoty.asp
Internet Explorer 5.x Tip- Shrink Your Toolbar Size
Is your toolbar taking up too much room? Customize it! You can shrink the size of the buttons, and if you know what each button does, you can remove the text labels underneath the buttons. Click on the "View" menu, choose "Toolbars", and then select "Customize". On the "Customize Toolbar" dialog box that follows, you can add or remove icons (buttons) to and from the toolbar, shrink the size of the icons, and change how text is displayed near the icons, if at all. When you are finished modifying the toolbar, press "Close" to exit this dialog box.
Top Ten Viruses Found on CPSB Computers

Here are the top ten viruses found on CPSB computers over the summer. The stats are based on 128 infected computers out of a total of 1168 OfficeScan clients online during the summer.

The information shows the name of the virus, the number of infected files found, and the percentage of the virus from the total.  ALL school board employees need to ensure that their Dell, Compaq, HP, IBM or other PC classroom computers stay virus free. Go to the following link to download the district copy of OfficeScan: http://teacherlink.cpsb.org/officescan and your computer will automatically be updated daily to scan for the latest viruses. You must install the software using Internet Explorer 4.0 or later (Netscape will not work!!!!!) Please answer "Yes" to all prompts as the software installs. If you have any questions, please contact the CPSB Help Desk at tech.help@cpsb.org.
Best on the Net!! NEW FEATURE!! -- 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)

Spotty's White House Tour: http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/tour/
--> This site is geared towards elementary students.

Virtual Tour of the Supreme Court Building: http://oyez.org/tour/tour
--> This site is geared towards middle school students.

Teaching With Historic Places: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/
--> This site is geared towards high school students

Lonely Planet: Country Tours: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/
--> This site is geared towards upper elementary students through high school.


An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department
If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Webmaster.
For Technical Support:  tech.help@cpsb.org
Calcasieu Parish Homepage  Technology Department  Teacher Link  Best on the Net
Tech Guides  Computer Purchasing Information  Tech Connect Archive 
 

This site was last modified on Friday, August 19, 2005