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Issue 1, Volume 6
August 18, 2005
Thought for the Week
After all is said and done, more is said than done.
-- Aesop
Welcome Back!
Welcome back to the 2005 - 2006 school year and the sixth 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 and hundreds of school system employees in preparation for the beginning the new school year. We provided over 100 face-to-face and online classes to help school district employees improve their use of technology. Each school now has a trained contact person in our Making the Grade online gradebook program and many teachers are now engaged using this software to help with the time consuming grading process. We also provided classes for over 60 classroom teachers as part of our Blackboard Classroom Pilot – Phase II. Stay tuned for opportunities for other classroom teachers to use Blackboard with students and to communicate with parents this school year via Blackboard.
The good news is this year we will be providing training and new computers and printers to all world language teachers, 5th grade teachers and middle and high school social studies teachers. We look forward to not only providing these classrooms with the newest, up-to-date technology but also providing support for the new comprehensive curriculum.
At the beginning of the school year, please remember we are a very small staff supporting almost 40,000 users in the district and we are running as fast as we can….everyone seems to need tech help at the beginning of the school year. Sending any and all tech help requests to tech.help@cpsb.org will result in your issue “getting in the line” and will assure you faster service. We routinely expedite emergencies from the online help desk system, but if you are not in the system, it is very difficult to get the proper support for your technology need.
For the fourth year we held the annual summer Tech Camp for students at our Tech Center. This year the theme was Palm….Your Passport to the World! Over 100 students in grades 3 - 8 enjoyed a week of fun and intense learning with technology conducted by our technology department staff. The CPSB and Region V Technology Staff geared up and provided these students a great technology infused adventure. Students gathered their passports, luggage and boarding passes and participated in an exhilarating “digital” international excursion and the students took home their very own Palm handheld computer and software. Check out the student projects at www.cpsb.org/techcamp.
As you log on each Thursday morning you can expect to find waiting in your email inbox the latest in "technology happenings" in our district and current "tips and tricks" to improve your technology skills. We hope you will join us in celebrating the numerous successes we have in technology by emailing tech.connect@cpsb.org any information you would like to share with our colleagues in the district. Please share any suggestions you have and let us know what will help you in your specific job assignment. We will attempt to include your suggestions in our future issues.
We look forward to working with you again this school year. Let us know what we can do to help you and have a great school year!
Sheryl Abshire,
sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org
CPSB Technology Department
“Advancing Quality Education with Technology”
Region V Announces Fall Courses!
Fall Quarter: September 9-November 17, 2005
Limited Registration!
Deadline to Register - August 22
Apply now at the Region V website http://www.cpsb.org/regionv. Click on "Course Registration."The Region V Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center will be offering two online professional development, graduate credit courses entitled, “Curriculum Enhancement with Technology” and "PBL (Project Based Learning) in Action" . Participants will receive three hours of graduate credit, per course, from Louisiana Tech that can be counted towards plus 30 certification. ONLINE - Graduate Credit EDUC 489C: Special Topics Project Based Learning in Action
Project-based learning in Action (PBL in Action) will provide teachers the opportunity to network with other colleagues about instructional strategies proven to impact student achievement. PBL in Action is based on increasing student achievement by focusing on curriculum standards and is designed to show educators how technology can be melted into the present curriculum in such a way that the two become seamless.
Go to http://www.cpsb.org/regionv/online_course/pbl_syllabus.htm to view the complete course syllabus.
This course is designed to enhance the instructional program within the K-12 classroom. Emphasis will be placed on how technology can be easily integrated into standards-based lessons and extend a teacher’s understanding of effective use of various educational technologies and strategies to meet the needs of all learners.
Go to http://www.cpsb.org/regionv/online_course/syllabus.htm to view the complete course syllabus.
Tuition for each course is $380.00 plus a $20.00 application fee. Selection Criteria/Requirements to participate:
To apply, go to http://www.cpsb.org/regionv and click on "Course Registration" by noon on August 22, 2005. All participants MUST have an active email account, access to the Internet after hours. Participants in the Curriculum Enhancement with Technology course MUST have PowerPoint software.
ATTENTION Elementary Teachers!
http://blackboard.cpsb.orgTo access the course, log in to Blackboard and under My Courses you will see the Elementary Comprehensive Curriculum Course. Be sure to visit the Resource Center to begin populating the database. Currently, the Add a Website feature is enabled, however, the Add a Document feature is under construction.
For log in issues and other questions, please email: Terry Collins at terry.collins@cpsb.org.
Tessellation Art
This site contains information about all aspects of tessellations, from their history and development to complete galleries of examples by M.C. Escher, the pioneer of the art. Also included are extensive workshops showing how to design and produce your own. All are accessible from the orange navigation bar or there is a full page index. Grades 4-12
The URL: http://www.tessellations.org
Excel Tip - Compute an Average that Excludes Zero Value
While Excel's AVERAGE function ignores blank cells, it doesn't ignore cells that contain 0. This can result in inaccurate analysis of the data. For example, let's say you want to calculate the average score for all students who took the final exam. Using the AVERAGE function, you might enter: =AVERAGE(B3:B23). But if two students were absent and received a grade of 0, the result of the formula wouldn't give a true picture of the average grade. However, you can calculate the average and exclude the absentee students' grades.
Follow these steps:
1. Enter the following formula: =AVERAGE(IF(B3:B23<>0,B3:B23))
2. Press [Ctrl] [Shift][Enter].
The entered formula first creates an array that includes only nonzero values in the range. The AVERAGE function then uses this array as its argument.
