The End of Summer (sigh...)

You can feel it in the air - it's almost here... Time to get back to business - the business of teaching! I must admit, I am looking forward to the start of the school year for a change. The faculty was energized in June by the speaker and then the workshops run by PLP members. I can't wait to see the new technologies used. There will be a whole new language heard around school: Nings, and wikis and glogs, oh, my!

It's the Little Things!

In the past week, a couple of people have reminded me that sometimes it's helpful to have a reminder of basic technology tools, shortcuts or tips. These are little things that I take for granted, I guess. Take for example, the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste (ctrl-c to copy and ctrl-v for paste). When I mentioned them to a teacher in a recent workshop, she gave me a blank stare and then she thanked me for telling her about them! She was thrilled! I was surprised - doesn't everyone know them? I guess not. So here are a couple more: ctrl-z to undo; ctrl-s to save; ctrl-p to print. More later - enjoy!

I love Technology!

I do, I love technology. I guess that makes me a geek - but aren't geeks in these days? That's ok. I am on the computer all the time - checking email, playing games, looking stuff up, and on and on. When my computer failed earlier this year, I was crushed. I did what I could but no change. A friend looked at it and helped me retrieve my files from the hard drive. That helped. Then, I could at least re-format the drive and start over. It was actully a little exciting, starting from scratch! Except, every once in a while I realize I am missing something I had before - a favorite website or program. But it's okay, I can move on. It has made me be a little more careful and I do backup more and am a little more organized. Even old geeks can learn new tricks!!