When a student is improving at their studies at school, it's easier to see the progress in some subjects more than others. Subjects like music do not have tangible items like tests and quizzes to display the student’s success on the family refrigerator. Tim Ferguson, instrumental music teacher at both Hughes and Myles, has been using his classroom eMac along with the recording software Sound Studio to create audio portfolios for each of his students. By recording his students from their first “sounds” in September and then throughout the school year, a tangible record of the child’s progress is captured. Students are able to self-assess and analysis their work from a third-person perspective and have fun doing so. Danielle, a fourth-grade clarinet player at Myles Elementary pictured above with Mr. Ferguson, says that her lesson group looks forward to the days they record. “It’s fun to listen to how we used to sound and hear how much better we are now,” she states. Tim’s plan is to create a CD for each student of their growth throughout the year on their instrument. Want to learn how to do this with your students? An Introduction to Sound Studio workshop by Tim will be offered through the Teacher’s Center in April. There are many great opportunities to use this technology in your curriculum and it is easy to use. Come to the workshop and learn how!

Have you ever had a bunch of graphics and wished you could see what they look like without actually opening each one up to view it? For example, if you download files with names like "DSC455.jpg", "littleone.gif", and "moose.png" using your web browser, the file icons often may look like generic OS X "JPEG", "GIF" and "PNG" icons with a Preview icon and you have no idea what they actually look like. Wouldn't you like to see them like this?

However, using a few simple steps, you can ensure you see an icon preview of your graphics everywhere in your OS X account! Here is how:

1. Navigate in a Finder window to the folder where image files you want to see icons for is located. Your Pictures folders of your OS X account is a good example to use for setting this up.
2. Change your viewing mode to the Icon view mode by choosing View > as Icons. This will make sure you are looking at your files as true icons.
3. Now, click on the View menu again then select the Show View Options command. The View Option window should now appear onscreen, (see diagram to the right).
4. In the View Options window, you will need to enable two options. First, click the radio button next to All windows at the top of the window. This applies this change to all Finder windows you open within your OS X account. Next, click on the checkbox labelled Show Icon Preview. This will make all graphic icons display a thumbnail if one is available.
5. Finally, close the View Options window. The icon for each graphic file should automatically as small thumbnails within your Pictures folder as well as any other Finder window where you have image files! (If you don't see the icon preview, you may need to close your Pictures folder and then reopen it to refresh the icons.) Nice little timesaver and pretty slick looking, right?

ReadWriteThink, established in April of 2002, is a partnership between the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the MarcoPolo Education Foundation. This web portal was created to provide educators and students with access to the highest quality practices and resources in reading and language arts instruction through free, Internet-based content. ReadWriteThink offers a wide array of standards-based lesson plans that meaningfully integrate Internet content into the teaching and/or learning experience. Lessons can be selected according to grade band (K–2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12) and area of literacy practice. Each lesson is research-based, and includes a detailed instructional plan. The lessons are written for the teacher but include student-ready materials such as worksheets, interactives, and reviewed Web resources.
Student materials on ReadWriteThink are available for public use, provided that they are used only for educational, nonprofit purposes. For more information about ReadWriteThink and all that it has to offer, check out the site or use the Quick Links above to visit some of its many resources.

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Eager to learn about new ways to use Mac OS X even better? Come to our monthly OS X "Talk, Tips & Tricks" session. Find out more.

Below are select technology courses to be offered by the Teacher Center next month! Click on the course to learn more. Email the Teacher Center or call X1201 to register today!

Wednesdays, March 1, 8, & 15
Tech Projects for Elementary Open Houses

Thursday, March 2
ELMO - Using a Document Presenter in the Classroom

Thursday, March 2
Switching Your Files from OS 9 to OS X Server

Monday, March 6
iPhoto Slideshows for Elementary Teachers

Monday, March 13
Introduction to Novell Groupwise

Monday, March 13
Creating an Online Quiz with Macromedia Flash

Wednesday, March 23
Introduction to iMovie

Tuesday, March 28
Elementary Spreadsheets - Using Spreadsheets to Record & Average Grades

March 17, 24, 31, & April 7
Power Web Publishing for Breakfast

March 29 & 30
OCR with Readiris Pro

Download March Events