In recent years, more and more schools have been tied to violent crimes. Like the tragedy at a high school in Colorado in 1999, the events were in some way connected to how students treat one another at school. Every week, educators encounter issues that involve some form of bullying. It may be hitting on the playground, teasing in the cafeteria, or even threatening remarks or looks in our classrooms.
A thoughtful teacher in Canada has created a web site that is an outlet for students who have been bullied, bullies, and former bullies. This site is also a resource for educators to begin teaching students empathy as well as how and why to be respectful to others. The address is
http://www.bullying.org.
Our class has been visiting this site during our computer lab time the past three weeks. On our first visit, we had some time to explore the different links that included stories, poems, drawings, voices, and movies. Students ranging in age from first grade to college level submitted most of the pieces. However, there are a couple of poignant stories written by adults who have reflected on earlier experiences as a bully or a victim. The site has posted writing from different regions of the world which helps students to realize that bullying hurts no matter where you live.
On our second visit, we read and analyzed specific stories and poems so they could get a feel for different voices that all speak about the same topic. We discussed common feelings (like fear and pain) related to what we read. I asked students what they could tell me about the author of a certain piece using what and how the author wrote. We learned that different people feel and express pain in different ways. We got into a deep discussion related to why people may want to mask their hurt with anger or even humor. This discussion continued in class as one student asked, "What makes it bullying, the way you say it, what the person means who says it, or how the other person takes it?" WOW! That is a question to ponder! It wasn't long before students began connecting what they were reading with their own experiences as the bully or the victim.
We are in the process now of creating our own poems about bullying so that we can submit them to the site. Students are using Microsoft Word to express their own experiences, feelings, and thoughts about what it means to be a bully, how it feels to be bullied, why they think bullies bully, etc. I am impressed and pleased with the unique poems that are being written.
Here's one example for thought:
District Directory Online
Remember the Personnel forms we all fill out? Well this year, thanks to the hard work of Connie McFarland, Rob Raine and Terri Sloane this information is being put online. The District Directory appears on the District Web page at www.amphi.com. There is a link on the District Web page to the Amphitheater District On-Line Office Telephone Directory or the direct link is www.amphi.com/depts/phonebook/phonebkfr1.html.
Rob Raine designed the web page and Connie McFarland has been typing the information from the cards into the web page. In early November, Connie began sending each school the rough draft of the information to the site contact person. The site contact person reviewed the information and documented the corrections that needed to be made. Connie then made the changes on the web page. Connie is currently working on getting all of the corrections made by early February.
(continued on page 2)
(District Directory Continued Page 1)
After the final changes are made the Directory will be printed in a limited quantity for those people who do not have access to a computer. If you notice any changes that need to be made please contact the person responsible at your site. The exciting news is that the page will be dynamic from this point on. Instead of receiving updates of the Amphi Directory only once a year, Connie will be making updates quarterly. She will be contacting your site representative and asking for updates and changes via email and then she will update the page.
Currently, if you go to the site you will see the school names in a frame on the left hand side of the screen. Please click on the school you desire and the right hand frame will show you the name, phone number, and school district email address, of the employees at that site. If you want to print the phone numbers, click your cursor in the frame with the phone numbers and then go to File and Pull to Print Frame. If you forget to click in the frame with the phone numbers your print out will just show the names of the schools.
Putting the District Directory online has taken a lot of work, especially on the part of Connie McFarland. She should be commended for her accomplishments to date and her commitment to this project. In the future, she will be adding an alphabetical component to the online directory so that you can search for employees in an alphabetical listing. So check out the new District Directory Online!
Message from Claudiovisuals
The Media Center wants to introduce a series of Social Studies Videos. Ancient Civilization for Children is a series geared for students in grades 3 to 7. The series depicts archaeologist Arizona Smith and his young detective-in training as they delve into the clues of the past to unlock mysteries of the world's ancient civilizations.
V 1036 Ancient Egypt
V 1037 Ancient Rome
V 1039 Ancient Greece
V 1040 Ancient China
The deadline for submitting your request for media preview materials is March 2, 2001. If you are interested in reviewing/purchasing media materials please submit your request on a preview form and forward to Sue Sledge or Peggy Steffens in Technology. One teacher can request up to 5 media titles in a priority order. Videocassettes, Laserdiscs and non-networkable CD-ROM's may be requested. If you have any questions about the media preview/purchase program please call Peggy Steffens at 5213.
Notes from the Director
Ch-cha-Changes
SIS Department
SFB Computers
ERate Funding
New Intern
Learning the Stock Market
Buying on the margin, selling short, and splits are all terms that may sound familiar to you. However, most people have very little idea what they actually mean. Recently, my economics class at Canyon del Oro High School had the opportunity to learn these terms by experiencing them at the web page Stockquest, http://library.thinkquest.org/C001759/. Stockquest is much more than a stock market simulation; it includes lesson plans from "How to Read a Stock" to "What is the Dow?" It also features sections on the United States Markets and the Global Market. Lastly, it has areas that help with online investing and act as a stock guide.
