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At least one in five students will take a class online, and though many of our students spend hours in cyberspace penning creative sentences like, “omg!!!! idw 2 do my Siddhartha essay 2nite,” they do not always spend this time using formal language to discuss academic ideas. In order to develop online class discussion skills, students in Ms. Kelly Ann Nugent’s English classes (pictured below with two of her students) bring their critical thinking and speaking skills to cyberspace by participating in  discussions of class texts in Virtual Seminars. These online seminars, hosted on Ms. Nugent’s SchoolCenter website, offer a set of rewards quite different from in-class seminars. Most prominently, the dynamics established in classroom conversations that tend to favor the more outgoing and assertive are shattered. In the cyber-classroom, hesitant students have the floor for the same amount of time as assertive students; as a result, shy students tend to be far more loquacious online. Students do not have to worry about being acknowledged before they “speak,” so they can spend more of their energy reading and responding. Add to this the fact that students can quote and closely examine the messages other students have posted. In addition, they have more time to think before they respond, and the result is usually a more detailed, in-depth conversation. English 10 Honors students notice the extra “think time” they get in a Virtual Seminar. They say it allows them to assert more complex, developed ideas than they do in class discussions. It's reassuring for them to know they have the power to rethink and edit their words before they hit “Post.” Working individually at computers also gives them more time to pore through their novels to find good textual evidence without holding up the pace of the discussion. The forum also keeps more students continuously engaged. This is because students who might otherwise tune out discussions that don’t interest them can instead break away and initiate sub-conversations with different focal points. Once teachers know how to use SchoolCenter, Virtual Seminars are easy to create, grade, and monitor. Students participate in Virtual Seminars by visiting a Forum page set up by the teacher. To host virtual seminars, Ms. Nugent posts discussion questions and directions for getting started at the top of a Forum page. There is usually a designated time during which students participate in the discussion—either during class in the computer lab or during the evening at home. Once the discussion ends, the teacher has a permanent record of the discussion, which makes it easy to grade using a modified version of the Effective Communicator Seminar rubric. This record also makes it easy for students to make up the assignment—they simply visit the site, read what others have already written, and respond to the ideas. The forum can be monitored and, if necessary, instantly edited by the teacher. Before and after the discussion, the teacher can hide the link to the page if privacy is desired, and the teacher may set the page so that messages must be approved before they are posted. In other words, teachers do not have to worry about inappropriate or unwanted posts. Our SchoolCenter software offers a great platform for supporting dynamic student interaction and meaningful engagement with content. It is encouraging to see school websites alive with the chatter of students enjoying the learning process. Mrs. Jennifer Clive, another English teacher at the Senior High, has now begun to experiment with Virtual Seminars as well and she found that students were engaged by the variety offered by a different instructional medium. Rest assured that students still spend far more time discussing texts in the traditional “bricks and mortar” classroom, but the experience of the Virtual Seminar provides a valuable lesson in both medium and content. To learn more about how you can host Virtual Seminars in your classroom, check out My Learning Plan today to see what training is being offered on SchoolCenter web publishing in the near future!
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 Whenever you run a slide show, you want to make the PowerPoint program as invisible as possible. Most of time beginning PowerPoint users use only the mouse when running a show. However, there are several useful keyboard shortcuts that can use instead to navigate through the show while you present. Using the keyboard to run a show will not only makes you look comfortable and knowledgeable as a presenter and but it can also give you a great deal more control over your show as well. Here a few that are tried and true techniques to running PowerPoint shows using the keyboard!
VIEWING YOUR SLIDE SHOW QUICKLY
You may begin a show from the first slide by pressing Control+Shift+S. Using the keys Control+Shift+B will start your show from the current slide you have selected.
MOVING AROUND YOUR SLIDE SHOW
Once the show is running, you can use the arrow keys to go forward (right arrow) or backward (left arrow) in your slide show.
You can also use N, Return, Page Down, Down Arrow, Enter, or Spacebar to move ahead.
Using the P key, Page Up, Up Arrow, or Delete keys can move your to your previous animation or slide.
JUMPING TO A SPECIFIC SLIDE
Once the show is running, you can use the number+Return to jump directly to a particular slide in your show.
HIDING YOUR SLIDE SHOW TEMPORARILY
If there is an interruption in your show (an announcement from the office, or an unruly student for example) you can black out the screen by pressing the B key. To bring your show back, press the B key again. You may turn the screen white, or bring your show back, by pressing the W key.
Black and white are the only colors available. If your show is set to run automatically, pressing B or W will suspend the show. When you bring the screen back PowerPoint begins from the point where the show was suspended. Nothing is missed.
