Tech Tips for Teachers

Another idea is to take your back to school to-do list to the next level. I did this for myself last year and it has been a huge relief! Instead of jotting a bunch of to-do’s on various sticky notes and several different lists, I created one master list. Then as I went through pre-planning and the first weeks, I added to that list whenever something came up that wasn’t already on it. This really took the pressure off of me to remember every little thing, and saved me the anxiety of having to worry if I was forgetting something.

#33: Organizing your Lotus Notes workspace – 8/18/06

You will occasionally need to access other databases besides your email (that’s what all of those squares are—databases). You may need to look up some AKS information, check the Arcado calendar, or order a video from the IRC. All of these are contained in databases, but there are so many of them that it can be hard to find what you want quickly. The solution is to organize them into categories, kind of like using folders. What you need to create are some workspace pages.

See the tab on the top left of your gray workspace? Mine in the image below says “Mail.” That shows the title for your workspace page. Double-click the title to bring up a properties window that will allow you to change the name. You can also change the color if you like. Just close the properties window when you’re done.

To make a new workspace page, you can either go to Create – Workspace Page, or you can right-click on the area where the tabs are and choose Create Workspace Page. Look below to see how I have organized my databases for easy access, and then design a system that will work for you. Easy!

#34: But where is my workspace??? – 8/25/06

This is a welcome page. You can actually customize it to show all of the things that you want to see when you start LN. To do so, you can click on “Click here for Welcome Page options” at the top of the screen. But what if you want the old workspace back?

Fortunately, that is easy to do. First, click on the “Databases Bookmark” on the left. It looks like a folder with a blue can in front of it. Then, look for the Workspace icon and RIGHT-CLICK it. Choose “Set Bookmark as Home Page.” You’re done!

#35: Got Map? – 9/1/06

#36: Tiny URL – 9/8/06

Sometimes sharing web addresses in email, newsletters, or simply on the board in class can be difficult when URL’s are super long. Isn’t that annoying? Worse is when someone emails you a link and it is longer than the line, so it breaks in the middle and you can’t click it or copy and paste it easily.

#37: Paste Special – 9/15/06

#38: Reorganizing class list in IGPro – 9/22/06

You can rearrange your class list in IGPro quite easily. Just go to Setup – Students. You will see your class list on the left-hand side of the dialog box that comes up. To move a child, hold down the Ctrl key while you click and drag the name where you want it to be. Note that you will have to rearrange the class list in each subject separately, since IGPro considers each subject to be a separate class.

#39: Copying a task in IGPro – 9/29/06

Enter the grades in science, and then go to the reading spreadsheet. Go to Tasks – Copy Tasks. In the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog box, select science as the class to copy from, and then click Next. Select the assignment from the list of assignments that comes up, and click Next. Raw score should be selected in the next screen. Click Next. Next it tells you that it is ready to copy. Click OK to go ahead (or cancel if you’ve changed your mind). Done!

#40: Get where you’re going faster – 10/6/06

#41: Now where did I put that…? – 10/16/06

1. Go to Start - Search – For Files or Folders.
	2. You’ll see the search window. Click on “All files and folders” on the left.
	3. The left pane changes to this form. Type your search term in the top text box and change “Look In:” to the place you want to look, such as H: or S: (home drive or shared drive). Here, I’m looking for a Bill Nye handout. I’ve chosen to search for “nye” because I know it’s part of the filename for the handout, and won’t be part of any other filename. Notice I’ve set it to look in H:. If you want to look in a specific folder, click on the drop down menu and go to the bottom to choose “Browse…”
	4. Click “Search” and wait for your results. Ah! There are my video questions! :o)

#42: Search for files on the desktop PC – 10/20/06

1. Go to Start – Find… – Files or Folders
	2. Type your search term in the top text box (“Name:”) and change “Look In:” to the place you want to look, such as H: or S: (home drive or shared drive). If you want to look in a specific folder, click on the drop down menu and go to the bottom to choose “Browse…”
3. Click “Search” and wait for your results.

