Networked Printers (printers that print to a different room)
Yes, even you can install your own printer! If you are wanting to hook to a networked printer (one that prints in another room) go to http://iprint/ipp and scroll through the list to find your desired printer. Just click the link - everything is done for you! Go to http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/help/printers/index.htm if you need more help with your printer.

Local printers (printers that are sitting on your desk directly connected to your computer)
If you have purchased your own personal printer, we would ask that you bring the disk with the drivers in and set that printer up yourself. Our priority right now is to make sure you can print to a networked printer.

Your backed up My Documents (as we asked you to do last year)
Just open your H Drive, right click your My Documents folder, copy it, then go back to your My Documents and paste. BETTER YET, just get in the habit of ALWAYS saving to your H Drive.

Your backed up Internet Favorites (as we asked you to do last year)
Again, open your H Drive. You should have saved a Favorites folder last year. Right click the Favorites folder, select copy. Then open My Computer, Local Disk (C:), Documents and Settings, your first initial last name folder then right click and paste. Your favorites will now be under your Favorites tool bar in your Internet browser.
 
Internet shortcuts (for putting a shortcut back to Infinite Campus or United Streaming)
1. Launch your web browser
2. You will need to type in the address of the website. (https://icampus.center.k12.mo.us, http://www.unitedstreaming.com)
3. Once you have the desired website, go to File, Send, Shortcut to Desktop.
4. Do you need to rename it? Right click the new shortcut, select Rename and rename the shortcut.

H Drives
And while we are discussing H Drives, remember NOT to store downloaded music, videos or pictures to your H Drive. We are starting to limit the amount of space you have on your H Drive.

Other programs:
Cool Timer (great visual timer!)
http://www.harmonyhollow.net/download.shtml - scroll down to Cool Timer 2.2 and click the Harmony Hollow link. Select Run, then Run again and agree to the terms of use.

The Hat (program for randomly choosing students)
http://www.harmonyhollow.net/download.shtml - scroll down to The Hat 1.6 and click the Harmony Hollow link. Select Run, then Run again and agree to the terms of use.

My Corkboard (screen saver/daily organizer)
http://www.mycorkboard.com/

Netscape Composer (for those of you who have made a website using Composer)
http://browser.netscape.com/downloads/archive/ - scroll down to version 4.79, click the link for Windows and run the program. The only thing NOT to agree to is the window that has three check boxes - it will register you for unwanted newsletters and change your default Internet browser.

Audacity and the LAME encoder (audio recording)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/%7Eraa110/audacity/lame.html

With the new version of Notebook 10, there is a transparent toolbar on the left side of your monitor. If you are not using it, you have two options for hiding it. First option - click the double arrows on the handle and it will hide everything but the handle. The second option is to click the SMART Board icon once by your system time. (This new icon looks like a light blue square with a white daisy on it.) One of the options on the task pane that opens is Hide Floating Tools. Selecting this option will completely hide the floating tools.

This is a tip that can be applied to all computers - not just the ones connected to a SMART Board! Are your icons and print too small to be seen on your computer? Can your students see what is being projected to the SMART Board? If these sound like issues you are having, here is one solution to make things appear larger!
 
We are going to change your computer resolution. When your computer was imaged over the summer, the resolution was set to be pretty high. To change this right click your desktop, select Properties, select the Settings tab, move the Screen Resolution arrow toward the less end. It's recommended to set your resolution to 800 x 600. Not only will this make things appear larger, it will also expand the projected image to fill the entire SMART Board.

Have you noticed the icon of the stylus with the three purple stars? This is a "magic" stylus, new to Notebook version 10. It performs three functions:

First open the spotlight by going to the SMART Board tools menu. Click the light blue square icon with the white circle in the tool tray by your monitor time. Select Other SMART Tools, then Spotlight. The spotlight will appear.

Next to the icon of the spotlight is a drop down menu. Click it to change the shape of the spotlight (rectangle, circle, star) or the transparentness ( from not al all where nothing shows through to 90% where most everything in the background shows through).

Additionally, clicking on the blue outline of the shape adjusts its shape and size. Clicking and dragging on the black area moves the spotlight area around the page. The final option in the menu is exit to get back to your normal screen view.

