Ron Shannon was selected Technology Director of the Year because of his life-long commitment to technology in education. Ron has been a pioneer in educational technology and a role model for all directors of technology.  He was able to balance the role of administrative and educational technology in a large school district.   He was one of the first to have a vision for voice, video, and data networks in all classrooms.  Amphitheater was one of the first districts to wire schools for phones, computers and video networks because of his vision.  Amphitheater School District has always been on the cutting edge of technology innovation because of the leadership of Ron Shannon.

Ron designed and implemented multi-million dollar technology projects, grants, and construction projects.  But, he is a person who truly cares about students and staff.  Ron believes he can make a difference; he believes in the education system, and he is driven to do his best for students, parents, and staff. Ron has dedicated his life to educating the students of Arizona and providing them with the educational technological tools to achieve success in the 21st century.  Ron Shannon is an exemplary educator and was very deserving of the 2003 AzTEA Innovation Technology Director of of the Year Award.

Kelly Woods received the award because she is an amazing and talented first year teacher at Walker Elementary.  Kelly has daily PowerPoint presentations describing her schedule, the State Standards she is meeting, behavior expectations and upcoming events. This year Kelly has her 4th grade students participating in numerous online activities to meet the State Standards.  Her students are publishing their book reports online at the student publishing site www.bookhooks.com.  She first had her students go to the site to read and analyze three reports written by other students. Then her students read a book, took notes, and wrote a rough draft of their report based on certain criteria. After receiving parent permission, they then published their book reports at the bookhooks.com site. You can see her lesson plan at www.amphi.com/~technology/standards/lessons/edtech/woods1.html

In addition, Kelly is having her students participate in the Down the Drain collaborative project (www.k12science.org/curriculum/drainproj/) where students monitor how much water they use on a daily basis for a week.  The students then use Excel to compare and contrast their water usage with students from around the world.  Currently, Kelly’s students are using real time data to track the data on the crewmembers on the space station at a NASA site as part of the space unit. She is participating in the Amphitheater Ed Tech Grant Staff Development Program and her technology skills and lessons far exceed many of the teachers who have been in the profession for years.  Kelly is the pride of Amphi!

We are honoring him with a Retirement Party on May 3rd.  It will be at the El Conquistador Country Club on north La Canada (just north of Lambert) at 6 PM.  There will be a no-host bar social time from 6 to 6:45 PM.  A delicious buffet dinner, dessert and short program will follow.  The cost of this fun-filled night is $26 per person.  Sue Sledge (696-5214) is taking reservations through April 15th.  We hope that all who know and love Ron will be able to attend.

With AzCIS, you can easily navigate between occupational information, the related programs of study and training, and the schools that offer the training. This is similar to the Choices program, but I find it more comprehensive and user-friendly. It can be used with middle school and high school students.

In AzCIS, you can find information about:

• Nearly 500 occupations
• Web links to America’s Job Bank
• Videos and real world interviews
• Military employment
• Interest and skills assessments
• More than 120 programs of study and training
• More than 4,000 colleges and universities
• Over 2,500 sources of financial aid
• Suggested courses for high school
• How to develop good job search skills and write resumes
• Opportunities for self-employment…and much, much more!

Each AzCIS licensed school or site utilizes a unique username and password to log on. CDO’s log on is:
USERNAME: canyondohs
PASSWORD: 4azcis02

Try it out using our password, then call Susan Mellegard at 602-542-5353 to set up your school. Ironwood Ridge High School teachers should contact their counseling department, since that school is already signed up. In addition, you can request CD’s that can be loaded onto your school’s server to make viewing the videos easier when working with large groups of students.

To Access TEAMS Teaching do the following steps exactly.

Register at:
http://teachingcircles.lacoe.edu

1. Go to the left sidebar and click on How to Subscribe.
2. Are you a teacher for one of our National Partners? Click Yes.
3. In the Registration Instruction box select ASSET from the pull-down menu.
4. Enter the password asuedtech.
5. Click the Register button
6. Complete the Required. Personal Information and Username and Password.
7. Click on Complete Registration
8. Congratulations! You are now a member of TEAMS Teaching Circles will appear.
9. Click here to login with your Username will return you to the front page.
10. Log in using your email address as your user name and new password.

Select either K-3 or 4-8 > click on “Working With Assessments> click
on “Preparing for Standardized Testing.”

