Make new friends

The song we used to sing in Brownies keeps going through my head. "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold." I started a new job almost 2 years ago and although it was rough going, everything is working out. I have met new friends and it's a good thing to shake things up once in a while. I have learned lots of new technology. Don't ever believe the saying, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." I guess I am a motivated "old dog!" I have always enjoyed new gadgets and new technology. I love my iPhone. What did we do before cell phones? And iPhones! Forget about it! You could be in a room full of people and most of them will pull out a smartphone and do something with it! How else can you keep up with friends or family that you rarely see! What will they think of next?!

Keeping Favorites

Remember when your favorites were actually people and things? Now they are websites! i have been saving most of mine on Delicious.com. Just the other day, I got an email from Yahoo (imagine that!) telling me that Delicious is going away. I tried to move my favorites from Delicious to Evernote (a different kind of online storage) but after following multiple steps, I failed to move them over. I gave up for a little while but the email from Yahoo was nagging at me from the back of my brain. So, I tried again. This time, something caught my eye. There was a link that said to use Google Bookmarks! Google to the rescue! (once again!!!) I click the link and VOILA, there they were! Of course, later, when I went to find them again, I couldn't. You see, Google has Bookmarks, which you can add to a list of favorites by clicking on a star in Google Chrome and then there are Bookmarks that are part of a social network of favorites, like Delicious. But they are not the same Bookmarks. To find my new Bookmarks that were exported from Delicious, I clicked on More at the top of the Google home page and then the Even More link at the bottom of that list and there they were! They are easy to use and organize so THANK YOU GOOGLE! My favorites are saved!

Spring has sprung!

I am so ready for the winter to be over! I am ready for some new challenges. There are so many new things happening every day on the Internet. I learn something new everyday and sometimes I learn it from one of the students. One of my classes is working on a new program named Scratch, created by MIT. It involves programming, but it does it in such a way that it is lots of fun! We are creating animations and even I made a leprechaun dance! The students are much better at it than me but they tolerate me and I direct them and keep them on target. Try something new - it keeps you young!

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New year - new resolution!

I really feel the need to re-charge! I can't wait to attend the PETE & C conference in February to get energized and excited about technology again. January has been busy but you can see that I have been a little slow in blogging. I am even going to give Twitter another try. In the meanwhile, I will be visiting teachers at my school to see what technology is being used, what might be used and what I can do to help. I read on Twitter about some mini workshops being done in some schools. They remind me of some of the sessions at the conference - 60 tools in 60 minutes! We could show 60 tech uses in 60 minutes and showcase what some of the teachers are using. I am going to look into it. Don't be surprised to see me coming to ask for your help!

Smart Fun!

If you can use a computer and a mouse, you can use an interactive white board! Yes, it really is that simple. BUT there are many more features for you to learn and use. There are tools to make your lessons more interactive and attractive to your class. There are pens, a highlighter, a screen to hide part of your lesson, and a spotlight to focus attention on a specific item.

There are settings you can customize, too, to make the board more efficient. If you are having trouble with the touch, try customizing the orientation of the board. Click on the link for Other Smart Tools and choose the Control Panel. then select Smart Hardware Settings. In the drop-down list, choose Orientation. The default number of points for orienting the board is 9, but you can choose 12 or 20. The more points, the more accurate the orientation will be.

Another feature you will want to check out is the Design Gallery. There are graphics and interactive activities for you to use. You can use the Search feature to find items or browse through the items listed by subject. Check out the interactive lessons!

Tips for Microsoft Word 2007

If you missed the workshop this past week, here is a tip for working in Microsoft Word 2007 and I will put the rest of the tips on the Tech Tidbits Ning:

Line spacing:
• default spacing is1.15 with space after each paragraph
• To change spacing – highlight text and select No Spacing in the Styles section of the Home tab
• To make the change permanent – make the changes, click the bottom arrow at the end of the styles. Choose Save Selection as a New Quick Style. Name it My Style and a new button will appear in the Style section.

Laptops @ school

Laptop use is on the rise at school! Using it to take roll saves lots of time. If you just close the lid (ssh, it's sleeping...), you can leave My Backpack open and it will save you some time for the next class, especially if you have to move to another room.

Did you know that when you log on to your laptop at school, it reacts the same way at any of the desktops at school. You can use Outlook to check your email (NOT the web access) and if you open My Computer, you can see all the drives available to you. No need for Citrix at school - you still need to use Citrix when you use your laptop at home.

Have any of you found any other good suggestions?