My first experience using Edublogs

To make the information more easily available, I have posted many old email “posts” from last year since it’s so much easier to find old posts in a blog.

As you can see, I am still having a bit of trouble with the formatting.  First, when I copy from Word, the size font doesn’t always work.  And second, the Snagit pictures that I had so carefully included in the old emails (and Word documents) that I sent out won’t copy over.  

I suspect this will get easier with practice.  Anyway, I feel a great deal of satisfaction in getting this work posted, and am looking forward to using the blog in the fall when school starts.

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Using Excel to keep track of basic information

Suppose you’d like to keep a list of contacts with parents about students so that you have documentation of these conversations or emails.

Open Excel.   Create column headers such as those in the example.  Bold the column headers. Adjust the column widths by clicking between the column letters and dragging to the right until you have the width you like.

A	B	C	D
Parent Contacts
Name	Date	Email/phone	Communications

 

Click on the column which is likely to have a lot of content, in this case Email/Phone Communications.  Highlight the column by clicking on the column letter, in this case D, and then on Wrap Text (in the Home tab).   This will allow you to have lots of content without having your spreadsheet be two feet wide.  It will look something like this when the text wraps:

As you’re entering data, you’ll notice a couple of things.  Dates:  As you enter a date, Excel often changes the format.  If you prefer a different format, highlight the column by clicking on the column letter, then click on General in the number area in the Home tab.  You have many choices for date here (including More Number Formats at the bottom). 

Names:  if you enter a student’s name a second time, Excel will offer the entire name as you start to type it in. If this is the name you want, just press enter.  If this is another student, just continue typing the different student’s name. 

 

You could just use this as a way to keep notes.  However, Excel has some handy features that will make this even more helpful.  Suppose you want to see all the notes about one student together.  You can sort your data.  Here’s how:

First either highlight all your data, or click somewhere inside your spreadsheet data.  Then click on the Data tab and then on Sort.  Click on the down arrow next to Sort by and you will see a list of columns to sort by.  You’ll notice that Excel has figured out that you have column headers and has entered them here.  You can change what you want to Sort on and the Order if you wish as well.  Click on OK to actually sort.

If you forgot to bold your column headers, Excel won’t know what you want, so you may need to click on the red X and correct this before you continue. 

If you mess up, use the handy undo key.

Now you have a list sorted by student, so that all the information about one student is together,  handy if you have to speak about this student to an administrator or parent. 

Of course, you could also sort by any of the other headers.  And since you have more than 2 columns, you can even do a multi-level sort.  Simply click on Add level and determine how you want your data sorted.

To make your sheet even more useful, date stamp it.  Click on the Insert Tab, then on Header/Footer, then on Current Date.  It looks odd on the sheet, but this will give you the current date every time you print out this sheet, handy in seeing if this is the most recent one.

You have one more thing to do to make your spreadsheet useful.  So that everything prints out on one page, change the page orientation, like this.  Click on the Page Layout tab, then Orientation, then on Landscape. This changes the way your spreadsheet will print. 

If this still doesn’t put it all together you’d like, click on the Page Layout tab, then on Size, then on More Paper Sizes (at the bottom of the choices).  You’ll get this Page Setup dialog.  Click on Fit to.  If you think putting it all one one sheet will make it too tiny, then make it 1 page(s) wide by 2 (or more) page(s) tall.  (You can also get to this dialog via Print Preview.)

To see what this will look like without wasting paper, click on Microsoft Office button (where the File button used to be), then Print, then Print preview.  One of the options in the Print preview view is Page Setup so you can modify things until you’re happy with what you see.

Now you have a spreadsheet, sorted by student name, ready to use.

 

If you want the gridlines to show when you print (often gridlines makes the sheet easier to read), click on Gridlines to Print in the Page Layout tab.

 

There are many other tasks you can accomplish with Excel.  This is just one example.

 

 

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How to add internet activities to Edline

• 1. Decide on activities which you want students to do and write them up in Word. (You can use Excel, also.) (See “Using the Internet to Teach” for ideas. Copies are available at http://www.teacherweb.com/CT/stbernardschool/mrslo/photo6.stm )
• 2. Include internet addresses in your document. The best way to be sure you get the address right is to highlight the URL (the address shown at the top of the page when you are in the Internet), and copy it (CTRL + C, which means hold down the CTRL key while you press the C key). Then paste it into your document (one way is to click where you want the material added, then press CTRL + P ).

•3.       Save your document as a Word 97 to 2003 document.  If you forgot, just go back and do a  

Save As and be sure to select Word 97 to 2003 document (an option given either immediately or as part of the Save dialog    - if there click on the “Save as type” line at the bottom, and choose” Word 97-2003 document.”  

