Issue 22, Volume 9 February 19, 2009     Thought for the Week That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends. --- Maria Callas   Deadline Coming Soon! Apply Now For The Technology Innovation Grant Award!   Region V LACUE: Technology Innovation Grant Award Who doesn't need more technology in the classroom?!! It’s time now to apply for a 2009 TNT Technology Innovation Grant for an ACTIVBoard and a projector. To apply, you must submit your proposal online at the Region V TNT Technology Innovation Grant link listed here: http://www.cpsb.org/tnt/grant.asp The application deadline is noon on Friday, February 27, 2009. A maximum of 20 individual grants may be awarded. Grant finalists will be required to participate in a 15 minute grant interview review process at the CPSB Technology Training Center during the week of March 16-20, 2009. Grant winners will be notified via email during the week of March 23-27, 2009. Applicants may only submit one grant. Winning grants will be showcased and presented by the grant recipient at the TNT11 Institute in Fall 2009 during a 45 minute hands-on or concurrent session. Apply NOW!! Featured Blackboard Site The featured Blackboard site was created by Tammy Gothrup, a 7th grade American History teacher from Leblanc Middle School. Mrs. Gothrup created the site to serve as a resource for all teachers and parents at the school. Visit Mrs. Gothrup's site. Inspired Visual Learning Awards The Deadline Approaches for the 2008-2009 Visual Learning Awards! Win Technology For Innovative Use of Visual Learning in the Classroom This year, more than $22,000 in cash and technology prizes will be awarded to 15 educators and their students who are creatively using visual learning in their classrooms. Inspiration Software, Inc. offers an annual educator awards program. Totaling more than $22,000 in cash and technology prizes, the 2008-2009 Inspired Visual Learning Awards will recognize 15 K-12 educators and their students who are creatively using visual learning in their classrooms. Applications are being accepted until February 27, winners will be announced March 31, 2009. To win an award for their classrooms, educators must submit student-created examples using Inspiration Software's visual learning software tools: Inspiration®, Kidspiration® and InspireData®. Winners will receive technology and funds for professional development and/or new technology purchases that support visual learning in their classrooms. Inspiration Software will select three Gold Star and twelve Silver Star award winners. All award packages will include a new Intel®-powered Classmate PC, donated by Intel® Corporation. In addition, each Gold Star award will include $2,500, a 10-pack volume license for an Inspiration Software product with corresponding lesson plan books and a 6-month Atomic Learning® training resource subscription. Each Silver Star award will include $1,000 and a 5-pack volume license for an Inspiration Software product with corresponding lesson plan books. The URL: http://cf.inspiration.com/vlawards/  Top 10 Things Technology Leaders Do In public schools, we are continually asked to do more with less. Your leadership success increases exponentially by the number of leaders you create within your organization. Teachers, as well as administrators, must accept their roles as leaders to properly integrate technology. And we must allow our students to build our future in a positive direction in a technological, global society. Read about things that technology leaders do at the following 21st Century Connections website: http://www.21centuryconnections.com/node/656 AT Technical Glossary The Adaptive Technology Resource Centre Technical Glossary, at the University of Toronto, provides individuals with the ability to research and compare various assistive devices to aide in determining appropriate devices for individuals with disabilities. The technical glossary has numerous examples of assistive devices such as online learning tools, alternative access, screen magnifiers, screen readers and much more. Each category contains a list of current programs and devices along with a summary of their use. Individuals will be able to easily locate a variety of devices and programs to assist them in making an informed decision on which device would best meet the needs of the students they are working with. Check it out at http://atrc.utoronto.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=4&Itemid=9. Online Office Freebies Microsoft at http://office.microsoft.com provides an overwhelming amount of information on Microsoft Office. The website includes features that cover the two most recent versions of Office: 2003 and 2007. Assistance for each part of the Office suites is available on the tabs for the following topics: • Help and How-to • Clip Art • Templates • Downloads Free Online Surveys Create your own Free Survey with no software to install. With FreeOnlineSurveys.com, you can create email or website surveys in less than 10 minutes. The site is secure and confidential, and best of all, it’s absolutely free! The free account allows you to create a survey of up to 20 questions and receive up to 50 responses over a 10 day period, beginning when you start creating your survey. You can even choose from several major languages. The website collects and stores the results data for you. Their results page will analyze the data for you and display various charts showing the totals and averages for each question. You can also use the chart wizard to display a useful static or animated chart for use in presentations or documents. Larger accounts are available for those who want to subscribe. Find out more at http://freeonlinesurveys.com/welcome.asp. NEA's Read Across America Day - March 2, 2009 NEA's Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2nd, the birthday of the beloved children's author, Dr. Seuss. So, grab your hat and read with the cat! NEA's Read Across America Day is almost here, and millions of kids, teens, and adults are busy making plans to join the nation's largest reading celebration on March 2, 2009. NEA goes all out for this celebration! They offer ideas, downloads, information and inspiration. What can you do? Go to the NEA site and find out: http://www.nea.org/grants/886.htm The National Education Association annually sponsors Read Across America. Now in its twelfth year, the program focuses on how important it is to motivate children to read, in addition to helping them master basic skills. Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, community centers, and more participate by bringing together kids and books, and you can too! Your reading event can be as simple or elaborate as time and inclination allow. Whether you choose to scale up or down, keep in mind the basic premise and it's almost sure to be a success. Find lots of 2009 downloadable resources and material at http://www.nea.org/home/ns/13023.htm. How About A Shortcut? There was a time when the keyboard was the primary input device for computers. With the introduction of the computer mouse, the keyboard lost some of its luster to new computer users. Here are some Windows keyboard shortcuts that may reflect how handy the keyboard still is.   Keyboard Strokes What will it do? Windows Logo Display or hide the Start menu Windows Logo + D Display the desktop Windows Logo + E Open My Computer Windows Logo + F Search for a file or a folder Windows Logo + L Lock the keyboard Visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301583 for a list of other available shortcuts. 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) Rhyming Fun With Dr. Seuss http://www.seussville.com/seussentennial/pdf/rhyming.pdf  Find a list of typical Seuss words in this printable exercise, perfect to use during Circle Time with your students. They will have to come up with as many words as possible for each word listed. Have one or two students keep a tally on a whiteboard for each rhyming word. Seuss's Fun In A Box Printable http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/february/pdf/presidents_hard_wf.pdf  Twenty American Presidents are included in this printable wordsearch, an easy activity for review on Presidents' Day.  Cat, Cat, Hat Game http://www.seussville.com/seussentennial/pdf/funinabox.pdf  Creatures like having fun with boxes in Dr. Seuss books, and your students can create their own fun in a box with this printable worksheet, where they are asked to design something they would like to see come out of the box. 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