Here is a student tutorial that you can use when beginning Gaggle with your students. It will take your students through the start process one step at a time.
I found this cool tip that helps teachers to pre-print Post Its for use while teaching. What a cool way to provide immediate feedback. Teachers can print up comments ahead of time and post them on students' desks or papers while circulating the room.
If you ever wanted to create an interactive web hunt using Word, but were too intimidated, here is the answer. This is an excellent tutorial created by Wicomico County's own Sheila Blosveren. It will walk you through the process step by step.
When searching for media in United Streaming try varying your word choice. For example; instead of searching for "seeing eye dogs" try searching for "guide dogs" or "trained dogs blind people." United Streaming also gives users the opportunity to do "Advanced Searches." By using the "Advanced Search," users can further narrow the scope of their search. Users are able to limit their search to the subject, publisher, grade and make other relevant decisions about their choices.
If you want to work smarter not harder, then you need to learn how to use Grade Quick. It is a great program that allows you to manage your grades efficiently and effectively. It also works with the palm in case you want to take your grades on the go! It may take a few minutes to acclimate yourself to this program, but I promise it will be time well spent!
Do you create tons and tons of creative and useful teaching tools that you save on your computer and then can't find them the next year when you want to use them? Here is your answer! Create files on your computer just like you create files in a traditional file cabinet!
Have you ever wanted to create a schedule that was neat and easy to read? Or wanted to create a worksheet for students to enter data in an neat, clear format? Or maybe you just wanted to create a drill with the problems lined up in three even rows? Word is the perfect program for all three! Using word, you can add a table to your worksheet. You can merge two or more cells in any direction to make the table fit your needs. You can also make the table lines invisible.
Need to activate prior knowledge for reading? Want your students to have an opportunity to organize their thoughts before writing? Inspiration is the tool for you! You can use it in a large group setting with students contributing ideas to a concept map or it can be used by individual students to organize their thoughts independently. Don't have enough computers for each child to use Inspiration independently? Create a skeleton concept map and print it for their use. Need to change the font? Easily done. Need to change the color of the bubbles? Want to know how to use that lightning bolt? You can do all this and more! Start small and work with what you are comfortable. Your students will enjoy the change.
Putting Text Into Different Shaped Text Boxes
Have you ever wanted to write inside a cool shape? You can use this feature to create flow charts, to differentiate instruction, or because it looks really neat! Using Microsoft Word, you can do it, and it's easy! Here's how!
Teachers often send communications to their students and their parents especially in the beginning of the year. Mail Merge makes it easy to make these communications specific to the individual student. You can start off by making the greeting individual to the student or parent. After you get the hang of the mail merge, you can create data sheets with comments specific to each individual's situation which will further personalize your communications and make you a more effective teacher. Find out how easy it is to utilize this cool tool.
Using Word:
 | Highlight a word or phrase |
| Go to Insert |
| Select "Comments" |
| Type your comment |
| Close the window |
The comment will pop up when a student moves the cursor over that word or phrase. If you want to make editing less tedious and more motivating for children, then inserting comments is a wonderful tool to accomplish this task. You can also use them to guide brainstorming and help students peer edit and work on group projects.
If you have a tip you think is worth sharing, please share with it with me @ cmolnar@wcboe.org. I will be glad to post it here so that we can all benefit from each other's skills. Or, if there is a technology skill that you want to know more about, please write me. I will do my best to find a resource to help you.