Windows Update
If you are trying to perform a "Windows Update" by going to www.windowsupdate.com, you may have been getting an "access denied" error message. This is because we now automate this task for you to ensure you computer has the latest updates. This is one of the many benefits to being on the CPSB domain. Every night at 7:00 if your computer is turned on and connected to the internet, the CPSB network will be sending down any necessary windows updates. If your computer is not turned on, then the next time it is turned on and connected to the network, it will get the updates. As always, if you have any technology questions, email tech.help@cpsb.org.
Lessons and More on the Web
Jefferson County School District, Tennessee, shares lesson plans, topical websites, interactive
games, PowerPoint presentations, and worksheets based on their state’s curriculum standards. This site hosts the materials created by teachers who participate in the technology integration staff development project. Check it out.
http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/tools/socst-hs.html
Word Tip - Quickly Change from Caps to Lowercase
When students forget that the caps lock key is on and they have typed several lines, there is an easy fix! Simply highlight the text and use “Shift F3” to switch between Title Case, Upper Case, and Lower Case.
The Teacher's Corner
The Teacher’s Corner is an online resource for Primary & Intermediate educators. It has calendar of events, lesson plans, thematic units, seasonal items, teacher resources, teacher’s lounge and book nook. Check out the August Event calendar which has hot links to great people and events that occur during the month of August. http://www.theteacherscorner.net/calendars/august.htm
Add a Graphic in Excel's Header
How to add a graphic in Excel’s header:
1. Open the worksheet, and go to File | Page Setup.
2. On the Header/Footer tab, click the Custom Header button.
3. Put your cursor in the section you want the company logo to appear, and click the Insert Picture button.
4. Navigate to the picture you want to insert, select it, and click Insert.
5. To make any desired changes, click the Format Picture button.
6. Enter your company's name in the section where you want it to appear.
7. To make any desired changes, click the Font button.
8. Click OK twice.
Advanced Searching with Google
Using a special syntax is a way to tell Google that you want to restrict your searches to certain elements or characteristics of Web pages. Google has a fairly complete list of its syntax elements at www.google.com/help/operators.html. Here are some advanced operators that can help narrow down your search results.
Intitle: at the beginning of a query word or phrase (intitle:"Three Blind Mice") restricts your search results to just the titles of Web pages.
Intext: does the opposite of intitle:, searching only the body text, ignoring titles, links, and so forth. Intext: is perfect when what you're searching for might commonly appear in URLs. If you're looking for the term HTML, for example, and you don't want to get results such as www.mysite.com/index.html, you can enter intext:html.
Link: lets you see which pages are linking to your Web page or to another page you're interested in. For example, try typing in link: http://www.pcmag.com.
Try using site: (which restricts results to top-level domains) with intitle: to find certain types of pages. For example, get scholarly pages about Mark Twain by searching for intitle:"Mark Twain"site:edu. Experiment with mixing various elements; you'll develop several strategies for finding the stuff you want more effectively. The site: command is very helpful as an alternative to the mediocre search engines built into many sites.
Build a Neighborhood
As children grow, they move from being family-centered to understanding there is a whole community around them. Creating neighborhoods in their artwork can help children realize that people live in all kinds of communities of neighbors and friends.
A neighborhood is a place where people live, work, play and pretend. What kind of neighborhood picture do you want to make? A house, a farm, a construction site or our Neighborhood of Make-Believe? PreK and Kindergarten teachers can use this site to help students develop an understanding of the roles of the community and its members.
Compete in ThinkQuest
Prizes for Outstanding Student-Created Web Sites
Start planning now to compete in the 2006 ThinkQuest Competition. This competition, sponsored by the Oracle Foundation, promotes multicultural collaboration and learning by encouraging students to develop creative web sites focused on topic categories. Students work in teams to build creative and educational web sites that explore globally relevant subjects. Diverse teams made up of members from more than one school, community, or country are encouraged. Students between the ages of 9 and 19 are invited to form teams of three to six students, supervised by a teacher-coach. Teams will have approximately seven months to work on their web sites, focusing on their chosen topic area. Contest winners will receive prizes from the Oracle Foundation, including travel to the annual ThinkQuest Live event. In addition, national winners may be honored and awarded prizes by national partners of the foundation. Web sites must be entered by March 22, 2006. Coaches can enroll their teams now, and the official competition begins on or after August 15.
Contact Information: http://www.thinkquest.org
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 2976 infected computers out of a total of 6916 OfficeScan clients.
The latest OfficeScan pattern as of 8-17-2005 is pattern 2.787.00. 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 from this one (A HIGHER PATTERN NUMBER IS OK), Please email tech.help@cpsb.org regarding this or any other question you have regarding OfficeScan.
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)
Teachnology Back to School Ideas
http://teachers.teach-nology.com/themes/holidays/back/
Here is a super site for back to school resources, especially great for new teachers. It includes worksheets, activities, classroom management ideas, teaching calendars, seating arrangements, name plates, bulletin board sets, and more.Getting Back to School
http://www.yesiteach.org/back.htm
Try name games, create a classroom survival kit, make a back-to-school kit, find open house ideas, try some of the icebreaking activities, and more here to help ease you back into the classroom this fall.Busy Teacher's Cafe's Back to School Ideas
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/units/back2school.htm
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/worksheets/firstday.pdf
Find several resources here to help you get your elementary students settled back into school this year, including checklists for the first day and the first week. Use the 2nd URL above for a colorful page for students to use for writing exercises.
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