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Issue 29, Volume 6
April 27
, 2006
Thought for the Week
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
-- Mark Twain
Technology & Learning's Digital Photo Contest for Kids
Sponsored by Adobe Digital Kids Club
Technology & Learning invites K-12 students to participate in the fifth annual digital photography contest. This year's theme, "My Point of View," encourages you to capture and share your own unique vision with our editors and readers. The subject of your photo is entirely up to you. Twelve (12) winners will be named, with 1 first place and 3 second place winners in each of the following categories: elementary, middle school, and high school. Find out more information at the following web address: http://www.techlearning.com/content/contest/photos/
The following prizes will be awarded:
- First Place:
Student: wins Adobe Photoshop Elements and an Olympus digital camera.
Student's school: wins an Adobe Digital Kids Club Digital Photography Lab Kit, including 3 Olympus digital cameras and accessories.- Second Place:
Student Winner: Student wins Adobe Photoshop Elements.- All Winners: Winning photos will be featured in the December 2006 Awards Issue of Technology & Learning magazine, a national publication with over 81,000 subscribers, and online at techLEARNING.com and Adobe Digital Kids Club Web site.
Calling All Creative Teachers!
Adobe is inviting educators to enter their digital photography lesson plans that teach photo manipulation using Adobe Photoshop Elements in a separate educator contest. Winners will be awarded the newest version of Adobe Photoshop Elements software. Teachers should submit digital photography lesson plans directly to Adobe at: http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/lessons/main.html
Featured Blackboard Site
This week's featured Blackboard site was created by Carla Craddock, an eighth grade Language Arts teacher. Mrs. Craddock created the site to provide parents and students with homework, web resources and links to what is happening in the classroom. Visit Mrs. Craddock's site.
Outlook Tip
When Microsoft Outlook 2002 (XP) is opened, it defaults to Outlook Today instead of the Inbox. For those of you who prefer that it opens directly in the Inbox, where there is a will there is a way. Follow these steps to set the default location for when Outlook 2002 (XP) opens:
1. Open Outlook 2002 (XP). 2. Click on Tools. 3. Click on Options. 4. Click on the Other Tab. 5. Click on Advanced Options. 6. Startup in this folder: Inbox. Now, your email will always open up directly to your Inbox.
Attention English Teachers!
Finally... a web resource made for you! This site provides you with a web portal to lesson plans, activities, thought-provoking ideas for writings, and much more. At Web English Teacher, educators can take advantage of online technology to share ideas and to benefit from the work of others. Beginning teachers can find guidance; experienced teachers can find inspiration. Think of it as the faculty library and faculty workroom on a global scale. The URL: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/
Change A Plain Chart Into A Fancy Pictograph In Excel
After creating a spreadsheet to represent your data, create a bar chart. Don't format it yet--you can do that after you change the chart to a pictograph. Be sure to review your chart and decide whether you want to use the same picture for all the bars or different pictures for each bar.
IMPORTANT: You need to have a picture file on your drive in order to create a pictograph.
If you want to use the same picture for all bars:
1. Double-click one of the bars, and in the Format Data Series dialog box, click Fill Effects on the Patterns tab. 2. In the Fill Effects dialog box, on the Picture tab, click Select Picture, and then select a picture from your folder or network drive. Click the Insert button. 3. On the Picture tab, in the Format section, select Stretch, Stack, or Stack and scale to. Click OK when you’re finished. Click OK again to see your bars change to pictures. If you want to use a different picture for each bar:
1. Click once on one of the bars, and then click once again on the bar that you would like to change to a picture (you'll see selection boxes around just this one bar). Double-click this bar, and then click Fill Effects on the Patterns tab. 2. In the Fill Effects dialog box, on the Picture tab, click Select Picture, and then select a picture from your folder or network drive. Click the Insert button. 3. On the Picture tab, in the Format section, select Stretch, Stack, or Stack and scale to. Click OK when you're finished. Click OK again to see just the one bar change to the picture that you selected. 4. Repeat the same three steps to apply pictures to the other bars.