Twenty nine years!  I can’t believe that I have been here that long.
What a wonderful experience it has been.  As a band teacher, I had the opportunity to work with some of the most interesting students in our schools.  Even to this day when someone comes up to me and asks me if I’m “Mr. Shannon,” I just smile and say that yes, I was their band teacher.  More often than not, I can even remember their name, what school they went to and what instrument they played.  They really did touch my life in a significant way and their memories today can still make me feel good.  I learned so much about life when working with the students.  Their perceptions, their honesty, and their trust always amazed me and made me work harder to be as good a teacher as I could.

At the same time, as an itinerate teacher traveling between five schools I got to meet many incredible teachers and staff.  I can remember many great times working and playing with many new friends both at work and on weekends.  I learned so much about teaching, about responsibility, and about life.  For those friends that have already retired and those still working thank you for your patience, support and friendship.  Those memories will be with me always.

After seven years of teaching band, I was asked if I’d be interested in teaching a new computer class at Cross Junior High.  I started that class with 15 Pet Commodore computers.  What an exciting time for both the students and me.  We were learning together and having a blast.  The next year I moved to the District offices and began teaching teachers and staff how to use the computers for word processing.  I was in heaven.  I just loved learning how to do something and then teaching others how to do it.

After about six years of various responsibilities from training to computer support, the Technology Department was established.  I was again challenged to quickly learn an entirely new set of skills.  Technically, I had to learn about video systems, telephone systems, different computer systems and the software applications that ran on them.  It was an exciting and challenging time.  Once again, I couldn’t imagine anyone else having a better job in the District.  I got to hire some of the most incredibly talented and intelligent people that I had ever worked with and we then set out to change the way the District operated.  We coined the term VVD, which stood for Voice, Video, Data.  We set out to install the VVD infrastructure at every site in Amphi.  Without going into great detail, the Technology Department has installed a television set in every classroom with a video distribution system across the campus; installed a phone in every classroom and office in the District with access to voice mail; and computers and networks for just about everyone in the District with access to Email and the Internet. It was during this time that I realized how fortunate I was to work with and have support from many forward thinking administrators and Board members.  Without their support the District would not be where it is today.

The Technology Department has definitely made a difference in the way staff works, the way teachers teach, and the way students learn.  I am just so proud to have worked with so many talented people in the Technology Department.  I am totally in awe of their dedication and technical abilities.  I have intentionally refrained from naming names for fear that there wouldn’t be enough room and that I might leave someone out.  But do know, each and everyone of you have made a difference in my life.  Thank you!

Rules to Live By
Here are a few rules that I live and work by:
Stay in good health.  Have personal and professional goals, and stay focused on them.  When working with people treat them fairly and with respect.  Be a life long learner.  Make a difference in a child’s life and it will change your life as well.  Live life with a passion.  Do what you enjoy and enjoy what you do.

As many of you know, my latest passion has been flying.  I have spent hundreds of hours learning the concepts and developing the skills to be a pilot.  In doing that, the process helped me in many other ways both personally and professionally.  It gave me focus, showed me that I can achieve my goals with hard work, and that learning something new everyday is most important.  If you are interested in seeing the world from a single engine Cessna, get in touch with me; we’ll split the expenses and we’ll go flying!

For those of you that would like to stay in touch, my email account is:  rons124@comcast.net

On the personal side, David is married and has three children.  He also has a niece and nephew that attend Amphitheater District.  He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration/Technology Management.  David is an avid runner and has participated in two marathons so far.

Ever since I announced that I was considering retiring, David has been interested in this position.  I am so pleased that he was successful in his bid for this job.  David is most excited to be returning to Tucson and looking forward to working in Amphi.  As soon as he gets situated, David will visit each of the schools and support sites to introduce himself to the Amphi staff.  He has many challenges ahead, but is excited to lead the District in the implementation and use of technology.  Please welcome him to the Amphi community.

The class being offered at AMS will be held June 2nd and 3rd from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm and you should contact Jeannie Wager – jwager@amphi.com to sign up.

The class is being offered at Wilson K-8 will be held June 9th and 10th from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm and you should contact Lisa Boyer – lboyer@amphi.com to sign up.

Q. Can I get more RAM (memory) added to my computer?
A. Yes, we can upgrade most machines to 256MB of RAM.  Unfortunately we do not have memory for laptops.

Q. Should I keep the Compaq monitor with the Compaq computer and the ViewSonic monitor with the Gateway computer?
A. Yes.  Because of warranty issues all equipment should stay together.  You must keep all components with original equipment including the keyboard, so if your Compaq keyboard needs replacing we need the serial # of the computer it came with in order to replace it.  The same goes for Gateway equipment.

Q. Can I get a CD burner?
A. Yes. If your site will purchase a CD burner, technology will be happy to install it for you.