These is a great feature for focusing on specific content and details - the rectangle tool can be elongated to a rectangle for topic/supporting details, specific paragraphs, sentences, definitions, etc.

In continuing with new Notebook features, this week we'll look at insert a table into Notebook. Either go to Insert, Table or select the table icon in the tool bar. Once selected, you'll see a matrix where you can select the number of rows and columns for your table. Just by dragging your mouse, you can select the size of your table.
 
Now that you have a table, double click in a cell to enter text. The cell will expand to fit your text as the text wraps in the cell. If you insert a picture or clipart, the picture resizes itself to fit in the size of the cell without throwing your table out of proportion. Right click in cells of the table for additional features - color fill, cell shade that hides content of individual cells, select several cells to merge, insert/delete rows/columns.
 
This new feature makes it possible to easily insert tables for graphic organizers, bar graphs, information matrixes, T-charts, word boxes, vocabulary lists, etc....

Another new feature in Notebook is the ability to view two Notebook pages at once. To activate this feature, either go to View, Zoom, Dual Page Display or click the Split Screen View icon on the top toolbar. (This is the icon that appears to have two doggy-earred pages in a monitor.) Click this icon when you want two Notebook pages to show at once. Click the icon again to view a single page again.
 
A few other ideas:
- Both pages are active, you can write and manipulate information on both pages.
- Try using the screen shade on one page while brainstorming or working on the other.
- Only two consecutive pages can be shown together. If you want to show other pages together, for example pages 1 and 4, reorder the pages in your Page Sorter View - the side column with the thumbnails of your Notebook pages. Just drag the pages around to reorder them. Now page 4, after reordered to page 2, can be viewed with page 1.

As we continue looking at new Notebook features, have you noticed the icon of the stylus with a red square? This is a shape recognition tool. When you select it and draw a typical shape (square, rectangle, circle, triangle), Notebook will snap your hand-drawn shape to finalized shape of straight lines. You'll still need to select and then draw with your finger on the board. Check this out by watching this very short video demonstrating this!

Notebook offers a feature to change the stylus colors. This is a very cool feature - now you have the possibility of up to 10 different stylus options - including colors, transparentness, and line styles. This tip will show how to change both the styluses on the pen tray and the colors in the stylus menu in Notebook.
 
Pen tray stylus -
1. Open the SMART Board control panel. To do this, click the light blue square with the white circle by your system time.
2. Select Control Panel, select SMART Hardware Settings, from the drop down menu select Pen and Button Settings.
3. Select the color of stylus to modify, then from the properties box select the stylus color, line thinkness and line style.
4. Finally click Save Tool Settings.
Watch this 45 second video (no audio) illustrating how to do this.
 
Stylus colors in the stylus menu -
1. Open Notebook and select the stylus menu. (This is the icon on the plain stylus in Notebook.)
2. Select the color to change. These colors here are not associated with the pen tray stylus colors.
3. Select the Properties tab, Line Style menu, select your color, line thickness and line style.
4. Finally, click Save Tool Property.
Watch this 45 second video (no audio) illustrating how to do this.

Notebook offers a recording feature that is very easy to use. This is a great feature for recording steps in a process to post to a website, Moodle or for home bound students.
 
To begin the recording process, open the SMART Board tools. These can be found by clicking the small light blue square with the white circle in the task bar by your monitor's time. From that menu, select Recorder. A small recording device will open with three icons that should look similar to your home remotes - one for recording, one to pause and one to stop. Just click the record button (red circle), minimize the menu and start the process you want to record. When you are finished with what you want recorded, pull the recording menu back up, click the stop button and then name and save the file.
 
If you have a microphone hooked up to your computer, this record feature will also pick up your spoken audio.
 
Here is a short video (no audio) demonstrating these steps and this is a sample idea.

This tip is two part - first of all, I want to remind you of the video resources Teacher Tube has to offer at http://www.teachertube.com/. There are video tutorials, teaching aids and many other video resources.
 
