Inside this issue:

What Does 21st Century Skills Mean? 1

Just for Fun Websites 2

Enlarging The Type on a Webpage 2

GroupWise Tip 2

Book Adventure 2

SMARTBoard Tips 3

Inserting a TOC in Word 4

Rotating Text in Excel 4

You Did That With Google? 5

Big Huge Labs 5

iPods in the Classroom 6

Holland Patent Central School’s Technology Newsletter

Well Connected! VOLUME 2 ISSUE 6

MAY /JUNE 2011

“Every switched off device is potentially a switched off

child.”

~ Stephen Heppel, Educator

21st Century Skills - What Are We Really Teaching?

21st Century Themes

Four key themes shape our understanding of 21st century skills. These themes describe areas of critical knowledge re-

quired for 21st century skills competency.

Global Awareness means understanding one‟s place in the

world and how individuals relate. This includes the ability to

communicate, share, and work collaboratively with others who may come from diverse cultures, hold different beliefs, or

maintain lifestyles different from one‟s own.

Financial and Economic Literacy is the ability to understand and manage personal finances, as well as how individual

choices affect local and global economies. It also involves the

capacity to make satisfying and rewarding career choices.

Civic Literacy is an individual‟s ability to participate responsi-

bly in all aspects of life, staying informed of governmental policies, understanding civic rights and exercising civic re-

sponsibilities.

Health Literacy is having an understanding of what is neces-sary to maintain positive physical, mental and emotional well-

being, and involves developing an understanding of commu-

nity, national and international health issues.

21st Century Concepts

Whereas a 21st Century Theme is an area of learning, a 21st Century Concept is a skill needed to use and apply the knowl-

edge gained within those themes-or more traditional subjects-

in effective and innovative ways.

Describing the ability to „think outside the box,‟ Creativity &

Innovation is the capacity to successfully apply gathered knowledge to develop new solutions to problems and address

challenging situations.

Communication & Collaboration is the ability of individuals to effectively use digital tools to discuss and address arising

issues. Distance, time, or both may separate those involved,

and should never be a hindrance to a project‟s success.

Research & Information Fluency is the ability to use digital

tools to find information, filter through available resources and assess the validity of presented data.

Important to all aspects of life, school and work, the concept of Critical Thinking &

Problem Solving is interwoven with

many other 21st century concepts and

themes. This particular concept focuses specifically on teaching individuals to

make informed decisions and evaluate the

effect that personal actions will have on others.

Digital Citizenship involves the safe and ethical use of digital tools. An important

step toward creating students who are

good digital citizens is guiding the de-

velopment of standards related to plagia-rism, cyber-bullying, Internet safety and

other critical topics.

~Atomic Learning.com

WELL CONNECTED! Page 2

GroupWise Tip:

This month just a friendly reminder to clean out

your GroupWise folders before the end of the

school year.

Delete messages you no longer need. Be sure to

check your “Sent Items” folder - we tend to forget

that one!

Just for fun… http://www.discoveramerica.com/ca/ - Make your summer travel plans. http://www.planning-fun-road-trips.com/road-trip-ideas.html - Fun summer road trips. http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/justforfun.asp -

“Explore and Learn” at the Metropolitan Museum of

Art online.

http://www.etsy.com/ - Buy and sell handmade and

vintage items.

http://www.ihavenet.com/Technology-10-Cool-

Gadget-Gifts-for-Grads-DL.html - Cool tech gifts for

dads and grads.

http://www.online-convert.com/

Free online file converter.

Problems Reading That Website? Try These Tips:

When visiting any web page on the Internet you may come

across small text that is difficult or impossible to read. If the

font does not have a set size, you can increase or decrease the

font size using any of the below computer shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcut

Hold down the Ctrl key and press the + to increase the font

size or - to decrease the font size. Pressing either of these keys

while continuing to hold down the control key will continue to

increase or decrease the font until it reaches its maximum.

* Tip To reset the font back to the default size press Ctrl + 0.

Apple users use the command key instead of the Ctrl key to

perform this shortcut.

Mouse shortcut

This shortcut can also be used in conjunction with computers

that have a mouse with a wheel. To do this hold down the Ctrl

key and scroll up to increase the font size or down to decrease

the font size.

http://www.bookadventure.com/

Book Adventure is a FREE reading moti-

vation program for children in grades K-

8. Children create personal book lists

from over 7,000 available titles, take

multiple choice quizzes on the books

they've read, and earn points and prizes

for their successes.

“Awesome!! You should see some of the presentations!! This is by FAR the

coolest stuff going...I am loving it even with the glitches!!”

~6th grade teacher Jennifer McDonald on using Web 2.0 tools in her classroom

Page 3 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 6

Tips for a SMARTer classroom!

http://www.wildearth.tv/cams

A Collection of wildlife webcams your

students (and you) will love - especially

now that spring has finally arrived!