Q. Can I get Internet Explorer installed on my computer?
A. Yes.  Internet Explorer no longer causes conflicts with our network and any version greater than 5.0 can now be installed on district computers.

Multiple Intelligences Wheel - provides an interactive questionnaire that students complete which produces a multiple intelligences wheel based upon Gardner’s eight multiple intelligences. The wheel is geared for secondary students. www.bgfl.org/bgfl/muscat_notes/580pks3.htm

Linda’s Links to Literature – provides 5800+ links to activities and lesson plans for children’s and young adult literature. Links are arranged in alphabetical order by title.
www.richmond.k12.va.us/readamillion/LITERATURE/lindas_links_to_literature.htm

Best of History Web Sites - provides links to over 800 history-related web sites that have been reviewed for quality, accuracy, and usefulness designed to benefit history educators and their students.  They provide sites with engaging educational content and stimulating and useful multimedia.
www.besthistorysites.net/

Keyboarding Resources – provides a variety of links to resources for keyboarding including letters to parents, self-assessments, keyboards, word and sentence lists, keyboarding practice, and more.
jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/isu/itech/keybo/keydx.htm

Rubrics for Exemplars Math – Here are several rubrics for exemplars math.

Exemplars Math Problem Solving Rubric
www.exemplars.com/rubrics/math_rubric.html

Exemplars Primary Jigsaw Math Problem Solving Rubric
www.exemplars.com/rubrics/primary_math_rubric.html

Exemplars Student Friendly Math Problem Solving Rubric
www.exemplars.com/rubrics/words.html

Exemplars Thermometer Math Problem Solving Rubric
www.exemplars.com/rubrics/thermometer.html

EduScapes: A Site for Life-Long Learners
http://eduscapes.com
Grades K-12 and Professional Development
This site also has information for teachers and students. There are two sections of this site I use quite often. The first is 42explore, which is a great place to start finding information about a topic instead of using a search engine. There is a new topic each week and you can search by subject or by week. For each topic there is an easy and harder definition of the topic, “four to explore” areas which take you to sites that provide you with much more information about the topic, then there is a section of activities related to the topic, and then more websites that relate to the topic. The second area that I use often is Teacher Tap. This section has professional development resources for teachers trying to incorporate technology into their curriculum. There is information on WebQuests, Online Lesson Plans, and One Computer Classrooms to name just a few.

Many of us forget to empty our email trash or get rid of sent letters to other individuals. If you don’t need these, then please delete them.  Eventually, with enough ancient emails, you can cause the email to work more slowly because the trash has never been emptied.

To remedy this, please do the following:

1. Open GroupWise
2. Click on the word “Sent Items” once in the left column
3. Delete all of the emails that you do not need to keep by pressing the Delete Icon on your screen or the delete key on your keyboard.  You can select multiple messages to delete by holding down the control key as you select the messages and then click the delete key.
4. Click on the word “Trash”
5. Right click on the Icon next to it.
6. Select "Empty Trash" with the left click and you're finished (Note: this may take a few seconds or so depending on how many old trashed emails you have.)

Three Internet sites may be of value to both instructors and students while doing research and formulating bibliographies.  Landmark-Project (http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/cm.php) offers book, magazine, newspaper, encyclopedia, online, and CD-ROM (no video) entry formats.  The site allows students to automatically process, using either MLA or APA style, a bibliographic entry merely by inserting the necessary information.   A Research Guide for Students (http://www.aresearchguide.com/index.html) is an excellent site for research as well as bibliographic format. Noodle Tools.com is a subscription service that provides a simple interface that allows you to quickly generate an MLA or APA bibliographic entry for a wide variety of resources.

Librarians have provided teachers with a variety of ideas to assist students with research. One helpful tool is a Collection Sheet that assists students with gathering pertinent bibliographic information while researching.  At Prince Elementary library assistant Roberta Ford has even designed a bibliography bookmark.  Collaborate with your school librarian on ways to take the “BOO! out of bibliographies!

That’s where PowerPoint comes in.  Put some sparkle in your content. Read a few books or articles, watch some videos, do some investigating on the Internet, and before you know it, you have enough additional information to expand even the driest unit.

Now the hard part, you have great information, but how do you keep the students interested?  First thing, get the kids actively involved in the presentation. One of the things I do is to have students run the show. I found a small plastic toy that makes a loud clicking sound when you press the metal strip inside (Petco- $2.00- they are used to train dogs, but don’t tell the kids). I click the metal from the back of the room and the student sitting at the computer (Clicker Dude, as we fondly call him) pushes the spacebar and moves the presentation to the next slide.  It is a highly coveted position, and we do enough PowerPoints during the year, that everyone gets at least one chance to be the clicker person.

