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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 |
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Leading By Example –
Transforming Education For The 21st Century
|
 Research indicates a
critical component to transforming technology in
education for 21st Century learning, is for
administrators to lead by example. One way an
administrator can lead by example is to establish a
Google doc where staff members can share various
school plans that require input and comments from
the staff. Also, some schools use a Google doc to
share experiences from attending conferences in
addition to posting something online in the school
Blackboard. If you have not explored the Google docs
area, go to
www.google.com. Create a gmail account and
explore the possibilities. |
Get Inspired!
|
 Inspiration Software
provides teachers with a means to create visual
thinking tools that help build a solid learning
foundation for all students. The Calcasieu Parish
School system supports the use of the Inspiration,
Kidspiration, and Inspire Data in our classrooms.
Here's an amazing Inspiration template site. It's
great because it includes both elementary and junior
high and intends to collect templates for the high
school level as well. Plus, the templates are very
thorough. It also includes templates for Thinking
Maps which many schools are using. The URL:
http://www.cape.k12.mo.us/blanchard/hicks/Teacher%20Pages/Inspiration.htm |
Create A Shortcut For
Locking Your Computer
|
 Want to create a shortcut
for locking your computer screen in Windows Vista?
The quickest way to lock your computer screen is to
just use the Win+L keyboard shortcut. Some people
prefer to use the mouse to lock the workstation,
however, or would just like to have both options. At
this site, you will learn how to easily create a
shortcut to lock Windows Vista, although this should
work on Windows XP as well. Get your step-by-step
instructions at
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/create-a-shortcut-for-locking-your-computer-screen-in-windows-vista/ |
Flipchart Fundamentals
(Step 1 in a series of 6)
|
 Over the next six weeks, you
will be provided with the steps necessary to create
great flipchart lessons with your students.
Regardless of age level or curriculum area, these
suggestions should provide you with the right tools
to make your flipcharts powerful, engaging and
pleasing to the eye. These suggestions will help you
maximize student engagement and interactivity.
Step 1: Use proven lesson planning
strategies. The first step involves establishing
lesson/activity objectives and expected outcomes
that will be covered during the lesson. These are
the same steps that an effective teacher uses
regardless of the vehicle used for delivery.
Be sure to log into Promethean Planet and check out
the Teacher Feature section of Promethean Planet for
great examples of lessons and videos showing award
winning teachers in action. If you don’t already
have an account for Promethean Planet, you need to
create one. The account is free and allows access to
flipcharts, resources, ACTIVtips, and more. The URL:
http://www.prometheanplanet.com |
Spotlight Your
Presentation With Mouse Shade
|
 The Mouse Shade is another
free download from FX Software. This is an excellent
spotlight tool for teachers and students to use to
draw attention to the area around the mouse cursor.
The shade follows the cursor wherever it is moved
and can assist students in focusing on a particular
section of the screen. Users can change the color
and transparency level of the area around the cursor
as well as change the shape of the shade. Find out
more or download it for free at
http://www.fxc.btinternet.co.uk/software.htm. |
Using Bing As A Decision
Engine
|
 Bing is specifically
designed to build on the benefits of today’s search
engines but begins to move beyond this experience
with a new approach to user experience and intuitive
tools to help customers make better decisions,
focusing initially on four key vertical areas:
making a purchase decision, planning a trip,
researching a health condition or finding a local
business.
The next time you’re using the Web to make a
decision about buying something, going somewhere,
improving your health, or finding directions, give
Bing a shot. The URL:
http://www.bing.com/ |
Portraits Of Learning
Digital Photo Contest
|
 Tech & Learning
invites K-12 students to participate in the seventh
annual digital photography contest. The competition
is open to all K-12 students. The contest challenges
students to capture and share their unique vision of
the world. They also have the option to digitally
enhance their photos with imaging software. The top
4 winners in each grade level (elementary, middle,
and high school) win prizes and have their photo
featured in the December Awards Issue of Tech &
Learning.
All your students have to do is to enter the best
possible photo. The photo may be submitted "as is"
or it can be manipulated using photo editing
software. If the photo is edited digitally, both the
original and the manipulated photo must be submitted
for comparison. Students may enter as many photos as
they wish. Deadline:
October 9, 2009. Find out more at
http://www.techlearning.com/section/portraitsoflearning |
Recoloring Art In
PowerPoint 2007
|
 PowerPoint now has the
capability to recolor an image such as a photo in
much the same way as you have been able to do in
Publisher. The Recolor tool appears
on the Picture Tools, Format tab
when you have a picture selected. Click the
Recolor option in the Adjust area
to preview the duotone effects, which range
from dark variations to light variations. You can
choose one of the color variations or create your
own with a color selected from the current theme.
It is also possible to use a photo as a slide
background and, for images used this way, you can
adjust the image so it works better behind text and
other graphics. To do this, from the
Background Styles option choose the
Format Background, Fill
option and select the Picture Or Texture
Fill. Click the File
button and locate a file to use as the background
and click Insert to insert it. You
can now vary the transparency of the image, and from
the Picture options adjust its brightness and
contrast to wash it out if desired. You can also
select the recolor option and recolor the image. |
| 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)
Make An Apple Tree Seasons Book
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/apple/applebook.html
Your apples may be ripe and ready to eat this fall,
but how does an apple tree change throughout the
seasons? This is a question your students will
answer as they create these books, using selected
online resources.
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|
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