Page

The

Do you have any students who are homebound,

have been out sick or parents wondering how to

help their child with work from your class? A re-

corded example of classwork could help. Your

Notebook software has a SMART Recorder that might help.

Here's how you record your lesson:

Before you begin your presentation, open SMART Recorder

and press the Record button. When you finish presenting,

press the Stop button in SMART Recorder.

You‟ve just created a video file that shows everything you

did at the interactive screen during your presentation.

If your setup includes a microphone, this file will also con-

tain your narration.

You can play back this file using SMART Video Player.

http://www.smartboardmusic.org/

More than 1100

music games for

use with your

SMARTBoard!

http://play.magpogames.com/

Magnetic Poetry for your SMARTBoard!

If you lose a pen from the pen tray, you

must place another object in the empty

slot. Otherwise, the

interactive whiteboard senses that a tool

is missing and assumes that you’re using

it when you press on the interactive screen

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 6 Page 4

Inserting a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

When you insert a Table of Contents in any version of MS Word, the table becomes a part of the contents of your document and changes the pagination of all that comes after it. Most users want their TOC to have its own page

which would be numbered page one and then the first section of your document on page two.

You can adjust your page numbering system to start with page zero and because your TOC would be page zero,

your first page of content would begin on page one. However, if your TOC is longer than one page, this method

will not work for you. To accomplish this follow these steps:

Prior to generating your TOC, insert a new-page section break at the beginning of your first page of content.

Move to the newly created first section of your document and generate your TOC. It will list all the headings in

your second section with the appropriate page numbers and will not affect the pagination of your document.

When using this method, you can also create a separate introductory section using Roman numerals, which will show its own numbering system in your TOC!

A Cool Tip - Rotating Text in Excel

In Excel, text in cells can be rotated to any direction or to a certain

angle. It is called the orientation of the text. By default, orientation of

text is horizontal.

To change the orientation of text, follow these steps.

Select cell or range of cells that contains data you want to rotate.

Select ”Cells” command from “Format” menu OR Press Ctrl+1.

The Format Cells dialog box appears.

Click Alignment tab of dialog box.

Specify angle in ”Degrees” spin box of orientation section.

Click “OK” button of dialog box.

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 6 Page 5

You Did That With Google?

(Some of these tips have been included before, but they’re worth repeating!)

Definitions: Find the definition of the word by typing define followed by the word you want the definition for. For

example, typing: define bravura would display the definition of that word.

Local search: Visit Google Local - enter the area you want to search and the keyword of the place you want to find.

For example, typing: restaurant at the above link would display local restaurants.

Phone number lookup: Enter a full phone number with area code to display the name and address associated with

that phone number.

Find weather and movies: Type "weather" or "movies" followed by a zip code or city and state to display current

weather conditions or movie theaters in your area. For example, typing weather 13502 gives you the current weather conditions for Utica and the next four days. Typing movies 13502 would give you a link for show times for movies in

that area.

Track airline flight: Enter the airline and flight number to display the status of an airline flight and it's arrival time.

For example, type: delta 123 to display this flight information if available.

Track packages: Enter a UPS, FedEx or USPS tracking number to get a direct link to track your packages.

Pages linked to you: See what other web pages are linking to your website or blog by typing link: followed by your

URL. For example, typing link:http://www.computerhope.com displays all pages linking to Computer Hope.

Find PDF results only: Add filetype: to your search to display results that only match a certain file type. For example,

if you wanted to display PDF results only type: "dell xps" filetype:pdf -- this is a great way to find online manuals.

Calculator: Use the Google Search engine as a calculator by typing a math problem in the search. For example, typing:

100 + 200 would display results as 300.

Use your photos to make your own movie posters,

jigsaw puzzles, motivational posters, ID badges and more!

Download the image for printing, display on your webpage, or

purchase hard copies.

http://bighugelabs.com/

Page 6 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 6

There’s an

App For That! Locate gas stations near you and see

their current price!

Uses for iPod Touch in the Classroom

iPods are perfect for individualized instruction, increasing motivation and engaging students.

Depending on whether you have a class set or just a few, iPods can be used for a variety of activi-

ties to enhance instruction in your classroom.

1. Use Voice memo for collaborative story building-Have a pupil record the first line of a story, pass it to the

next pupil to listen to and add to, continue with each pupil adding a part until the story is complete.

2. Create custom flash cards for introducing or reviewing a lesson.

(suggested app - gFlash+)

3. Create a mini listening center. Download or make your own recording.

4. Download math (science, social studies, etc.) apps for a center.

5. Subscribe to educational podcasts for teachers or students.

6. Special messages from the principal, librarian, etc.

7. Test read - give students control over pausing/rewinding the audio.

8. Grammarcasts.

9. Create book trailer podcasts for classroom library.

10. Use music as an incentive/reward time.

For more ways to use iPods in your classroom, visit this site:

http://www.apple.com/education/why-apple/

“If you’re not failing every now and then it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.”

~ Woody Allen