I also run an overhead copy of my complete lecture notes during the PowerPoint presentation.  These notes are everything I am going to say, which is, of course, a lot more information than I expect the students to copy into their notes. Since my lectures can sometimes be quite long, I type the parts of the information I want students to copy in large, bold print. This is the exact same information that appears on the PowerPoint slides. That way if a student falls behind in getting a section of the notes copied from the PowerPoint presentation, the class can move ahead to the next slide and that student can look up front at the overhead and get caught up.  I also have students run the overhead notes. The student sitting in front of the projector removes the old overhead when I say “Ding” and the student sitting behind the overhead (“Dong”) puts the next overhead in place. (Yes, the students came up with the names.)

As far as the presentation itself, probably the easiest way to make it more interesting is the addition of pictures. They can be historical, humorous, digital, or even self-drawn. Let the kids see what Charles Lindbergh and his plane looked like, the shape of different white blood cells, or how a Venus flytrap ensnares its dinner.  These pictures are easily found on the Internet or can be scanned in from books. Once again, involve the kids. Students can bring pictures in on floppies to add to the lecture. If you have a digital camera, you can take your own pictures.  I use digital pictures when we classify the shapes of leaves and the different types of clouds.  Self-drawn pictures are an interesting addition also.  If you have a drawing program, this is another good way to keep the kids interested.  My students rather enjoy seeing my feeble attempts of drawing pictures of clouds and trees to explain the path of lightning. They tend to liken them to their early drawings in first grade.  It is even better if you have an animation-drawing program. Animated arrows flowing around a plane wing to explain airflow in the Bernoulli Principle make the students take notice.

Sounds are also great additions.  Now I don’t mean the sounds included with the PowerPoint program.  I personally find the students are distracted by the typewriter or laser sounds that come with the program.  Use sounds that fit the topic.  When we are discussing space suits and the hazards of pressurization in space, I have Buzz Lightyear exclaim, “My eyeballs could have been sucked from their sockets!” With a picture of an early attempt by the Wright brothers to get a plane off the ground is a voice exclaiming, “Lift!  We need lift!”  Kids love these and if you play them after the students have had time to copy the notes on the slide, it doesn’t present any sort of disruption.  There are tons of movie sound clips available (remember to watch copyright rules) as well as historic ones.  Don’t just talk about Neil Armstrong’s well-known words as he stepped out of the Eagle onto the moon’s surface, let the students hear him.  The Hindenburg disaster is much clearer to the class when you have a slide of it falling to the ground in flames as a recording of the reporter who was on the site gives his first hand account.

Review questions are also nice if they are sprinkled throughout your presentation.  “O.K., we just discussed the parts of a flower.  Write down the male parts of a flower in your notes.”  The next slide would give the answers.  Or try using true/false or multiple-choice reviews.  Have the class vote on an answer.  On the slide with the question create links to other slides that either tell them they are correct or tells them to choose again.

FYI’s can also spice up a presentation.  FYI’s are slides with little interesting tidbits of information.  For example, after discussing the parts of a tree, put in an FYI.  FYI: Did you know the oldest tree in the world is a bristle cone pine in the White Mountains of California?  After this slide, show a picture of that tree.  After studying Wiley Post’s record setting flight around the world, put in this FYI:  Wiley Post invented the first “dumb auto pilot” on his trip around the world.  It was a string attached to one end of a wrench and at the other end to his arm.  He held the wrench in his hand, and if he fell asleep and dropped the wrench, it would pull the string on his arm and jerk him awake.

The background of the slides may seem like a minor detail, but it is an easy place to make changes. I find that I get bored if I watch a presentation with the same background on each slide.  Students do, too. I realize that there are some great time saving templates available in the program that put the same background on all your slides, but try making your own. Vary the colors and borders. I think you will find that the students stay a little more focused.

And finally, after your presentation is created, remember it can be saved as HTML and added either to your personal or the school web page. Students and parents can then access your lecture from home at any time (great for review and students absent for extended periods.  Kids can easily access your web site from their Grandmother’s house in Wisconsin and keep up with the class), and since it is saved as HTML, they do not need PowerPoint on their computers to view it.

With a little imagination, PowerPoint can go from a routine classroom tool to an innovative way to spark renewed interest and participation in the lecture process. And remember, even though it does take a little while to create, you can use this presentation year after year. To me, that’s a great investment in time.