This web page also has a special area for educators. This portion of the site gives teachers an opportunity to do several things. Teachers can establish a contest that runs for any period of time that they would like. This feature also allows teachers to set up several options from how much money a student gets to start with, to the percentage they can buy on the margin. Next, it allows teachers to monitor the students that have access to the contest or class by establishing a special password that students will need to join. This feature also allows the teacher to monitor the progress of their students throughout the contest.
I have used this web page to run one contest thus far and the reaction to it has been exceptional. I established a contest for my three economics classes. Students were to sign up and then monitor their own portfolios for a semester. As a class we had minimal experiences with the stock market. I allowed students to buy on the margin, sell short, and receive interest on the money they had in cash in their portfolio. The stock market assignment was established as a class project. The students were to keep a log of the stocks they bought and why they purchased that particular stock. To my amazement during the semester, I had teachers calling me to find out how to sign on so that they could participate in the contest. Students were learning the stock market with hands-on interaction and discussion with peers. So if you are looking for the real life examples of buying on the margin, selling short, and splits check out Stockquest at http://library.thinkquest.org/C001759/.
Technology Toys
Over the last several months I have seen some pretty interesting technology that has changed the way I do things around the house. I thought I'd share some of my experiences and elicit some of your recommendations for other cool gadgets. I want to point out that there is no intent of selling these products, just describing what they do for me.
Tivo:
MP3 Player & MusicMatch Jukebox:
High speed Internet connection:
Talking Watch:
So, what are some of the new, exciting, and useful technology toys and tools that you have found? Please email me and I'll include your descriptions in our next Tech Talk Newsletter.
Internet Sites
Below are some educational sites for you and your students.
Communicating Chemistry: Provides communication information for chemistry students on note taking, lab records, reports, oral presentations, poster sessions, curricula vitae, interviews, interpersonal skills, teamwork, meetings, letters, email, fax, memo, phone, grammar/spelling/style, proof-reading/editing, and preparing graphics.
Math in Daily Life: Provides examples of the ways in which math helps us deal with everyday situations, ranging from buying a car, feeding a crowd, or redecorating the condo. Sections include playing to win, savings and credit, population growth, home decorating, and cooking.
Digital Divide Project: Information and lesson plans for middle and high school teachers to teach students about the digital divide using primary and secondary research.
Top 100 Events of the Millennium: TIME and LIFE online magazines review major events from the past 1000 years.
U.S. Geological Survey: Provides teacher's guides, lessons, and activities for grades K-12 to explore things on, in, around, and about the Earth such as plants and animals, land, water, and maps. Learn how Biology, Geology, Hydrology, and Geography can help us understand our changing world.
Biography: Provides biographies about famous people.
What is Photosynthesis?: Links to pages that explain photosynthesis from an elementary to a college level.
Optical Illusions: 27 illusions in nine categories.
Amusement Park Physics: Explores how the laws of physics impact the design of amusement park rides. Students can design roller coasters and determine the outcomes of bumper car collisions.
Between the Lions: Based on the PBS series, this site provides great activities for early readers and literacy tips for parents to help their children become better readers.
Woodrow Wilson CORE Institutes: Provides lesson plans for secondary teachers from World and U.S. History to mathematics and all of the sciences.
The Galileo Project: This site provided by Rice University features maps, pictures, timelines, and pages about Galileo and tips on recreating his experiments.
Newton's Window: Designed for parents, teachers, and students who want to know more about math and how to make math accessible. Provides exercises, quotations, product reviews, test-taking tips and advice on overcoming math anxiety.
Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology: Contains over 130,000 terms with concise definitions.
An Ounce of Prevention, Keeps the Germs Away: Provides information to minimize interactions with germs and infections. Categories contain information about pets, food, immunization, and antibiotics.
The Alphabet Superhighway: Created by the University of Delaware, this site provides resources, materials and ideas for parents teachers and students on most aspects of the elementary or secondary curriculum.
Debate Sites
Parliamentary debate:
Oxford Union:
Basics:
***V I R U S A L E R T***
We have had a rather interesting time with computer viruses throughout the district lately. There have been several outbreaks that have propagated via email. Some of these have been particularly nasty since they lie in stealth on a machine and email themselves whenever you send out an email. Needless to say, viruses can spread quite rapidly that way. The good news is that the Technology Department has been taking steps to catch these viruses before they have a chance to infect systems. Actually, we had been working on the problem for some time before the recent outbreaks, the recent outbreak merely stepped up our timetable considerably. The way the district has fought viruses in the past has been through a product called Dr. Solomon on the local workstations. This solution has become somewhat outdated and we are going to be implementing a new product by Symantec called Norton Antivirus that will help to provide protection at the desktop. Matt Weber covers this in more detail in his article. We have also worked to curtail virus propagation from emails as well. Now whenever an email is sent to a user on our server (amphi.com), it is scanned for viruses. If a virus is found in one of the attachments it will immediately prevent that message from being sent to any of the users on our server. It will also notify the sender that they attempted to send a virus and they will need to resend the email after they have removed the virus.
