Issue 17

Thought for the Week
"Children need models rather than critics." -- Joseph Joubert

Happy Holidays!

The CPSB Technology Department Wishes You a Wonderful Holiday Season and a New Year of Peace, Prosperity, and Happiness.

Thank Your For Your Continuing Support!

Checking Your CPSB Email

When employees use the web-based Outlook client at the CPSB website (a.k.a. “Employee Email” link) to check their email, they receive a prompt box to enter their CPSB user name and password. Those employees who enter their user name as “firstname.lastname@cpsb.org” have their credentials rejected by the email server and cannot log on to read their mail. Many employees then think that there is a problem with their password.

Instead of entering their user name as an email address, all employees should enter just their user name as “firstname.lastname” only and do not append the “@cpsb.org” at the end. This will allow the employee to log on and check his or her email.

Please make sure that if any employees are having difficulty logging on to the web-based Outlook client to check their mail that they check to make sure that they are entering their user name correctly. If they continue to have problems, they can contact the Tech Support Center at 491-1690 for assistance.

Registration Now Open for INTECH training

The Region V TLTC will be offering the following training during the Spring and Summer:

K-6 Intech
7-12 Intech
Intech II Science (K-12 Teachers)
Intech II Social Studies (K-12 Teachers)

For course descriptions, dates, times and registration, visit the following link: http://www.cpsb.org/regionv and click on "Course Registration". For more information, e-mail Kim Leblanc, kim.leblanc@cpsb.org). Earn 56 CLU hours for INTECH K-6 or INTECH 7-12 or 28 hours for INTECH II Social Studies or Science.

Generate A Personalized Christmas Story

Ask each of your students their favorite Christmas foods, their favorite holiday carol, a few friends' names, and then plug in the answers to generate a cute little personalized story to print out and give to your students to take home for the holidays. http://www.blackdog.net/cgi-bin/story/xmas.cgi

Technology and Student Achievement

The Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET) has gathered compelling research and evaluation findings to answer frequently asked questions about how technology influences student achievement and academic performance in relation to three primary curricular goals:

Achievement in content area learning.
Higher-order thinking and problem-solving skill development
Workforce preparation.

To view the entire article online click on the following link:
http://caret.iste.org/caretadmin/resources_documents/29%5F8%2Epdf

Online References

OneLook is a website that indexes over 970 dictionaries and over six million references! The simple interface makes this useful for K-12 classroom use. http://www.onelook.com

Word Tip

Split your window to view two areas at the same time. You can easily split the window of your Word documents. This enables you to view one area of the document while making changes to another. For example, if you're writing the conclusion to a document, you may want to refer back to the introduction to ensure you cover all of the main points. To split the window, go to Window | Split. Your cursor automatically turns into a split pointer. Click where you want the screen to split (except in v. X, in which the screen automatically splits in the center of the page without a click). You can adjust the split by clicking and dragging the dividing line up or down. To remove the split screen, go to Window | Remove Split.

Here's a shortcut for creating and removing a split window: Double-click the small rectangle above the vertical scrollbar on the right side of the screen. This automatically splits the window equally. Double-click on the dividing line to remove the split. If you want to make one area of the split window larger than the other, drag from the small rectangle to the point where you want the split. To remove the split, you can double-click the dividing line, or you can drag it all the way to the top or bottom of the editing window.

Digital Media in the Classroom

This new e-resource represents a collaborative effort between Technology & Learning and DV magazines. In it, you'll find a range of expert buying tips, best practices, stats and more to help you integrate digital media into teaching and learning. http://www.techlearning.com/digitalvideo

Counting in Excel

You may need to count cells within a range of data that may or may not include data. If you do not need to count logical values, text, or error values, use the COUNT function. For example, if you have a range of cells and you need to know how many cells contain data, you may need to use a formula to count nonblank cells. Simply, identify the range of cells that you need to count. This formula will count any value or any type of information, including empty text(""), but not including empty cells. If an argument is an array or reference, empty cells within the array or reference are ignored. The formula is as follows: =COUNTA(A2:A100) This example uses column A, rows 2-100 to count nonblank cells; however, any range of cells may be used, depending what needs to be counted.

Tips for Computer Care During the Holidays

Some reminders if you bring computers home:

Office scan virus protection will still function up to the last virus patch it received from the network, but it will not protect you from anything new that comes out until you connect back to the network. You should see a blue circle with a broken line when you computer is running.
It is against the District AUP to install any programs for personal use. These includes games, AOL, Kazza, Bearshare, etc.
It would be wise idea to continue to check your email during the holiday and clean out your mailbox, so that you do not overload it over the holidays. If you reach your maximum capacity, your email account will not work until you empty it. You can do that by going to the cpsb website and click the link "Employee Email". Log in using firstname.lastname without @cpsb.org.

Leaving the computers in the classroom:

Unplug everything, power cords, internet cords, etc. This will protect your computer in the event you have a power surge or lightening at your location.
It would be wise to cover your computer with a sheet. Please do not use plastic bags, these may cause static discharges which might damage computer components.
Save any important data to a disk or CD. This will guarantee you have a good copy, just in case.

Spell Check All the Sheets in At Once in Excel

If a workbook contains several sheets, you probably spell check each sheet individually. However, if you'd like to spell check an entire workbook, first right-click on any sheet tab, and then choose Select All Sheets. Then, simply press F7 to launch the spell checker. After spell check is complete REMEMBER to right-click on any sheet tab and then choose "Ungroup Sheets".

Top Ten Viruses Found on CPSB Computers

Here are the top ten viruses found on CPSB computers in the past 7 days. The stats are based on 604 infected computers out of a total of 9680 OfficeScan clients.

The latest OfficeScan pattern as of 12-15-2004 is pattern 2.297.00. Please check your pattern by placing your cursor over the OfficeScan icon and viewing the pop-up window that appears. If your pattern is significantly LOWER than this (A HIGHER PATTERN NUMBER IS OK), please email tech.help@cpsb.org regarding this or any other question you have regarding OfficeScan.

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!! -- 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)

CLASSROOM GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR CHRISTMAS:
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/ChristmasGames.htm
To wind down your classes and celebrate the holiday season with your class, try a few of these activities, including stocking relays, Christmas music freeze, Santa Says, scramble Christmas words, Christmas spelling banners, and more.

TELLING TIME LESSONS:
http://www.fi.edu/time/Journey/JustInTime/lesson6.html
The end of the year and the beginning of the new one provide a perfect opportunity for teaching or reviewing the concepts of time in your classroom. Days of the week and months of the year are covered in this lesson plan, along with calendar templates and activities, months of the year word searches, and days of the week puzzles.

FIVE QUICK GAMES TO BUILD READING SKILLS:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp301-01.shtml
Build up student visual recognition, sequencing, grammar, syllabication, and comprehension skills with these short exercises for the primary classroom.

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