Through hands-on activities, study tours, stimulating presentations, and engaging discussion with their colleagues, participants who attend the programs learn new content as well as the latest research-based teaching strategies.  The Arizona Foundation for Resource Education  prides itself on making a difference for teachers, for their students, and ultimately, for Arizona.
If you have questions, or to request a brochure of summer academies please contact Patricia or Gail (602) 266-4417, visit our website www.azresourceed.org or write to the Arizona Foundation for Resource Education, 141 E. Palm Lane, Suite 100, Phoenix, AZ  85004-1554.

The Computer Technicians and I see that computers are sometimes left on during breaks or over the weekends.  Even though the computer or the monitor is in hibernation, there is still power going through these components.  This is a waste of energy and may over time cause components to fail.  It is becoming more costly to replace computers and monitors so please help us by turning the monitor and the computer off at night, on the weekends and during breaks.
Shut down your computer each night!

As you can see you have many more options on how popup windows are handled.  You can allow all or suppress all.  You can also now set it to allow only certain sites to have popups if you need them to login to that site.  Below is the allow screen.
 

If a site needs popup windows for it to function you type in the site's address in the box next to Add.  For example, to allow popup windows from Amphi you would enter www.amphi.com in the box and then click on the Add box.  Click on OK to close the exception box.  Click on OK to close the Preferences box.    You should now be able to stop the annoying popup adds while still allowing those sites that need to have extra windows to do so.

To guarantee August delivery of your “beginning of the 2003-2004 school year printing requests” we will need these requests submitted before you take your summer break.  Please be sure to provide a summer telephone number in case we have questions regarding your printing request.  Our summer turn-around times may be up to 3 weeks, so those employees and/or sites working year-round should take this into consideration when submitting print requests during the summer.  As always, we will do our best to provide you with quick and efficient service.

If you want your jobs charged to the new budget year, indicate 2003-04 on the top of the printing request.  Please remember that jobs charged to the new budget year will not be delivered until after July 1, 2003.

The staff at Graphics and Printing want to help you be prepared for the beginning of the 2003-2004 school year so help us by submitting your request early.  Don’t hesitate to contact us at 696-4055 with any questions or for assistance in preparing special projects.

On-line newsletters are offered by a variety of organizations and are aimed at a specific audience. They are usually published once a month or once a quarter and offer short news articles, information about new products, ideas for classroom use and links to more extensive resources. Many are offered free of charge or are available to members of an organization or users of a specific product.

Finding the most valuable newsletter for your specific use may involve reading several different ones. Check with the publishers of your textbooks or the suppliers of your classroom materials to see if they offer a newsletter. Using an Internet search engine like Google.com and searching for “newsletter” and your subject area of interest will give a large number of hits to explore. Also, watch for news from any professional organizations to which you belong about the availability of an on-line newsletter (NCTM offers one to members, for example). The publishing site may archive back issues so that you can review several issues before subscribing. Unsubscribing from a less-than-useful newsletter is usually a matter of sending an email message.

Once your newsletter starts arriving you will have a regular source of news and ideas to explore or easily ignore!

These sites offer on-line newsletters for math teachers:
www.mathgoodies.com
www.mathforum.org/electronicnewsletter
www.mathsolutions.com/newsletter/
www.suzannesutton.com/joinus.htm
www.math.tamu.edu/ms-online

First, working with two classes at once can be chaotic.  A lot of management strategies need to be in place before starting on this type of experience.  Make sure that you and your partner teacher have the same ideas of what is acceptable behavior and what is not.  Check to see what type of signals or directions each of you uses to communicate with your class.  Go over these signals before going to the lab.  When everyone has similar guidelines, it makes for a much more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Second, explain to both classes why you have decided to work together.  Give each class specific instructions as to what their jobs will be in the lab.  Also, discuss what to do if there are problems.  One of the unexpected benefits of this partnership was the challenge the third graders felt in their role as teachers.  They quickly realized how frustrating it can be if your student does not listen to you.  They were almost immediately asking for strategies to use with the kindergarten students.  It helped them reflect on their own behavior with their teacher.

Third, this type of partnership does require extra planning on both teachers’ parts.  As a teacher you know your own objectives, but now you must make sure they are communicated to another teacher clearly and accurately.  Both teachers must be on the same page as to the content of the day’s lesson.  This requires good communication and planning.

Lastly, make sure to discuss with your partner teacher what preparation you have done prior to this lesson.  I was not very good at this, I must admit.  The lesson will go much smoother if you understand the knowledge and ability level of the other class.  There were a couple of times when I made an assumption about the ability level of the third graders only to realize that they had not yet covered a skill.

Overall, I believe that everyone benefited from this experience.  My students learned much more in the lab with a student teacher than I could have taught them alone.  All of the students made good friends and learned new skills.  As teachers, we both expanded our own teaching experiences.