 

Remember that Edline doesn’t know how to handle Word 2007 documents yet.  Hint: When I know that I am going to upload a document, I save it to my desktop so that I don’t have to navigate down through folders to find it.

My apologies to Rich for invading his turf. 

• 4. Log into your Edline account, select the class you want to use, click on Assignments (or on Edit next to Contents if you haven’t added an Assignment yet). Click on “Add” to add a new Assignment.
• 5. Under Document Title type in what you want to call the assignment.
• 6. Under Add Content, click on “Import an existing file.” You will be given the choice to Import Existing File. Click on Browse to find your Word document, created earlier. Be sure to click on the one with the correct format – it has a .DOC extension, not a .DOCX extension at the end of the name. Click on Import.
• 7. Under Multiple Postings, add other classes you may want to have this same assignment.
• 8. Click on Save and Return. That’s it.

 

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Searching the internet for a topic – automatically

                Are you preparing for a unit next month, and you’d like to know about any news that relates to that unit?  Rather than going to the Internet and doing a search for current articles every few days, wouldn’t you like to be able to have these searches done – and delivered to you  - automatically? 

                Here’s how. 

First, go to www.news.google.com 

Here, you can perform your search.  For example, I wanted to see if there were any recent articles about To Kill a Mockingbird, since I’m teaching that novel.  When I searched on the title, (”to kill a mockingbird” put in quotes so I didn’t receive articles about killing and mockingbirds) I found news articles and blog postings to look at.  One important note here:  make the search specific.  If I search on something too general – “death penalty” – I’ll get much more than I want.  Use more keywords to narrow the search.  For example:  race  “death penalty” 

But I’d also like to know when new information is posted, so I click on News Alerts (over to the left of the search results).  This allows me to set up a Google Alert that will come to me once a day, once a week, or as the stories are posted – my choice.  I can also choose just straight news, but I’ve chosen comprehensive so that I get everything possible.

Will I get some junk?  Sure, but I’ll also get some items I might easily have missed. 

Once I click on Create Alert, I’ll be told there’s one more step to take.  I’ll be told that a verification email has been sent to my email address.

                When I get that confirmation email, I’ll follow the directions – click on the link to Verify this Google Alert Request – and this will confirm my request.  (This has become a standard practice due to prank Alerts people have set up for others.)  This part of the email will look something like this.   

         Verify this Google Alert request:  http://www.google.com/alerts/verifyxxxxxxxx

 So I’ll click on this link.

The time may come when I don’t want this Alert anymore.  Then, at the bottom of the alert, I click on “remove alert,” and they’ll stop sending it. 

                I can set up as many different Alerts as I want, so I can follow many different topics at once.

                I’ve set it up, and now I can just check my email, which I do anyway, and see what’s new on my topic.  Easy, no?

 

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Controlling your PowerPoint presentation

Pausing your PowerPoint Presentation

                Suppose you want to stop your presentation for awhile, and you don’t want your students to be staring at the same old slide, getting bored and antsy.

                Press the “B” key, for black.  The screen goes black and the students are more likely to look at you (where you want their attention right now.)

                When you want to return to the presentation, press the “B” key again.

                Or you can use the “W” key to switch the screen to white, and then back again.

Moving back to a previous slide

                Suppose you were clicking along and went right past a slide you wanted to show.  Do you need to go back and start over?  No.

                Right click on the slide, and you’ll be given a number of options for moving around your presentation:

• Previous slide
• Next slide
• Last viewed
• Go to slide – click on this and you’ll see the titles of all your slides, so you can pick one
• End presentation

Wouldn’t this be handy when students ask questions after your presentation?  But you must be in the presentation for this to work.  If you have ended the presentation, just restart it and right-click.

Making your PowerPoints more Active  by using a Virtual Felt Tip Pen

                Do you wish you could add more variety to your PowerPoint presentations?  Do you wish you could add answers as if you were writing on the blackboard or on an overhead?  Well you can.  Here’s how:

• 1. While in the Slide Show view (when you’re presenting your presentation), right click on your slide. Then click on Pointer Options, and then Ballpoint Pen, Felt Tip Pen, or Highlighter.
• 2. Your cursor is now a pen, and you can use it for writing, underlining, circling, and all those things you do on the blackboard (or with an overhead projector).
• 3. You can change the color of your pen by right clicking again; click on Pointer options and then Ink Color, then on the color you want.
• 4. When you’re done with the presentation, you’ll be asked if you want to keep all your markups (so they show the next time you give the presentation). Probably, your answer is “No.”

 

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