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WWWords to Live By |
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"The most certain way to succeed is always to
try just one more time." Thomas Edison |
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Type to Learn,
Jr. & Type to Learn 3 |
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All Tangipahoa Parish
Schools with grades K-8 now have two new typing software programs
available for students. Type to Learn, Jr. is for students in grades
K-2, while Type to Learn 3 is for students in grades 3-8. Each school
has a site license so that these software programs can be installed on
every computer in the school, including classrooms, labs, library,
etc.
Click here to access
the installation directions for
Type to
Learn, Jr. and
Type to Learn 3.
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Tech Training
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We have several new Technology Training
classes scheduled for TPSS employees. Check out the Tech Training Calendar
at
http://my.calendars.net/tpsstechcalendar. There is always a link
to it from the Tangischools Technology page at
http://www.tangischools.org/tech.html.
We will have workshops on the new typing
programs available to all K-8 schools, "Type to Learn, Jr." and "Type
to Learn 3", taught by Kathy Prine. UnitedStreaming workshops are also
on the schedule for this spring along with several sessions of
TangiTech. |
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Ask the "Network
Nazi" |
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This new feature in the Bits & Bytes
Newsletter is your opportunity to ask Mike Diaz, the Tangipahoa Parish
School System's Network Administrator, questions concerning the
network and/or computers in our schools. To submit your questions,
send an E-mail to
networknazi@tangischools.org and each month Mike will answer your
questions here in the Bits & Bytes newsletter.
This
month's question for the Network Nazi is....
Q:
Why is the screensaver option turned off on the new Windows XP
and 2000 computers we are receiving?
A: Downloaded
screensavers and malicious E-mail are the main causes of virus
problems in TPSS at the moment, causing noticeable internet downtime
and many extra hours of unnecessary work for the technicians... And...
since I can't turn off e-mail....
Another reason, while not as critical as the first, screensavers can
cause users to notice a lack of responsiveness and slowness on their
machines. Screensavers use system memory when they run, then once the
user returns to work on the machine and the screensaver goes away,
that memory is still allocated to the screensaver. The next time the
screensaver appears, new memory is allocated but the system does not
release the old memory allocation. So over time, system memory is
overtaxed and the computer then either becomes sluggish or in extreme
cases will just lock up (A restart of the machine will clear the
system memory).
In other words, screensavers are the devil... :) |
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Nighttime
Internet Access |
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The Tangipahoa Parish School System
network is "asleep" from 7:00 p.m. at night to 5:00 a.m. each
morning ....which means that Internet access in the schools between that time is not
available unless you notify the Technology Department ahead of time.
If your school is planning a Technology Night or Open House in
which you need Internet access, please let us know before hand so that you will be
able to connect. |
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TPSS Computers |
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A few things you
need to remember about TPSS computers:
1. You should shut down and restart
your computer every morning when you get to school... this will
give your computer a good start for the day. If any maintenance or
updates were done during the night, then restarting will make sure
that everything is "ready to roll."
2. All TPSS computers should be left on every Tuesday night for
scheduled maintenance and upgrades. |
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Recycling Ink
Cartridges |
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| Any schools that
aren't already participating in a recycling program for ink
cartridges should send their old cartridges C.M. Fagan to Carol
Edwards attention and she will take care of them for you. Please
include a list of the number and kind of cartridges you are
sending for recycling and your school's name.
Schools accumulate points from Funding Factory and twice a
year you can check to see if your school has enough points to
"cash in" for goodies. |
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 Change
Your Capitalization on the Fly |
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Have you ever typed a piece of text and
then decided that you want to capitalize it... or typed in ALL CAPS
without realizing it? Here's how to change your capitalization without
needing to retype:
• Select the text.
• Click Format on the top menu bar and select Change Case.
• Now select the option you want and click OK. |
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Wild
Wonderful
Web
Sites |
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This feature in the
Bits & Bytes Newsletter highlights websites that are recommended by the
teachers of TPSS. I would love to hear from you about the best
educational sites you have found on the web. Please submit, via email,
the sites you feel merit inclusion. Send your recommendations to
vickib@tangischools.org
Please include the URL and a short sentence about the site.