Secondly, if you have found a great resource on You Tube, there are ways to convert it. I've attached a document that explains the steps. The key - take this information home and convert the video from your home computer. You Tube will not be open in the district. Basically you'll go to either KeepVid or Video Code Zone, paste the You Tube video URL into the video converter website, the website will convert it, you'll download it from KeepVid or Video Code Zone, save it to a disk or flash drive and bring it to school. (You can try emailing or uploading it through your H Drive online access, but I think the files will be too big to work easily.) Once it's here, put the disk or flash drive in your computer and play the video.

This starts a few tips on email use. The first of these will include how to determine your mailbox view. There are two views I am going to cover. First is the Folder List which is the location where you see your cabinet, trash can and calendar. This is the column on to the left of your mailbox. To activate this column go to View, Folder List. For whatever reason, this is an easy column to accidently close - now you know how to get it back!
 
The second view is the view of the columns of your inbox. Generally you will have headings in a grey bar above your email that show who email is from, the subject and date. However, there are other options. To see your choices, right click on the grey bar with the column headings. Once the menu is exposed, select the headers to add to your inbox columns. To delete these columns, just click the header you do not want and drag it away from the other column headers.

Here's a great tip for organizing your email inbox! This tip will explain how to make folders to save important emails or email that you aren't ready to delete. This requires your Folder List to be open. You might recall from last week how to do this. Open Groupwise and go to the View menu and make sure the Folder List is checked.

When you can see the Folder List,
1. right click the Cabinet and select New Folder,
2. leave the Personal Folder selected and click Next
3. give your folder a logical name and click Next, then Finish. This will make a new folder in your Cabinet list.

Now once you have folders, you can drag and drop received emails into cabinet folders to organize and keep important emails.

A Groupwise Rule will automatically move incoming email into a folder in your cabinet. This is nice for organizing district email, listserv newsletters or even Tech Tips! :) Before setting up a rule, make a folder in your cabinet where all rerouted mail from the rule will go. If you need help making a cabinet folder, see Tech Tip #12.

Here are the steps for setting up a rule.

Now when you get email in that folder, a turquoise number in brackets will appear as a visual that you have rule routed unopened mail in that folder.

This tip will explain how to make a "send to" group for email contacts. It might be useful to set up a group of all the Special Ed teachers in your building, your department/grade level teachers, committee members, etc. The power here is when the group set up with all needed members, you won't accidently leave anyone out when you send the email.
 
Here's what to do to form an email group:

Last week we looked at making email groups. This week I'll show you how to edit the group to add new members, delete old members and entirely delete the group.

Adding new members:

1.	Within Groupwise, open the Address Book. Make certain Frequent Contacts is selected as your option of addresses.
2.	Find the group to edit in the list of addresses and double click it.
3.	The group opens in a window. On the left side of the window is the option to Add new members. Click Add.
4.	A new window opens to search for the member you need to add. Search and double click the name. The new member will automatically be added to the end of your group list.
5.	Did you accidently add the wrong person? Select the person's name in the group list and click Remove. (This will also work to edit out other members here as well.)
6.	Click OK.

Deleting old members

Deleting the entire group

This will start a short, three tip series on PowerPoint use in the classroom. This week I've attached a handout with some very basic information for developing a PowerPoint. This can be used either for your reference or something to give your kids as a cheat sheet for their use.

Secondly, I want to direct you to a location on the server where there are several PowerPoint templates good for developing review games such as Jeopardy (with and without answers), Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader, and a link to other PowerPoint game templates to download. This information can be found by opening My Computer, Vol2 on Center3, Teacher Resources folder, PowerPoint game templates folder. Just double click the template you want to open the PowerPoint template, edit the questions/answers, save it to your H Drive, and run the PowerPoint to use your game with your students.
 
Next week we will look at how to avoid PowerPointlessness in your classroom with student projects...

PowerPointlessness. A term Jamie McKenzie, a former school superintendent and editor of the education website From Now On, uses the term to illustrate the drawbacks of PowerPoint. This week we will focus on criteria to keep in mind as students (or you) build a PowerPoint to avoid PowerPointlessness. Remember the PICTURES of PowerPoint:

Paper plan before PowerPoint (lots of time can be wasted without an upfront plan)
Information before animation
Consistent colors that coordinate
Text in one or two simple fonts (limit the use of all capitals - it appears you are YELLING and they slow the reader down)
Use basic backgrounds (there's a reason books have white pages and black text - it's easier on the eyes to read!)
Remember to use your own words (and the 6x6 rule - no more than 6 lines of 6 words on each slide)
Easy on the clipart
Sounds should supplement

You might consider a three portion evaluation with PowerPoints. First, the visualness of the PowerPoints using the topics listed above. Secondly, the actual content of the PowerPoint or what gets presented in the presentation. Finally, the oral presentation bring in speaking and presentation skills. With a heavier emphasis on the evaluation of the content and the actual presentation of the PowerPoint, students will recognize, maybe with some instructional input, the importance of a professional looking PowerPoint.

