Get Organized On Your Computer!
Do you have files scattered all over your desktop?  Can’t find the document you know you made last year, so you have to retype it?  Do you have different Internet bookmarks at home and at school, but not sure which ones are where?  Do you have files that other people could benefit from, but don’t know how to share them?  Got a zillion email messages and can’t sort through them to find what you want?

If any of these statements are true, this is the workshop for you!  Computers should SAVE you time, not COST you time, and it’s high time you got your computers organized so that you can work more efficiently. 

Click here for the WINDOWS version of the Get Organized module.

Click here for the MAC version of the Get Organized module.

RSS Feeds - Bringing the Web to You!

*Note: 3-14-13-- Just heard the sad news that Google will be shutting down Reader as of July, 2013. You may still view the videos included in this module if you'd like, but until we are able to find a suitable replacement for the Google Reader service, you will not be able to actually complete the module.

If you have already found a great RSS feed reader service, we'd love to hear about it! Please email moagueros@warrensburgr6.org

Get the scoop! Do you have over 50 bookmarks? Are you spending more time searching than learning? Would you like to automatically receive updates from your favorite professional development sites, blogs, podcasts, and articles? Ever wonder what that little orange and white symbol is for?

With an RSS Feed Reader like Google Reader teachers can monitor colleague blogs, wikis, group forums, etc., track resource blogs and websites, gather research links to share in the classroom, and stay up to date on PD and industry news. Students can follow subjects or people of interest, gather research sources, follow blogs of friends, clubs and schools, and collaborate with other students in class or around the world.

This module will introduce you to the benefits of using an RSS feed reader and explain how Google Reader works-- you’ll never waste time searching again!

Click here to go to the RSS Feeds Module page.

Create a Digital Drop Box on your Web Site
Would you like to give students the opportunity to turn in documents to you on your web site?  Or perhaps you would like to create a page where parents can submit documents to you, such as field trip volunteer forms?  By using the Form page in SchoolCenter, it is easy to create customized pages where information and documents can be submitted (similar to the Digital Drop Box in BlackBoard, if you have used that system before).

By the time you have finished this workshop, you will have a completed digital drop box on your class web site.

Click here to begin Create a Digital Drop Box on your Web Site.

Creating Photo Books with Mixbook.com
For all grade levels, K through 12.  In recent years, digital cameras have become very important tools in the classroom.  One of the most common uses of digital cameras is to create digital stories.  Mixbook.com is a wonderful (and free) site that allows you to create amazing books using your digital photos and text.  The completed books can then be viewed online as virtual books (you can even turn the pages with your mouse).  You can link to these books on your web site or embed them directly in one of your pages.  Perhaps the best thing is that you only need to set up ONE free account, and your students can all log in using that one account.  They can each create separate books in your account, or you can have them work collaboratively on one book.  Mixbook is one of the best Web 2.0 sites we have seen!

Click here to begin Creating Photo Books with Mixbook.com.

Create a Web Treasure Hunt 
After completing this two-part module, you will have published an Internet Treasure Hunt, an engaging activity for your students, in which they use Internet web sites to discover the answers to thought-provoking questions.  Treasure hunts can be created for any subject area and grade level.  If done well, this type of learning activity can go far beyond just a question-and-answer format, engaging your students in higher-level thinking as they analyze information that is updated on a minute-by-minute basis.

You can even receive one whole tech incentive voucher for this module since it is essentially two parts: instruction and creation!

Click here to create your own Internet Treasure Hunt activity.

What's Up Doc?! Create a Document Manager Page in SchoolCenter

Are you tired of running to the copier every time a student forgets his or her handout? How many extra field trip permission slips do you have to make because you know some of them don’t quite make it from the student’s backpack to the parent’s hands? No more! With SchoolCenter’s Document Manager, you can upload all kinds of documents (over 300 different types!) to a special page within your very own site. Now, students and parents can access a copy of your syllabus, class rules, snack calendars, project directions, PowerPoint presentations, lesson notes, and more!

This module will show you how to manage categories for all of your documents, how to upload documents to specific categories or folders, how to allow moderated comments to uploaded documents, and even how to show PowerPoints right on your page.

Click here to create a Document Manager page.