DRAWING ON YOUR SLIDES
To call attention to anything on your slide, you may wish to use the pen to draw a line around the word or object. To exchange your arrow cursor for the pen, hold down the Command key and press the P key. [Note: this only works when your slide show is running]
After using the Command P combination, your arrow cursor will be replaced with a pen. Click and drag with the pen tool to draw on the slide.
ERASING DRAWING ON YOUR SLIDES
After drawing on a slide, you can erase all of your scribbles by pressing the E key.
 Caution: This is an all or nothing step. The E key does not erase back to the last click, it erases all lines drawn on the slide.
GETTING OUT OF YOUR SLIDE SHOW
To leave your slide show from any slide, press the Esc or Hypen keys. You do not have to click your way all the way to the end of a show to get out of the slide show!
BONUS TIP: You can press the HELP key during a slide show to see a list of keyboard shortcuts. (The HELP key is not available on some laptop keyboards.) |
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Maps101 is a cross-curricular, subscription-based service for K-12 schools provided by NYSTROM, a leading publisher of maps, globes, atlases and hands-on programs for students from kindergarten through college. Since Maps101 is a collection of web-based content specifically set up to easily facilitate integration of the Internet into current instructional practice, it currently serves thousands of schools and libraries across the United States. Their content has been so successfully integrated into use because of their advocates and users. The high-quality instructional material have been developed with their audience in mind, thanks to the feedback of many students, teachers, librarians, media specialists and an advisory panel members of experts from around the world. First and foremost, the site includes over 4,000 up to date maps available for immediate download and printing by teachers. Among the most interesting of those available are the Interactive Maps that include Flash animations of various historical events and landmarks. They also have a large collection of blackline masters series suitable for photocopying for classroom use. The maps that are available are relevant for use in a wide range of classes including Social Studies and Science but also History, Art, Geography, Religion, Sociology, Anthropology, and more! Beyond the maps, Maps101 also has an extensive collection of geographic data as part of their Reference Atlas. This area of their site provides detailed atlases covering the World, Canada, and the United States. Facts, figures, flags and maps are delivered in a simple format. Using these atlases, students can learn about the world's people, economies, governments and geography in a click without having to perform a complex search. In addition to their superb content resources, Maps101 also has some excellent classroom resources including K-12 lesson plans, geography skill builders, and many other features. This area of the site includes rich resources of particular interest to teachers, students, parents, & media specialists.
In order to get oriented to Maps101, New Hartford Central Schools will be hosting an all day training session called Getting to Know Maps101.com at the Bradley Media Center lab led by a professional trainer from NYSTROM. Teacher representatives from around the district have been asked to attend and if anyone else is interested in learning more, an after school session called Introduction to Maps101.com will be held on that day as well. Check out My Learning Plan to learn more. To access the site on your own, just check with your Building Technology Coordinator for the login information from your school. You can use some of the QuickLinks above to see some of the outstanding sections of this amazing site yourself! |
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| SHARE THE NEWS |
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 Know teachers who would like to read the New Hartford Tech Spotlight but aren't receiving it by email? Send them to the online version of the New Hartford Tech Spotlight to read about the latest technology happenings in New Hartford Schools. |
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| MISSED AN ISSUE? |
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| All the great issues of the New Hartford Tech Spotlight are now available online. Just go here to view the Past Issue Archives and find the issue you missed! Enjoy! |
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| SOFTWARE SIDEBAR |
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 iWeb is a WYSIWYG template-based website creation tool made by Apple that is part of the iLife suite applications and can be found on all Mac OS X computers in the district. iWeb makes it easy to create websites because the end user does not need to have any knowledge of web languages such as HTML or Javascript in order to create an attractive, functional website. The program is all drag & drop and typing that makes it as easy to use as a word processor! iWeb offers a wide range of features which make it fun and easy to use such as Apple-designed professional templates, slideshows, blogs, and direct iLife multimedia integration such page templates for online iMovie pages or GarageBand podcast pages. The next time you or your students want to make a slick looking website easily and quickly, check out iWeb and see what it can do! You are sure to be impressed and impress other with what you produce! |
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| NEED COMPUTER HELP? |
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 Do you have a computer or printer not working in your classroom? If so, you need to fill out a ticket on New Hartford's Web Help Desk,
the district's tech repair reporting system. Once you go to the
website, simply enter your OS X name and password to sign into the
system.
After signing on, you can report problems, view FAQs about common tech
problems in the district, even track the status of your repair request! Go to the site and tech help will heading your way soon! |
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| WEBSITE NEED HELP? |
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Come learn some cool tips at
SchoolCenter School,
 our ongoing workshop series aimed at improving your school website in new & exciting ways. Click here to learn more and then register on MLP today! |
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