Firstly, SASIxp, which is currently on version 4.5.2, will be upgraded to version 5.0 in early June, 2003. This will have the least impact on the District’s typical End Of Year (EOY) chores, yet still give everyone some time to become accustomed to the new version before the first day of school. The primary visible change is in the way Grade Reporting is set up. Of course, as with any new version, there are lots of other “enhancements,” but they are normally transparent to the typical user.

Secondly, we are anticipating the move to the SASIxp/SQL2000 platform. This will give the District both increased security and faster data processing. Most SASIxp users will notice an immediate improvement in the speed of queries, reports, and other time consuming, bandwidth-intensive processes.  It will also completely eliminate the need for re-orging (Yeah!). FYI, SASIxp is a native DBIV platform, which has been around since the 70’s. …need I say more?!?

Need SASIxp Training?
Need AZ SAIS Report Training?

We offer basic SASIxp familiarization and advanced training in Query, Attendance, and Class Scheduling (Basic and Master Schedule Building i.e.,  “Mass”).
Call Chris (x5162) in SIS to schedule your personal training session(s)!

1. From the Toolbar Selection Box, select the New Toolbar option. The system displays a window for naming the new toolbar.
2. In the Enter New Toolbar Name field, type a name for the new toolbar. You may want to create one toolbar with all necessary atom aliases for each specific job that you do.
3. Click OK to create and save the new toolbar. The new toolbar displays with empty areas.
4. Open the folder that contains the atom that you want to add to the toolbar.
5. Click the atom, then drag and drop it into any empty bay on the toolbar. This step creates an atom alias in the toolbar while the original atom remains in the same location. The system displays the same icon for the atom alias that is used by the original atom.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have aliases for all the atoms that you want. The toolbar is saved automatically.

1. Display the toolbar that you want.
2. Hold down the Option key (Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows) and click the alias that you want to remove, then drag and drop it over the Eraser icon in the lower right corner of the workspace. The Eraser moves back and forth as chalk dust displays, and the system places the removed atom alias in the Eraser folder.
3. From the File menu, select the Empty Eraser option to remove the atom alias and all other erased contents from the system permanently.

Opening Atoms with an Alias

1. Display the toolbar that contains the atom alias that you want.
2. Click the atom alias on the toolbar to open the atom. You can work with pages and data in the atom as you normally would.

 After a few minutes of instruction on use of the camera and safety procedures (i.e., wear the neck strap – fifth graders are notorious for having bad cases of the dropsy’s), they were off. So far they have captured images of different geometric shapes and concepts in the environment, illustrated mathematical patterns, documented the ways to say no in DARE class, as well as photographed the daily events in their classes. They have used their pictures as inspiration for poetry and other writings. The cameras even made it all the way to California for our field trip to the Channel Islands where they documented whales, dolphins, and other highlights of the trip.

The images are now available for students to insert into their research or other writings. As an added benefit, students have learned how to make PowerPoint presentations using the digital images. Once the images are inserted into the slides they add sounds and transitions to make PowerPoint presentations, which can be viewed on the Walker homepage at www.amphi.com/~walker/students.html.  At that point they wait for inspiration to strike again.

10 Battles That Changed the World: Campaigns in History is a series of programs that bring to life the incredible stories of history’s most exciting and decisive military moments. Titles are:
V 2167 The Spanish Armada  -  V 2168 The Franco-Prussian Wars  -  V 2169 The Greek-Persian Wars  -  V 2170 Peloponnesian Wars  -  V 2171 The Punic Wars  -  V 2172 The Trojan War  -  V 2173 The Gaelic Wars  -  V 2174 Battle of New Orleans  -  V 2176 Bunker Hill 1775  -  V 2176 The Peasant Revolt.

The Saga of World War II vividly captures the lives of ordinary people before, during, and after this cataclysmic event, using their own words, gestures, and emotions as a guide. They are the narrators of this age, their blended voices of hope and sadness, shame and joy, evoke a mood of nostalgia for a world that has come and gone. Titles are:
V 2110 Sporting Fever 1900-1939  -  V 2111 On the Line 1908-1936  -  V 2112 Lost Peace 1919-1936  -  V 2113 Master Race 1923-1947  -  V 2114 Great Escape 1925-1946  -  V 2115 Breadline 1929-1936  -  V 2116 Total War 2116 1939-1947  -  V 2117 Boomtime 1947-1960