AutoSummarize The High Points
Need to condense a document’s most important content for a colleague, and really fast? You may want to try AutoSummarize under the Tools menu. After scanning your work, Microsoft Word lets you choose how it will process what it has determined to be the vital points, from using the highlighter on the existing document, to creating various types of summaries. If your first attempt doesn’t nail it, try increasing the percentage setting in the Length Of Summary pop-up menu. AutoSummarize works best on well-structured documents, such as reports, articles, and scientific papers.
You can select whether to highlight key points in a document, insert an executive summary or abstract at the top of a document, create a new document and put the summary there, or hide everything but the summary. If you choose to highlight key points or hide everything but the summary, you can switch between displaying only the key points in a document (the rest of the document is hidden) and highlighting them in the document. As you read, you can also change the level of detail at any time.
Online American Revolution
This site provides information in a way that allows students to develop multiple perspectives on events and people associated with the American Revolution. Battles, important people and places, historical events, and a timeline relevant to this time in history are provided here. Students will have fun learning about the American Revolution while taking part in online polls and commenting on historical topics in the discussion forum with others from around the world. The URL: http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/tline.asp
Incredible Art Lessons
If you teach art or are looking for a lesson to enhance your curriculum, you will find a lot of useful ideas here. The lessons are organized into grade levels (Early Childhood to High School) and include categories like Art history/games and ideas for substitutes and student teachers. The URL: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/lessons.html
The Incredible Art Department website is available in the public domain for educators; however, there are restrictions with the use of images and documents. Teachers may copy lessons for distribution among students or for other classroom use as long as the original author, copyright notice, and the Incredible Art Department URL (http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/) is copied with materials. It's well worth your time to check out the site for anything ART!
Microsoft Word Additional Options
You can control many of the spell checker’s settings so that the feature is tailored to your work style. To change these default settings, choose Tools and then Options to display the Options dialog box and then click the Spelling and Grammar tab. Check the appropriate box to activate or turn off the feature. Some additional options are: Check spelling as you type, Check grammar with spelling, Suggest from the main dictionary, Ignore words in uppercase and ignore words with numbers, etc.
The option to create Custom Dictionaries is also available here. Any word you enter in a document is double-checked of spelling against those words in Word’s main, built-in dictionary. However, you may have a number of words that are specific to your industry or company, such as industry-specific terms or people’s names. To stop Word from annoyingly marking these words as errors, you can create a custom dictionary. First choose Tools and then Options and click the Spelling and Grammar tab. On the Spelling and Grammar page, click the Custom Dictionaries button. In the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, click New. Assign a name for your dictionary in the Create Custom Dictionary dialog box and then click Save. Now you’re ready to add words to your dictionary from the list and then click the Modify button. Type the word and then click Add. Repeat the process until you’ve added all the words you’d like to your custom dictionary. When you’re finished, choose OK in the Custom Dictionaries and dialog box. Finally, to make sure that both the main and custom dictionary are used, clear the box for the Suggest From The Main Dictionary Only option. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.
Print A Blank Monthly Calendar: Outlook 2003
Suppose you are headed to a meeting to map out your plans for the next six weeks or semester. Why not go prepared with blank monthly calendars to take notes? In Outlook, it's very easy to do. Simply, select File, New Folder. Type a name for the folder, maybe "Blank Calendar." In the “Folder Contains” drop-down list, choose Calendar Items. Next, highlight the place in the available list where you wish to save the calendar.
Click the new folder, which is called Blank Calendar, in the folder list. Click File, Page Setup, and choose the Monthly Print Style. Then, click Print. Now, you are prepared to go to a planning meeting.
Telecollaborative Technology
What are telecollaborative projects? How can you participate in one? The Enhance Learning with Technology site provides examples and suggestions for you and your students to engage in online collaborative projects. There are links to raw data that can be incorporated into data collection activities, research suggestions, and much more at http://members.shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/about_projects.html.