This month we have four
recommendations from our Computer-Using Educators: |
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PDF files
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Many files that you find on the Internet
are in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF ). Your computer uses Acrobat Reader
to open those files so that you can view them. This is a free program
that can be downloaded from
www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html if your computer
does not already have it. PDF stands for "portable document
format" and anyone viewing the document using Acrobat Reader sees the
document exactly the way the publisher intended. The PDF universal
file format preserves the fonts, images, graphics and layout of any
source document, regardless of the application and platform used to
create it.
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To search for specific text in a PDF,
choose the binoculars icon on the Adobe Acrobat menu to search
for a specific word or phrase in the document.
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To copy selected text in a PDF,
choose the text icon on the menu bar that is represented by a
capital T and a dotted box. A dotted box appears and you
click and drag to select the area to print, then use Ctrl + C
to copy the text and Ctrl + V to paste into your
document.
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LEAP Practice
Sites -
click here |
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Seussentennial
Coming March 2, 2004 — Dr.
Seuss's 100th birthday! Guide students to learn about Theodor Geisel
and celebrate an extraordinary author's accomplishments. Visit
the official Seussentennial Web
site at
www.seussville.com/seussentennial/ and join the biggest birthday
bash of 2004. Other Dr. Seuss links can be found at
www.vickiblackwell.com/seuss.html. |
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Fix that Weird Letter
Spacing
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Sometimes when you enlarge text for a
heading in Word, one or two letters in the words end up being too
close together or too far apart. To fix these problems, you can kern
the letter pairs. Kerning means to adjust the amount of space between
two letters. Here's how:
1. Select the two letters that are too far apart or too close
together.
2. Choose Format, Font or press Ctrl+D.
3. Select the Character Spacing tab in the Font dialog box.
4. In the Spacing drop-down list, choose Expanded to
spread the letters out or Condensed to pack them in.
5. Word changes the number in the By box for you, but you can
do yet more packing or spreading by clicking the down or up arrow
yourself.
6. Watch the Preview box to see how close or far apart you have
made the letters.
7. Click the Kerning for Fonts check box and enter a point size
in the Points and Above box if you want Word to kern fonts
above a certain point size automatically.
8. Click OK. |
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Tangipahoa
Educators - Join Us at NECC ! |
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 National
Education Computing Conference
June 21-23, 2004 - New Orleans, Louisiana
For more than two decades,
NECC has been the premier forum in which to learn, exchange, and
survey the field of educational technology. This annual
conference—presented by ISTE (International Society for Technology in
Education), co-sponsored by LACUE (Louisiana Association of Computer
Using Educators) and keyed to the National Educational Technology
Standards (NETS)—features hands-on workshops, lecture-format and
interactive concurrent sessions, discussions with key industry
leaders, and the largest educational technology exhibit in the world.
More than 16,000 teachers, technology coordinators, library media
specialists, teacher educators, administrators, policy makers, and
industry representatives from all over the world will gather at the
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. If you are interested in attending
visit this link
www.iste.org/necc
The purpose? To
build a global learning community, help move conference attendees to
new levels of leadership and practice, explore essential questions
about technology and the construction of knowledge, and advance
universal opportunity through education. Now more than ever we need to
plan for creative teaching opportunities and learn to link them to
widely accepted standards and accountability systems.
This is a wonderful opportunity for Tangipahoa educators to
participate in a premiere professional learning event at a very low
cost. Early registration for LACUE members is only $105 (and
membership in LACUE is free). |
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Click here to see Bits & Bytes Archives. |
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Tangipahoa
Parish School System Technology Department
59656 Puleston Road, Amite LA. 70422
Voice 985-345-1406 or 985-748-2469; Fax 985-748-2445
Bits & Bytes Newsletter
February 25, 2004
Click here to contact
webmaster. |