#43: Make a web link in Lotus Notes – 10/27/06

1. Type or paste the address where you want it to appear.
2. Select the address again and copy it (Edit – Copy or right-click – Copy).
3. Make sure the address is still selected. Go to Create – Hotspot – Link Hotspot. The dialog box below pops up:
   
4. Click in the box “Value” and paste the address.
5. Tiny buttons will appear next to the Value field with a checkmark and an x. Click the checkmark to accept the address.
6. Close the dialog box, and your link has turned blue!

#44: Refresh your inbox – 11/3/06

#45: Format a worksheet – 11/17/06

Original look for a matching question, using the spacebar to organize my text:
1. The first planet in the solar system is _______.            A. Venus
2. The second planet in the solar system is ________.     B. Mercury

I decide to change the wording of my questions a bit:
1. The planet that is closest to the Sun is _______.            A. Venus
2. The second planet from the Sun is ________.     B. Mercury

Not to mention what happens if some of those matching questions have to go to a second line. There are two easy ways to solve these formatting woes in Word. The first is to use the Tab key to line up your items instead of the space bar. The second is to use columns or an invisible table. The Tab key is nice because it makes everything line up just right, and it takes a lot fewer keystrokes. If you change something and one of the items is off, you can just add or delete another Tab to make it right again.

Columns are nice because they let you have your questions take up two lines without having to cut and paste or delete and re-type your answer choices. They also line up your two columns—in this case questions and answers—evenly, easily. I will get to invisible tables next week, but here are the directions for using columns.

1. Type in all of your questions (or column 1 data), and then type in your answer choices (or column 2) down below.
   1. The first planet in the solar system is _______.
   2. The second planet in the solar system is ________.
   A. Venus
   B. Mercury
2. Select all of the information (questions and answers) and go to Format – Columns.
3. Click on the choice for two columns, and make sure the choice at the bottom says Apply to: Selected Text
4. If you don’t see two columns, click at the beginning of your first item for column B (here, right before the letter A), and go to Insert – Break – Column break – OK. That’s it!

#46: Format a worksheet Part 2 – 11/21/06

Go to Table – Insert – Table. Set the number of columns and rows and hit OK. You can click on any of the borders of your table to move or resize them until they are lined up just right, but it may help to type the text in first so that you can see where you want everything to be. Finally, go to Format – Borders and Shading. Make sure that the lower right hand says Apply to: Table, then click None in the upper left and click OK. The border lines turn to gray, letting you know they won’t print.

#47: Making a checklist – 12/1/06

You can easily use Word to create a checklist with checkboxes. Go to Format – Bullets and Numbering. You will see some options for bullets. You may see checkboxes there already (if so, just choose that and click OK). If not, choose another style and then click the Customize button. Next click the button that says Character.

At the top where it says Font, choose Wingdings. Scroll through the symbols shown (as needed) until you see the checkbox you’d like to use. You can also choose other fun bullet symbols like smiley faces, pointing fingers, or checkmarks. When you’ve selected your symbol, click OK and then OK again and you’re done. Just type your list, hitting enter after each item.

The great thing is that you won’t have to go through all of these steps the next time. Next time when you are ready to use checkboxes, it will be one of the initial choices you see.

#48: More quick tips for Word – 12/8/06

• To make quick and even blanks in a worksheet, try turning on underline and then using the tab key. If it doesn’t work at first, hit the space bar once before using Tab. This makes nice even blanks and requires less keystrokes.
• To indent the first line, use either the tab key or go to Format – Paragraph and set indent options there. Set the amount of the indent, then choose “First Line” in the “Special” drop down box. You can also look in the ruler and slide the top triangle over to where you want the indent.
  Here I’ve indented the first line ˝ inch.
• You can create a hanging indent (first line out at the margin and subsequent lines indented) by going to Format – Paragraph, setting the amount, and then choosing “Hanging” in the “Special” drop down box.
• Instead of using dashes and the space bar, create a bulleted list by using the bullets button in the toolbar or use Format – Bullets and Numbering.

#49: Say What? – 12/15/06

#50: Helpful websites for teachers part 5 – 1/12/07

#51: Mark email read or unread – 1/19/07

#52: Quick printing of existing documents – 1/26/07

#53: Quickly open a recent document – 2/2/07

#54: WordZap – 2/9/07

What I really love about using this game in the classroom is that it is fully customizable. Here are some of the settings you can control:

• There is a handicap level for the player based on how well the play goes, and you can also set the handicap level manually to make it easier or harder.
• The game can be set so that it will not accept objectionable words. It’s quite conservative, so students will be protected from not only curse words, but also sensitive, blasphemous, or politically incorrect words.
• There is an option to accept (or not accept) three-letter words.
• The letter combinations can be set to easy, standard, or hard to limit the difficult letters like Q or X.