PowerPoint is a great tool, but it should be thought of as a supplement rather than as a way of presenting your research.

PowerPoint is set up to be a bullet after bullet style of presentation. When this transfers to the classroom, it's difficult to get students to do something beyond this level one, knowledge and comprehension, "go-look-it-up-and-tell-me-back" application of copying and pasting fact after fact after fact.

How do you overcome this? One idea would be to include a task with the project where the PowerPoint is there to only support the final product - not become the final product. For example, when given a task of finding the motives and reasons behind the Civil War, a PowerPoint could present a particular person's point of view. Students could develop conclusions or generalizations in written format or even use this presented information for a debate. Another example could be giving a persuasive task. The PowerPoint could present the facts to support a given side but the actual student presentation would include the justification of a chosen/given side of argument.

When using PowerPoint in the classroom, consider how a factual PowerPoint presentation could lead to higher-level thinking. PowerPoint is a communication tool that should be used to support learning.

Do you know what a blog is? A blog (short for "web log") is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. Often blogs are online journals of sorts where the author is responding, blogging, to just about anything under the sun. Ask your students, I'm sure they either have their own blog or have responded to one in the past.
 
There are several classroom applications for blogging. Setting up a classroom blog gives your students a global audience and heightens their awareness in writing to literature responses, summaries, or reflections in general. Or what about a book study where students, teachers, administrators, parents, authors, etc, are actively responding to scenarios, questions, or just posting thoughts in general about a book the community is reading?
 
Interested in setting up a blog? I would recommend using Class Blogmeister. This particular site hosts your blogs and is geared toward educators. This site if very safe - safe in that you have the option of issuing a password to gain access to your blog. In this sense, not just anyone can get into your blog and read it. Safe also in that you read and approve or delete all student comments before they get posted to your blog.
 
Are you interested in setting a very safe blog for your classroom? Here is a video tutorial to help you get started. Then go to http://www.classblogmeister.com/ and start setting up your blog!

A lot has changed on the DESE website. I have organized a few curriculum links that relate to MAP and MAP prep, including GLEs, CLEs, glossaries, test practice, etc. These resources can be found at http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/resources/MAP.htm or by going to the EdTech website at http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/edtech and clicking the MAP Resources button.

As a previous email mentioned, a copy of the Presidential Inauguration has been placed on the server. You can find it at My Computer, Vol2 on Center3, Teacher Resources.
 
Now would also be a good time to mention copyright issues around cable tv recordings and how long you can legally keep them. Anything recorded from cable tv should be deleted 10 days after the recording. This means you need to view the recording within those first 10 days with your students. However, you, the teacher, can review the recording for up to 45 calendar days after the recording.
 
More classroom copyright information can be found at http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/resources/copyright.htm.

Graphic organizers are a great way to visually enhance your instruction. One site I visited even states visual learners make up 65% of student learners. Do you provide enough visuals to reach visual learners in your classroom? My next few tips will share ideas for using technology to reach visual learners.
 
First, here are a few graphic organizer sites that I recommend.
Tools for Reading, Writing and Thinking - a site for 6th - 12th grades
Education Place - elementary graphic organizers
 
These are pdf organizers - great for printing straight off the Internet.  However, the problem with using a pdf file on your SMART Board is that it's not interactive. This means when you use a stylus to write on it and scroll down, everything you've annotated disappears.
 
The solution is to capture the graphic organizer. Here's what to do. Open the pdf file from the website, go to File then Print. In the Print window use the drop down menu and select SMART Notebook Print Capture then click OK. This will capture the pdf document into a Notebook file. Now that it's in Notebook, you will be able to annotate on the organizer without anything disappearing when you scroll in the window. For an advanced tip, you can capture in the same way you print a certain range of pages. So if there are several pages of the file, adjust the print range before clicking OK to capture.