The World at War is a series of 9 videotapes with 3 programs in each tape. Narrated by Sir Lawrence Olivier, The World at War draws on an extraordinary wide collection of newsreel, propaganda and home movie footage of Adolph Hitler taken by his mistress Eva Braun – gathered from both the victor nations and the conquered. The programs also include interviews with journalists, housewives, soldiers and historians; Polish, Dutch, Italian and Hungarian Jewish camp survivors; survivors of Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, and the fire-bombing of Dresden; as well as uniquely devastating descriptions by participants as far-reaching as: Traudi Junge, Hitler’s secretary; Heinz Linge, Hitler’s valet; Karl Wolff, SS General and Hitler’s adjutant; Marquis Kido, the Emperor Hirohito’s chief advisor; Mitsuo Fuchida, leader of the Pearl Harbor attack; Takeo Yoshikawa, a spy at Pearl Harbor; James Stewart, film actor and U.S. fighter pilot; Alger Hiss, U.S. State Department Advisor to President Roosevelt; Paul Tibbets, a pilot on the Hiroshima-targeted Enola Gay, and many more. Titles are:
V 2158 Volume One: A New Germany 1933-1939  - Distant War Sept1939-May1940  - France Falls May-June1940
V 2159 Volume Two: Alone May1940-May1941  - Barbarossa June-December1941  -  Banzai!-Japan 1931-1942
V 2160 Volume Three: On Our Way-USA 1939-1942  - The Desert-North Africa 1940-1943  -  Stalingrad June1942-Feb1943
V 2161 Volume Four: Wolf Pack-U-Boats in the Atlantic 1939-1944  -  Red Star-The Soviet Union 1941-1943  -  Whirlwind-Bombing Germany Sept1939-April1944
V 2162 Volume Five: Tough Old Gut-Italy Nov1942-June1944  -  It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow-Burma 1942-1944  - Home Fires-Britain 1940-1944
V 2163 Volume Six: Inside the Reich-Germany 1940-1944  - Morning June-Aug1944  - Occupation-Holland 1940-1944
V 2164 Volume Seven: Pincers Aug1944-March1945  - Genocide 1941-1945  - Nemesis-Germany Feb-May1945
V 2165 Volume Eight: Japan 1941-1945  - Pacific Feb1942-July1945  - The Bomb Feb-Sept1945
V 2166 Volume Nine: Reckoning 1945…and after  - Remember  - The World at War Special Programs.

You can order any of these programs by filling out a media order form or calling Claudio at -6214. You can also email caraya@amphi.com.

It is very important to utilize Software Update in order to protect your computer from possible security holes, as well as to update applications to make them more reliable and utilitize all the latest features.  In order to illustrate my point, I have an example from one staff member in the Amphitheater School District.  She had a Macintosh with a CD burner running Mac OS version 10.2.  However, she was seeing strange behavior when she would attempt to create CDs with pictures.  The CDs would work fine on a Macintosh, but wouldn’t work on a Windows machine, as they are supposed to.  This was discovered to be a known bug, and Apple had posted a fix for it some time earlier.  Once she updated her Mac OS version to 10.2.4, she no longer had the issue.

In order to access Software Update, open the “System Preferences” panel on your Mac OS X workstation.  This can be found in the Apple Menu or in the dock.  Near the bottom, you will find Software Update.  If you hold down the option key on your keyboard when you click it, it will automatically connect to Apple’s servers and check for the latest updates.  If you would like to schedule your computer to check automatically daily, weekly, or monthly, click on the Software Update panel without holding down the option key.  The full panel will load and you can set it to automatically check for you.

Once you have checked Apple’s servers, and updates have been found for your workstation, you will be presented with a list.  You can pick and choose which updates you wish to perform.  Place a checkbox by each update to be installed.  By clicking once on each update individually, you will see a short summary of what this update fixes or adds to your computer.  With many updates a restart will be required, and you will be warned of this in advance.  Most updates will also require an Administrator password.  This is the password you created when you installed or setup your Mac.  If you have forgotten it, or are not sure what the password is, place a call to the Hotline and someone can come out and reset the password for you.  If you have any questions, please email me at jshoffner@amphi.com.

Create a New Message.
Make sure you are in the HTML view. When you are in HTML view you will see a font toolbar below the subject. If you don’t see this toolbar, click on the HTML icon (it is the second one from the right) on the toolbar below the Menu Bar.
Select the font, size, color and style.
Right click on the font toolbar. Click on Set Current Font as Default.

This will change the font for all future emails you send so make sure to select formatting that you want for all emails.

To Make HTML* view the Default when you are sending messages in the main GroupWise window, select Tools from the Menu Bar and slide down and select Options.
From the window that appears, select Environment.
Select the View tab.
In that window, select HTML as the Default Compose View. You can also select HTML as the Default Read View if you want to see the messages you receive in HTML view.