Here is an example of the email message the person who sent the virus will receive:
**** V I R U S A L E R T ****
If you are using a computer outside of the district then you might find it beneficial to check your system for viruses.
Thank you. - Amphitheater Public Schools Technology Dept.
This message will also contain what is called the header information. If the sender checks the bottom of the header information they can also find out the name of the virus that was sent. It does not stop there. The server will also notify the person who was supposed to receive the email that a letter was sent to them but was stopped because of a virus. Here is an example of the message the recipient will receive.
**** V I R U S A L E R T ****
The viruschecker on our email server found a VIRUS in a mail from "jsmith@somewhere.com" to you.
Delivery of the email was stopped!
The sender will need to resend the mail after they have removed the virus.
It is possible that the message sent to the recipient might not have an entry in the 'from' field. It will then look something like this.
The viruschecker on our email server found a VIRUS in a mail from "" to you.
This often happens when the virus is sent unknowingly from whomever is infected. A good guess might be that it came from the last person who sent you an email if the two emails have the same date and time. Finding a virus on your system can be a somewhat disheartening revelation. If the email server notifies you that you were trying to send a virus from a district machine then please give the hotline a call (ext. 5078). It is best to get rid of computer viruses as soon as you can. If you want to learn more try these sites. They will help to identify viruses and their payload.
SARC
AVERT
KASPERSKY
TREND
SOPHOS
CyberSurfari 2000
CyberSurfari is an online treasure hunt where you are given a clue in which you are linked to another site. There you have to find the answer to that clue. In Tucson, the contest began at 12 noon and went until 5 a.m. the next day. Our group happened to place 18th in the world (in the middle school division).
Our team, otherwise known as "Bugdom" (from left to right in the photograph above) Ari Deonarian, Renee Broberg, Anya Raine, Morgan Johnson, and Ryan Carle, are 7th grade students at Coronado K-8. We found 100 clues by about 10 p.m. Four other teams, of five students each, also competed in this year's competition. This is the 7th year that Coronado K-8 has participated in the CyberSurfari Contest. We were the first team at Coronado to reach 100 clues. We celebrated by cutting the cake (shown in the picture above). Mr. Berry, our Assistant Principal, provided the cake for our celebration. Ms. Lefkowitz, our principal, provided lots of soda, fruit and snacks to keep us going through the night.
Two teachers, Ms. Anne Booth and Ms. Liesl Mitchell, coached us while we were finding the clues. Many parents, other teachers, and students who were on Coronado teams in past years, stopped by to cheer us on and supplied us with many different snacks as we enjoyed a delicious pizza. It was another great experience this year and we hope to do it again next year. Everybody did very well!!! In the end, all teams reached the goal of finding 100 clues and became members of the Century Club. If you are interested in playing you can find information at http://www.cybersurfari.org/index.cfm. The next contest will start in the spring.
Considerations Before Relocating Equipment
When rearranging an office space many issues must be taken into consideration before moving workstations. Phones and computers are plugged into specific jacks and cannot be moved 'on the fly' to other jacks without preliminary work done by a telecom administrator. When unplugged overnight, the Meridian phones will automatically disable themselves resulting in no dial tone when plugged back in. The phones will not come back on line until 12 a.m. the following day unless manually re-enabled by the phone administrator (so early notification to the Technology Department would help eliminate any downtime). Spare computer data drops, which look similar to phone jacks (but are usually orange), may not be 'hot' so a new connection may have to be made by the proper network personnel. Computers and other electrical devices must be conveniently located near adequate power outlets. If the power is in question, the district electricians can help determine specific power needs. Consultation for new voice and data drop installations can be handled through the Technology Department. The department will make the proper provisions with the respective vendors to obtain the most cost-effective installation. So any questions or concerns regarding the movement or relocation of equipment related to technology (et. al. phones, computers, printers, cabling, etc) should be directed to the technology hotline or office. We will help ensure that your technology needs are met.
Office 97 Update
Our technical staff has indicated that they have completed the Office 97 upgrades at all of the elementary, middle, and K-8 schools. In some instances computers may have been inadvertently missed or not completed. If you have any computers at your site that did not get the Office 97 upgrade please ask your Tech Specialist to call it into the hotline X5078 option 1 and a technician will return to your site to complete the installation. Please keep in mind that the district standard is Windows 95 and only your office suite will be upgraded to 97.
When you start a new Microsoft Word document do you have to change the font size and style? If you do, here are the steps to change the default settings to meet your needs.