#55: Passwords part 1 – 2/16/07

• To avoid using real words, try using an acronym for a song lyric or phrase that you like. For example, the Rolling Stones song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” begins, “I was born in a crossfire hurricane.” If that were your favorite song, you might start your password with iwbiach (the first letter from each word).
• To make your password more secure, you could add uppercase letters. For instance, in the example above you could capitalize the first and last letters: IwbiacH
• Next, try adding some numbers. This could be as simple as adding some favorite number to the end: IwbiacH03 (2003 is the year my daughter was born.)
• Another way to add numbers is to look at your letters and the words they represent and see if they look or sound like any numbers. For instance, replace the letter O with zero, lowercase L with one, S with five.

#56: Passwords part 2 – 2/23/07

• If you are worried about using the same password for every account (and who can remember 50 different passwords?), there are two ways to simplify the problem without giving up all of the security of multiple passwords. One would be to use one password for the really important stuff, like your bank accounts, and a different password for more casual accounts like Hotmail.
• Another way to handle it is to use the same password, but add a word on the end that describes the account: IwbiacH03Hotmail ("I was born in a crossfire Hurricane" from last week, '03 for 2003, Hotmail)
• Just be careful you don’t make your passwords too long. Since longer passwords are more secure, but some accounts set limits on length, I try to aim for eight characters to keep the same few passwords working for all of my accounts. You could shorten the password just above by just keeping the “I was born” part of the Stones lyrics and changing Hotmail to HM: Iwb03HM

#57: Combining two grades into one – 3/2/07

1. Go to Tasks > Combine Tasks and select “Combine to Percentage.” Click Next.
   
2. Select the tasks you want to combine, and click Next.
3. IGPro will create a brand new task for the combined score. On the next screen, enter a name for the new task that’s being created.
4. On the next screen, choose Yes or No to decide whether you want IGPro to delete the original tasks. I suggest keeping them for your records, but “dropping” them so that they are still in your gradebook, without counting toward students’ averages.
5. Click the Combine button.

#58: Dropping grades part 1 – 3/9/07

To completely drop one or more tasks (while keeping the original scores recorded for your records):

1. Go to Tasks > Drop/Restore Scores. Make sure that “Drop Scores” is selected, and click Next.
2. Make sure all students are selected on the left, and select the task(s) you want to drop on the right.
3. At the bottom where it says “For each student, drop up to __ tasks,” enter the total number of tasks you are dropping, and click Next.
   
4. Click Drop to complete the drop.
5. The grades will show up as “Drop” and won’t count into the averages. To see the original grades, click on the Tasks button or go to Tasks > Edit Tasks. Select the dropped task and click on the Scores tab. You will see the original scores in the % column on the right.
   

#59: Dropping grades part 2 – 3/16/07

1. Go to Tasks > Drop/Restore Scores. Make sure that “Drop Scores” is selected, and click Next.
2. Make sure all students are selected on the left.
3. On the right, either select all of the tasks (if you want all tasks to be considered when dropping the lowest score), or select only certain tasks (for instance, here you could select just the classwork tasks to exclude tests from being dropped). In the example below I have excluded the chapter 8 math test scores from being considered in the drop.
4. At the bottom where it says “For each student, drop up to __ tasks,” enter 1 (to drop only one lowest score for each student), and click Next.
   
5. Click Drop to complete the drop.
6. The grades will show up as “Drop” and won’t count into the averages. To see the original grades, click on the Tasks button or go to Tasks > Edit Tasks. Select the dropped task and click on the Scores tab. You will see the original scores in the % column on the right.

#60: Helpful websites for teachers part 6 – 3/23/07

#61: Where is my stationery? – 3/30/07

Rest assured that your stationery (including your leave request form) is not gone for good. It is just moved. To find it, click on the Tools button and choose “New Memo – Using Stationery…” A dialog box will appear with all of your stationery listed. Choose the one you want from the list, and click OK.