*You must have Internet Explorer 5.0 or newer installed on your computer for this to work.

Easy, that is, as long as you can find the person you are looking for.  The Amphitheater School District employs upwards of 2,000 individuals.  As you can imagine, people are constantly being hired into the District, leaving the District or changing jobs within the District.  It would be an impossible undertaking for me, being the one who updates the District Directory, to keep track of all of these changes.  It is for this reason that I implore you to help me with this task.  I would greatly appreciate it if the secretaries or administrative assistants of each school or department could inform me of staffing changes every month.  If you are a new hire, or are changing jobs within the District, or are leaving the District, please feel free to inform me of these changes on an individual basis.  Taking these steps will ensure that I can keep the Directory updated, and that you can find the information for which you are looking!

Most of us are feeling overwhelmed and unable to meet all of the expectations put upon us, but technology shouldn’t make us feel like that.  Until I started learning how to use all of the different programs that are available to us through the District, I felt that integrating technology into the curriculum was just one more of those darned ‘ole gotta do its!  Then I started using the computer lab, and teaching music through technology.  I discovered that I was saving time and accomplishing more by addressing music and technology standards together.  How exciting this process has been.  The students are so engaged, they are learning things quicker, and their retention of the information is higher in most cases!

In the last two years I’ve learned how to use PowerPoint, KidPix, Kidspiration, WebQuests, digital cameras, scanners, Easy Grade Pro, and a PDA.  Not only have I learned how to use them and incorporate the knowledge into my classroom but also I’ve taught my students how to use all of these things!

So, how did I get to this point?  The Technology Department’s grant programs and their technology classes is how.  I’ve been involved in the grant program for two years.  Last year it was called “Technology Literacy Challenge Fund”, and this year it is called “Ed Tech Integrated Curriculum Collaborative.”  Through this program I have learned to think about the varieties of technology I am introducing to my students.  Under the guidance of Patti Greenleaf, I’ve learned how to make certain that I am meeting all of my students’ needs and making sure that the lessons encompass Blooms’ higher level thinking skills.  Learning how to incorporate these skills and meeting these goals under the guidance of Peggy Steffens and Patti Greenleaf is a much more rewarding experience.

Yes, it is a lot of work, but like anything else that you spend a great deal of time to improve, you will not regret it.  So what I’m saying here is this is a wonderful program to consider next year.  Sign up you guys -- I did!  I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.

• Reduce glare and reflection from room lighting as much as possible.
• Dust your computer screen often.
• Get in the habit of looking away from the computer and focusing on distant objects from time to time.
• Keep your eyes well lubricated by consciously blinking regularly.
• Keep your monitor slightly below eye level.
• Be sure to have reference materials close to you.

So you are probably asking yourself, if that is true why have I been getting so much spam lately?  It comes down to two things.  First, there are literally tens of thousands of spammers  (people that engage in spamming) across the globe.  Second, the backlog of requests we have to block spam is currently at 1,630 emails.

How can we work together to correct this problem?  I have setup a website that anyone in the district can use to submit a request to have an address blocked.  From the site you are also able to view all the addresses that are currently being blocked.  In addition, the site gives some tips on avoiding spam in the first place.

So what’s the website you ask?  http://db.amphi.com/spam

If you have any questions or comments that you would like to see posted on the spam website please let me know at cbonhorst@amphi.com.

There are many times when I am using the numbering or bulleting feature of Microsoft Office that I would like to be able to type something on a line below a number/bullet and not have the next bullet or number appear. You can click Shift+Enter, type information on the next line and then press enter when you are ready to have the next bullet or number appear.

How to use Format Painter

Microsoft Office has a tool that lets you copy formatting (font, size, etc.)  from one section to another to ensure the formatting is the same in both sections:

Click on the line that contains the formatting you want to use.
Then you click the Format Painter icon in the toolbar (it looks like a yellow paintbrush).
The mouse cursor should now become a paintbrush.
Now, you simply highlight the text that you want the formatting applied to.
If you want to apply the Format Painter to more that one section, double click on the Format Painter icon and highlight each different section you want to change.

Making Perfect Lines, Squares and Circles

Have you ever tried to draw a straight line, a square, or a round circle using the drawing toolbar, try the following:

Hold down the Shift key while drawing a line.
Hold down the Shift key while making a rectangle to make a perfect square.
Hold down Shift+Ctrl while making a circle to make a perfect circle from the center out.

Chris is married and has two children, one is four years old and the other is eight months old.  His hobbies include SCUBA diving, hiking and playing paint ball.

Please give a warm welcome back to Chris Bonhorst.