Mooooove Over Gateway..the New Compaqs Are Here!
The new Student's First Compaq computers have arrived! Thanks to an arrangement with IKON Solutions the installations are going very smoothly. IKON Solutions sends out teams of two people to perform initial set up and install Office 2000 and the Norton Anti-Virus Corporate program. They will even unbox the computers and dispose of the boxes if sites desire them to do so. This saves us a tremendous amount of time and energy. As soon as IKON has finished initial set up, we are making every effort to schedule our part of the installation for next day service. This is helpful in keeping computer down time to a minimum, which is important if we are installing an entire lab. The quicker we can get it up and running, the sooner students can have access to these computers. Remember, after you have scheduled IKON to come set up the computers, please call the Hotline ext. 5078, option 1 and tell us when IKON is scheduled to do the set up and tell us the number of computers, location of computers, and send us a map. Knowing this information, I can then contact you and schedule our installation time.
Getting Attached Through Email
Some of you may want to transfer Word, Excel and or other files to other coworkers in the district. Here is a checklist to help you make it happen.
1. Find out where the file is located (e.g. M:\users\ asstprinciple\wpdocs\ schoolmemo.doc)
Norton Antivirus Rollout is Coming to You
After the last series of virus outbreaks it was decided that it was too hard to maintain the numerous versions of Mcafee (Mcafee and Dr. Solomons) and Norton antivirus software that are around the district. Many of them had no ability to automatically update their virus files so they were out of date and of little use to stop new viruses. After several weeks of evaluations, Norton Antivirus was selected as the new standard for virus software for the district because it has the features we needed. It will automatically update itself from the Novell server, it has modules to protect our servers and all computers in the District will have the same program. The client software also will send an alert to the Technology Department when a virus is detected so that any new virus infections can be promptly dealt with before they spread and infect other machines around the school district. This will allow us to monitor the health of the machines around the district and automatically update the antivirus software remotely without the time consuming and impossible task of having to visit all 3000+ machines in the district every week to provide the updates needed to keep the district safe from viruses. We are now in the process of uninstalling the old antivirus software and replacing it with Norton Antivirus. The servers around the district have already been upgraded and have been cleaned of viruses. Over the next couple months we will move the entire district over to the new standard for Antivirus software. Once this is in place, combined with our email virus scanner, we will stop future computer virus outbreaks.
Media Catalog is Online
Would you like to search for videos, laserdiscs, and CD-ROMs that are available from the Media Center on the Internet? Now you can! Chrissy Cox and Claudio Araya have created a simple to use system to look up materials in the Media Center. Go the http://www.amphi.com/depts/technology/mediasearch.htm and select what area of the Media Catalog you want to search. Almost all sections are complete; we are finalizing some areas and hope to have them up and running soon. You also can also go to your library computer and view the complete catalog including full marc records in our AV catalog. Both ways allow you to see what you can check out from Claudiovisuals at the Media Center.
Experience Japan Website
In November 2000, I was fortunate to have been selected to participate in the Fulbright Memorial Fund (FMF) program and visited Japan for 3 weeks. I learned about the education system, culture, and people. It was one of the best-organized and most professional programs I have ever participated in and I learned a great deal.
I created a web page about my experiences in Japan at www.amphi.com/~psteffen/fmf, or if you have a bookmark to my home page simply click on Experience Japan on the main page. I have provided information, pictures, QuickTime movies, and Power Point presentations online for you to use. There are eight major categories: Information, Tokyo, Culture, Activities, Education, Daily Life, Food and Hamamatsu. I tried to provide pictures and information that would be interesting to students. Be sure to check out the activities section; many of the activities are things I had to do in order to survive in this culture. There are activities to convert money and weight, compare vehicles, read signs in Japanese, and speak in Japanese.
Here are some of the interesting things I learned when I visited Japanese schools:
To learn more or see pictures on these topics visit the Experience Japan website. If you are doing a unit on Japan and would like me to speak to your class about my experience, contact me at 5213 and we'll discuss what you want me to show and talk about and when you would like to have me visit.
Internet Filtering
The Internet filtering has been operating for a while and things seem to be going smoothly. It is still important to note that if you are unable to connect to a site, it may be a problem at the site you are trying to connect to and not a blocked site. If you receive a "403 Forbidden" error you are denied access because the site has been blocked. Please be sure to read the Status and Description lines in the Error Message to understand why you cannot access the web site.
The filter we use is CyberPatrol. If you want to see if a site is filtered go to http://cyberpatrol.com/cybernot/ and type in the URL. This will tell you if a specific site is being filtered. If you do enter a URL and it is filtered you can email the people at CyberPatrol and ask why. There may be something on the site that you are not aware of or that you don't want Amphitheater students exposed to. However, if you feel the reason for filtering the site is not appropriate, please forward me the site and the reason they filtered the site and why you want me to make it available to the entire district and then a committee will evaluate the site and determine if it can made available.