In following the tip that referenced use of graphic organizers for your visual learners last week, I wanted to pass along several websites that will visually enhance your instruction.
1. Gliffy - a site for building flow charts
2. FreeMind - a downloadable mind mapping program
3. ExploraTree - another graphic organizer site where organizers are organized by thought processes
4. Our Time Lines - a timeline site where once start and end dates are determined, a timeline will generate with important world events
5. Create A Graph - just what it says
6. Other interactive sites

The Visual Learner is the student that benefits from previewing materials and graphic organizers prior to your lesson, having paper and pencil handy and recopying or making their own notes. This week's strategy for helping the visual learner explains how to export your Notebook class notes. The reason for exporting notes is to share in a format where you don't need SMART Notebook running. Once notes are exported, you can post them to your website, email them to a homebound student, or to a parent asking for clarification or wanting to stay in the loop with classroom instruction.
 
The steps for this are quite simple.
1. In Notebook, go to File, Export.
2. You'll have four options for exporting. Exporting to pdf will be the simplest and will put your Notebook file in a format that will easily print.
3. Select pdf.
4. Now choose how you want the final copy to look. Notice in the left hand column the Print What option. You can print thumbnails, handouts or full page view.
5. Once printing options have been set, click Save and navigate to the locate to save.
6. Name your document and click Save.

This is the first tip on reaching the auditory learner in your classroom. The auditory learner is the student who remembers what they hear, learn effectively through lectures, audio and oral presentations, music, and enjoys discussions both with the whole- and individual, smaller groups.

In one way or another, this probably has already been mentioned through a Tech Tip this year, but there are several great educational streaming sites. These are all streaming video sites, great for enhancing your lecture or lesson through a video. I'm going to list a few here.
1. Teacher Tube - tutorials and videos submitted by students and teachers
2. School Tube - tutorials and videos submitted by students and teachers
3. Teacher TV - a UK site, but seems to be more geared toward classroom issues - questioning, discipline, content, etc.
4. Annenberg Media - teacher resources and professional development
5. United Streaming - need an account? Email Colleen.
6. WGBH Teachers' Domain Digital Library - short clips from public tv programs such as NOVA, ZOOM, FrontLine, American Experience along with resources and other interactive activities

Have a great You Tube video you want to show in your room but can't because it's blocked in the district? Look back to tip 10 for directions on converting the video to a format to either email or save to a thumb drive to bring in and show. (And, I'll let a secret out that there is about to be a way to view certain, approved You Tube videos. Be watching for more information about this!)

I'm attaching two documents that have a very motivating and engaging outcome. The first document explains how to attach audio to your Notebook files. The second attachment is a Notebook file with samples projects where audio has been import into Notebook.
 
This is a three step process where you need Audacity, the LAME mp3 encorder both downloaded and a microphone. You'll use Audacity to record and edit (if needed), save the file as an mp3, then insert it into Notebook. The document is self-explanatory with links for downloads and images for explaining throughout the process.
 
If you are interested in learning more about adding audio to your Notebook files, watch for the SMART Board classes to be held this summer.

This is the first tip on reaching the kinesthetic learner in your classroom. The kinesthetic learner is the student who learns best by discovery through manipulations, simulations, role playing and building models. This learner will master skills through imitation and practice.
 
There are several websites listed here that will help your kinesthetic learner through interacting with the SMART Board.
1. Math manipulatives
2. Shodor's Interactivate java activities (great for middle and high school math and science)
3. ExploreLearning - interactive math and science gizmos
4. Interactive Internet Resources - many more listed here

The Tech Tips for the rest of the year will introduce you to several Web 2.0 sites/tools to not only enhance classroom curriculum but can be used for fun as well. The first one we will look at is FreeMind, a mind mapping program. FreeMind is different from SMART Ideas because it allows you to develop a mind map with various lines/styles, color, icons and images. FreeMind can be downloaded here. Watch for more information about FreeMind in Center's summer classes.

This week's Tech Tip is about ePals. ePals offers several educational services free of charge.
Student email accounts: