PHS 406 Project Lab News

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Contact: dmartin@parisisd.net

February 13, 2006

"If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favourable to him." Seneca

The 2006 TCEA Conference was a lot of fun and I brought back a lot of great information. I feel energized and have a new excitement about the use of technology in education. I have decided to try to keep you updated with this wiki (wiki wiki is Hawaiian for "quick" ) I hope to include ideas and hints that will help you use available technology no matter what your level of expertise. I hope you will find things that save you time, spark new ideas for using technology in your classroom, and inspire you to take whatever knowledge you have and build on it.

ConferenceNotes

When you are using a piece of software, for instance Microsoft word, and you are typing along and wish to change how one particular word looks the answer is as simple as clicking the right button on your mouse. In nearly all computer applications "right-clicking" will bring up a menu of new choices. Right clicking in itself will change absolutely nothing so you can right click with absolutely no fear! Just try it. Type a sentence in Word and then highlight one word. Right click and you will see a list of actions including changing the font, the paragraph, or even choosing a synonym for that word! Try this with any software and I promise you will find all kinds of useful information right there at the end of your mouse!

*Just For You On The Web*

I know this is not a new word but in terms of technology it has some new meanings. I looked tag up in the dictionary and under usage found this sentence which I think works well for our purpose today: "To label, identify, or recognize with or as if with a tag" I will provide you with two links where you will find the word tag a very useful tool. The first link is to an online calendar. You sign up for a free account and simply click on a date and start entering your events. This calendar is then available to you wherever you are able to log on to the Internet. If like many of us you are balancing events at work, home, church, or elsewhere; it becomes helpful to be able to highlight the events of a particular category. For example, on one day I may have entered Jane Smith tag lab, to schedule Jane in the lab. On the same day I may have entered stop by the bank tag home, and Jessica choir 4:30 tag kids. If I am only looking at one day this is not so complicated but if I am looking at an entire month of events and want to highlight my lab dates, I can simply click the find button and click the little button next to lab (The calendar automatically makes a list of all the tags I create) and voila! all my lab events for the month are now highlighted and easy for me to see. If I realize later that I want to make a change in an entry I simply click on that day and an edit button will appear to the left of each of my events. I can click edit and make my changes and the calendar is updated. I also give my kids access so they can add their events to the calendar so we are all kept up to date with our busy lives. The link is http://30boxes.com It is free and fun to play with so I check it out and get organized!

There are other sites that use tags for labeling things. One of those is http://del.icio.us/ Once again you set up a free account for yourself and you can save your bookmarks (Firefox) or favorites (Internet Explorer) online. When you save your link del.icio.us waits for you to enter "tags" which are simply key words. You can then choose to display your keywords in a list or a "cloud" A cloud just shows the keywords in a bunch that looks much like a paragraph instead of a vertical list. Either way is fine and they both display in alphabetical order. You can now access your links from any computer and you can search by clicking on the key words you have chosen.

I hope you have learned a new word and new uses for your computer. There are other free services on the web and I will tell you about some more in the next newsletter. I will be glad to help you get started if you are interested in either of these services but are a little nervous about venturing out there on your own. I think you will be up and running on your own in no time!

One last site you may want to check out is http://www.freecycle.org Click on southwest US on the side menu and scroll down to Texas. You can join groups in Paris, Sherman, and Sulphur Springs. Once you have joined the group and the moderator approves you can put items you have to give away or items you are looking for on the list. This is strictly free stuff not items you have for sale. I was able to find a home for a pet in one day on here.

For more information on free online helpful things see my HelpFul page

I love Open-Source software. If you are not familiar with the term it means software with unprotected code. If you are using it and happen to know how to write code you can change the code and share your changes with the rest of the world. This is very unlike some software that many of us use which has code that is protected by too many patents to count! The advantage for you and I is that we can use this software without having to purchase a license. There are many applications that are offered still in the beta or testing stage and you can even test them and help the people who write code by letting them know when there is an error and exactly how to duplicate that error so they can fix the problem! You actually become part of the process! There are some disadvantages as well. Sometimes open source software does not come with a users manual. Usually if you are patient and willing to go to google however, you can find some information and maybe even a forum where other folks are sharing their experience with the software. If you are a little adventurous you can find some wonderful surprises out there. One such application is called Audacity and if you find yourself wanting to record or edit sound files this is a great and fairly simple program to use. Here is the link http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ If you go to their website there are instructions on how to download, install, and use the software.

If you listen to music or watch videos online a good open source media player can be found at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ It's called the VLC media player and can play many types of media with no problems.

There are many open-source software alternatives out there and not only are they free to use but they are free to burn to cd and give to your students who may not have access to expensive software packages.

For more information and some links for downloading open source software see my OpenSource page.

• PowerPoint templates are fun but most of us and especially our students like to use pictures they find on their own for backgrounds. Remember - you must save the picture not just copy and paste. Remember where you saved it! The way to do this is to click the Format menu and choose Background. Click the Background Fill drop-down list and choose Fill Effects. Select the Picture tab. Next click the Select Picture button and navigate to the location where your images are stored. Select the image you want to use and click OK to choose the image. The Background dialog box appears again to confirm your choice. Click the Apply button to add the image to the slide.

• Word has a way to do a hanging indent but no one seems to be able to find it! It is easy once you know where to look. First hightlight your paragraph or section where you wish to create a hanging indent. Click in the top menu bar on Format and choose Paragraph. This will bring up a new menu box. On the right side there is a drop down box labeled Special - choose hanging and you will have your hanging indent. This menu box is also where you change line spacing to double.

The simplest tip - if you are having problems either seeing your classes or things just not looking right, the first thing you can do is to completely shut your computer down, wait a few seconds, turn it back on, and open your gradebook again. Sometimes this is all it takes for everything to work again. If you are still having a problem call or email me. I would love to have you set up a time in the lab when you can come log in, open your gradebook and get a little one-on-one. For more information see GradeBook

The best way for me to know if your grades are not showing up on k12 planet is if you check them and find they are not there. By the time I am contacted by a parent they are often frustrated. Usually all I need to do if your grades aren't showing up is redo your filter. It is also important that you make sure your theme is set to classic. If the bar at the bottom of your computer sscreen is a plain grey toolbar then you are fine. If however it it a pretty blue bar then you need to right-click on a blank place on your desktop and click on properties. From there choose theme, and from the drop-down box choose classic. Your grades will not export correctly if you are not set to the classic theme. If you don't know your username and password to get to your classes email me and I will send it to you. Again - if you would like a little one-on-one I would be glad to help.

http://www.k12planet.com

To see my other pages start here - FrontPage