In addition, if you or your students find a site that is inappropriate, you can contact CyberPatrol and ask them to add it to the CyberNot list. The form is at http://cyberpatrol.com/forms/listsub.asp. One of the wonderful things about the Internet is that things are being added daily, but this also means that CyberPatrol does not block some new sites because they have just been added. So, since filtering is not 100% effective and students can come across inappropriate sites, it very important that you always supervise students when they are on the Internet. If you come across inappropriate sites fill out the form above at CyberPatrol and ask them to add it to the list of sites that are blocked.
A Bushel of Bad Apples
This is the latest list from Apple Computers of computers and printers that Apple no longer supports:
In the Desktop and Power Mac category we have the following:
For notebooks and laptops, the following are no longer supported:
For your printing needs, the following printers will not be filling them:
For the most part, I think we have updated most on this list. The ones that I have bolded are the ones that I still see in use. We have a few parts on hand for these older machines, but as your budgets allow, you might want to think about upgrading them.
Teachers as Children
Here's a really fun project to do that will unify and involve the staff and teachers of your school: get all teachers and staff to give you pictures of themselves when they were kids and put these pictures on the desktops in your computer lab. Keep them guessing by not telling anyone who is who. Have them try to pick out the principal, the coach, the office staff and all the teachers. They will have fun and enjoy guessing. We did this at Harelson and it turned out to be very entertaining.
A scanner is necessary and the first step is to scan the pictures. The next step will depend on what kind of scanner you have, but the important part is to put the picture in the Paint program (Start, Programs, Accessories, Paint ). Once you have the picture in your Paint program, go to Image and pull down to Attributes, select the Default button and click Ok. This will allow you to move the picture around in your Paint program. You will want to move the picture to the right a little so that your picture will not be behind the icons on the desktop. To do this, press the select button located on the tool palette and select the whole picture with your selection tool. You can now move your picture around. Put it about two inches to the right. Now save the picture. I suggest saving the pictures to your network folder. If you just can't do this, save the pictures on disks. Now go to each of the computers in the lab, save the pictures on each hard drive, open it in Paint, go to File and down to Set as Wallpaper (tiled), and presto! You have a picture on the desktop!
Learning the Internet Way
Did you know that there are more different kinds of rocks than the ones you find in your yard? Have you seen a volcano explode? Have you gone to Australia and seen the Olympics? We have! On the Internet! It was more fun than books! We like the animation. We learned about how different rocks are formed. We saw movies on BrainPop.com that showed us how igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks are formed. Then it gave us a quiz to answer. We really like going to the Library Gateway lab and using the Internet to learn. BrainPop.com is very funny because the man and robot tell us jokes. It makes learning fun. Seeing the movies is really helpful, too, because it helps us remember. We have done science, math, games and reading. Our teachers have had us do TrackStar lessons. They have even made some of the lessons! We also like FunBrain.com and FunSchool.com. We think that using the computers to learn makes school challenging and fun. We like taking the quizzes to see how much we have learned. We did a WebQuest about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and we got all the answers right! We like the Internet because any place you can imagine you can visit in just a few minutes. Even outer space! We think we are lucky that our school has computers and that we get to use them to learn.
Our 3rd grade classes also made Valentine Cards using Kid Pix. We are selling them here at school to raise money for the PTO. If anyone would like to buy them, call Mrs. Quimby-Greene at 6478.
On With The Show Taking Your Presentation On The Road
I have made presentations at schools in Amphitheater School District, other districts, and conferences all over Arizona and other states. One of the most difficult things about using technology in your presentations is the technology. If something can go wrong with technology, it seems to happen when you take your show on the road. Here is my advice to help you be successful when you take your presentation on the road.
Be prepared. Get to the site early and set up. If you have never used the equipment before, practice setting everything up to make sure it works a week before the presentation so you can get any missing parts. Then, on the day of the presentation arrive early; I'd rather be there early and have everything working, then to be panicked with the technology not working five minutes before the presentation is supposed to start. I once was a keynote presenter and went to Phoenix the night before the presentation to set everything up. My Internet connection wasn't up and running until 2 minutes before my presentation. So, my next piece of advice is still to be prepared. What if the technology doesn't work? If you are doing a Power Point Presentation, can you talk from the handouts? Do you need to make overheads as a backup? I have had to use my backup overheads on more than one occasion. If you are using the Internet and you can't get to the sites what will you do? One solution is to use a program like Web Whacker and copy the pages and images you plan to show in your presentation. Another solution is to copy the pages (press alt Shift print screen) and paste them in your Power Point presentation. Always think about what technology you are using in your presentation, and what you would do if any portion did not work.
Here is a list of the things I take when I make a presentation:
If you are taking a computer and not a laptop be sure you have the keyboard, mouse, and cables for all devices. I have seen presenters who forgot the keyboard or a cable for the monitor and they were panicked and unable to give their presentation.
I love technology, but demonstrating with technology can cause problems. Therefore, if you think about all the problems that might arise and you prepare for them, you will probably have no problems and your presentation will be a huge success!
Loaner Monitors
As many of you know, when a monitor stops working, the Tech Specialist at your site calls the Hotline. Then one of the Repair Techs is dispatched to the site for that call.
Procedures to assure we have loaners in stock to support you:
It seems that more and more as the Technology Team visits various school sites, it has been observed that the need for backing up important data has become more critical. With the new Gateways, Compaqs and HP computers and the District running Windows 95 and 98 on all PCs along with users that are new to Windows 98, it is inevitable that some of our users will experience problems with their computers, whether it be hardware or software, and risk the possibility of losing data. This brings up the need for safeguarding your data and doing it on a regular basis.
There are several methods available to back up your data. You can and should back up to the server, to your floppy drive or to a tape drive. In doing so you reduce the risk of losing a great deal of work should your computer encounter problems that would require a reinstallation of your hard drive. You can also save files to your hard drive. This is good for fast access but is not recommended for safe storage.
In short, backup any data that you do not want to lose, and if you need help to figure out the best method for you, please don't hesitate to contact the Technology Department. Please do not procrastinate. An ounce of backup is worth tons of reinstall or the loss of important data.
Deleting Your Email - Make Sure You Are Doing It Right!
Do
Don't
I've actually seen cases where a user's hard drive filled to the max with these email messages they "thought" they had deleted but really hadn't.
Always use the Empty Trash feature from the File menu selection to completely eliminate all email messages in your Trash folder and from your hard drive. And please do this regularly or your Trash folder will just keep getting more and more full, which can become a problem.
An Outlet for Victims and a Resource for Educators
By Mrs. Bartley's
Transitional Class, grades 3-5
L.M. Prince Elementary School
By Ashlee, fourth grade
I Was.
When I was a bully
It was great because no one
Could boss me around. I felt stronger
Than anyone else! It was like a power
No one else had like me.
Then I moved and now I know
What it feels like
Being made fun of, and now I
Take back what I said to
Everyone!
http://www.bullying.org. is a great resource to teach students how to be more humane in their communication with their peers, families, and others. If you are being bullied, you learn that you are not alone. If you are a bully, you learn what it really feels like to be the victim. For those educators who believe in teaching the "whole" child, take a look at the bullying.org web site. The instructional possibilities are endless.
by Peggy Steffens
By Claudio Araya
The wonders of ancient Egypt, a civilization that began along the fertile banks of the Nile River more than 5,000 years ago, have fascinated the world for centuries. Students will learn the mysteries of this remarkable civilization that exhibited both a joy for life and a preoccupation with the world beyond death.
At its high point, the Roman Empire stretched from the vast deserts of the Middle East to the rolling hills of England. Students will explore the diverse history of ancient Rome and discover the social structure of Roman society, the system of government they created, and Roman innovations like aqueducts, arches, concrete and the calendar.
V 1038 Ancient Mesopotamia
Today the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is a barren desert. But centuries ago, this area in modern-day Iraq and southern Syria was known as Mesopotamia, a fertile plain that served as home of the earliest civilizations. This program explores other civilizations that formed following the demise of the Sumerians - the warlike Assyrians and the prosperous Babylonians, who invaded Jerusalem under King Nebuchadnezzar.
From the beginnings of democracy, theater and philosophy to the eternal glory of the games held at Olympia, the ancient Greeks established many activities that the world still enjoys today. This program invites students to explore the history and culture of ancient Greece, a civilization comprised of over 700 city-states, the largest of which was the legendary city of Athens.
In this look at ancient China, one of the oldest continuous civilizations, students learn of the great Emperor Qin, whose dynasty was responsible for the construction of the Great Wall and whose elaborate tomb contained hundreds of life-sized clay soldiers to guard him in the afterlife. Trace the history and lasting legacy of the Shang and Zhou dynasties while marveling at the beautiful bronze vessels found during the excavation of the ancient city of Anyang. Explore the origins of Chinese innovations like silk, calligraphy and even the yo-yo, and discover how the famed "Silk Road" opened China's frontiers to trade.
By Ron Shannon
Nine years ago our office hired Margaret Harris as our secretary. Instantly, she made a major impact on our office and in the schools. As the Technology Office grew, she developed internal systems to meet the growing demands, provided pricing information to each of the schools and departments and offered a level of customer service that was outstanding. She will be missed in so many ways. However, she won't be too far away. She is now the Administrative Assistant to Dr. Katie Frey. Please congratulate her on this new position and join with me in wishing her the best of luck.
In an effort to better coordinate technology support, the Student Information Systems group has been placed under the direction of Ron Shannon. At the same time, Stuart Fox resigned for a teaching position at Apollo College. We are in the process of filling the Manager position and hope to have a new person hired in February. In the meantime, Bryan, Pam and Chris will continue to provide support for SASI XP.
By the time you read this article, all 629 computers provided by the School Facilities Board will have been installed at your school. With this installation, it means that every school will have a student to computer ratio of 8:1 or better! Each site determined the placement of the computers, which should provide every classroom with one computer and every school with one computer lab. With this much technology in the classrooms, I'm sure there will be many more success stories of students and teachers integrating technology into their lesson plans.
Amphitheater School District is applying for year 4 funding from the Schools and Libraries Department. If successful, we could receive funding to reduce our telephone and network expenses by about fifty percent and upgrade the networking equipment and infrastructure at Keeling, Nash, and Prince for a savings of about ninety percent. This savings will greatly help the implementation of future network upgrades across the District. We should find out if we qualify by July.
Sonya Connelly will be completing an internship in instructional technology this semester with our department. Sonya is currently working on her doctoral degree at the University of Arizona. She has worked at Microsoft providing technical support and was a 3rd grade teacher at Manzanita Elementary School. We are excited to have her joining our team.
By Dave Thatcher-Canyon del Oro
By Ron Shannon
I have to admit that this is the most exciting device that I have used in a long time. It has literally changed the way I watch TV. Tivo is a digital video recorder that essentially can replace a VCR. It has a built in hard disk with space enough to record between 8 to 19 hours of shows depending on the quality of recording. It has a wealth of features that make the VCR almost obsolete. No longer do you have to pick a day, time and channel to record a show. All you have to do is select the name of the show. No matter when the show is scheduled, Tivo will record it. For example, Spin City is currently shown on Wednesdays, but replays are on another channel at different times. If I get a "season pass", it will record the show whenever it is on no matter what channel or time. If you like shows, you can give it a "thumbs up", if not, you can give it a "thumbs down". By doing this, you begin to define viewing preferences. Then, whenever there are shows on that may match your interests, it will record them as disk space permits. My favorite feature is the ability to pause live TV for up to 30 minutes and then resume viewing, skipping the commercials and catching up with the show in real time. Shows can be saved for one day or until you delete them. And, if necessary, Tivo even has a "save to tape" option so you can save a show to a VCR.
The down side is that the device is more expensive than a VCR and there is a subscription service that can cost anywhere between $9.00 per month or $200.00 for a lifetime subscription.
I have enjoyed taking my music CD's and using MusicMatch Jukebox to convert the music files into MP3 files. Then, I can save them to my MP3 player. By doing this I can make a set of tunes that I enjoy - leaving out the ones that I don't like. This is much the same as burning a CD. The advantage to MP3 files is that the size can be reduced, thus allowing more tunes and more listening time than a CD. Another advantage is that you can log on to the Internet and download many MP3 files from aspiring musicians that actually offer some pretty good listening. I think they are still too expensive for what you get, but they are pretty convenient for portable listening.
The homeowner now has a couple of options to increase the speed of their Internet connection. In the old days, one could upgrade from 28.8K to 56K and you were surfing as fast as possible. Now, the choices include DSL, broadband, and soon cable modems. In this instance, faster is always better. If you want a faster connection and can afford it, I highly recommend stepping up to this type of connection. The down side to this option is that there are conditions to getting connected. For a DSL connection, you have to live close enough to the telephone companies' Central Office and your phone lines have to be able to support this type of connection. If you are interested, you can have your lines tested to see if they are capable of DSL. The broadband solution uses a small dish that points to a tower. If you live in an area that doesn't have line of sight to the tower, you won't qualify for this service. Another option that is becoming available from either Cox or Comcast is the cable modem. This option is better than a 56K modem, but may have speed issues as more people sign up for this service.
Digital Camcorder:
Camcorders continue to get smaller and pack more features than ever. The digital camcorder gets even better with more features for recording, transitions, and playback. They even have the ability to take still photos. I'd recommend getting more memory if you plan on taking a lot of still photos and getting fire-wire if you plan on connecting and downloading the video for editing on a VCR, computer, or Avio. As more students and teachers need to capture special events at school, and then edit them for a presentation, I'm sure they'll find that a digital camcorder makes the entire process much faster and easier.
Avio:
For those of you who have never heard of this device, it is a digital-editing device. It has a hard disk and built in software that allow you to download video from any video device including but not limited to a camcorder, CD, TV, or laserdisc. It is basically a self-contained unit that has the ability to accept any video source, then allow the user to edit, reorder, insert titles and transitions between video clips then save back to a VCR. Gary Zent, at Cross Middle School uses the Avio for his multimedia class and was gracious enough to give me a demonstration. I think that many schools could find a use for the Avio, especially if they are interested in developing video announcements or having students prepare video presentations.
If you really want to bug someone, get one of these inexpensive watches, set it to go off every hour and then hold it close to someone's ear when it says the time. I have used it in movies, moving cars, meetings, and just sitting around the house. By the time you read this article, my wife and/or friends will have already smashed it to pieces and tossed it into the garbage!
By Sonya Connelly
http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/~davidc/cchem/home.html
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath/
http://www.washington.edu/wto/digital/
http://www.lifemag.com/Life/millennium/events/10.html
http://www.usgs.gov/education/
http://www.biography.com/
http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/education/learn.html
http://members.aol.com/Ryanbut/optical.html
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/parkphysics/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/lions/index.html
http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/resources/
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/
http://www.suzannesutton.com/
http://www.harcourt.com/dictionary/
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/op/
http://www.ash.udel.edu/ash/index.html
http://www.idebate.org/Parliguide.htm
http://www.britishdebate.com/handbooks/oxfordguide.htm
http://www.actein.edu.au/ACTDU/basicskills.html
By Will McCullen
Our viruschecker found a VIRUS in your email to "jdoe@amphi.com".
We stopped delivery of this email!
If you sent this mail from an Amphitheater district-owned computer then please contact the Technology Office at ext. 5078 for assistance in eradicating any viruses from your machine.
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/
http://www.mcafeeb2b.com/avert/default.asp
http://www.viruslist.com/eng/default.asp
http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/
By Ryan Carle, Ari Deonarian, Morgan Johnson, and Anya Raine
Coronado K-8 Students
By Tom Gill
By Sue Sledge
By Peggy Steffens
Open Word
Go to Format and click on Font
Select your desired Font, Font Style and Size.
Click on the Default button at the bottom of the page.
You will get a window asking if you want to change all documents,
Click on Yes.
Now every time you open a new document it will use your default font settings.
By Sheri Gimlin
By Seth Butler
2. Make sure that you do not have this file active/open in Word or other programs; this will disallow the attachment to email.
3. Start your Netscape email with their email address and type in some text including the fact that you will be sending an attachment.
4. Click on the paper clip and then in the blank box next to it. This brings up a browse window.
5. Click on the downward pointing triangle next to "Look in:" and search for the correct drive. Using the example from above, it would be the M: drive.
6. Proceed to find your document on this drive and select it by clicking on it and then clicking on the OK button.
7. Click Send and your document is on its way.
By Matt Weber
by Peggy Steffens
By Peggy Steffens
By Peggy Steffens
By Jim Davis
Mac IIvx/Iivi
Classic/Classic II
Color Classic/II/P275
LC/LCII/LCIII
LC 520/550/575
LC 630
Mac TV
All Centris and Quadra models
Power Mac 6100/60 & 61
Power Mac 7100/66 & 71
Power Mac 8100/080 & 100 & 110
PB 140/145/145b/170
PB 160/165/180
PB 165c/180c
PB 520/520c/540/540c
LW Pro 600/630/810/500
StyleWriter II/1200
Color StyleWriter 2200
Color Printer
All forms of the LaserWriter NT
By Jeff Homoki
By Nash Students -
Nicki Candelaria, Anthony Mendoza, Jennie Ruelas, Melinda Diaz, Maritza
Perez, Sara Mowery, Kathy Palacio, Nichole Fielding,Virginia Palacio,
and Cole Schreffler
By Peggy Steffens
Laptop
Projector
Power Strip (many places do not have enough outlets for all the necessary devices)
Extension chord
Network Connection Jumper
Speakers (if I use sound)
Overheads of presentation if I need them as a backup
Mouse and Mouse pad
Laser pointer
Cables for projector
Handouts
By Raul Bejarano
They will bring a loaner in most cases to leave until your monitor is repaired or replaced. Once your monitor comes back, tell your Tech Specialist so he/she can call the Hotline and we can pick up the loaner. We would appreciate it if you would not move our loaners because we need to keep track of our supply. If we run out of loaners someone will be left out and you might be that person if your monitor should go out again.
1. When a monitor stops working have your Tech Specialist contact the Hotline with the proper asset, type (HP, ViewSonic or Compaq) and serial number.
2. When your repaired monitor comes back tell your Tech Specialist to call the Hotline to get the loaner picked up.
3. Please call us if you have had a loaner for more than two months so we can track down your monitor from our many repair vendors.
By Kathy Sheppard
1. Highlight and delete the email message from within your In and Sent box. Then.
2. Select File on the Netscape menu, select Empty Trash on Local mail. Or it may just say Empty Trash. This will delete all messages from your Trash folder.
This is the only correct method for removing your email messages completely.
Don't go to your Trash folder and highlight and delete messages (manually) after you have deleted messages from your In and Sent box. This only deletes the text that you see in the Trash folder window - the actual email messages are still stored on your hard drive.