SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #116
February 26, 2010
Welcome to
SchoolCounselor.com, an electronic newsletter designed
to advance counselors' level of technological literacy,
application, and integration. You will find practical
solutions and answers to technology related problems,
especially as they apply to your job as counselor. If
you would like to share a tip or trick, or if you would
like to ask a question, e-mail Russ Sabella at
newsletter@schoolcounselor.com.
Highlights from
SchoolCounselor.com
Top 5 Training Topics for School Counselors
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/top5training.htm
 Must
See Videos
New videos have been
added since the last issue:
A Man's Passion to be
Principal
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/2010/02/mans-passion-to-be-principal.html
A Game of Hope
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/2010/02/youtube-game-of-hope.html
g-speak overview
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/2010/02/g-speak-overview-1828121108-on-vimeo.html
Change the First 5 Years
and You Change Everything
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/2010/02/change-first-5-years-and-you-change.html
Think Before You Speak
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/2010/01/think-before-you-speak.html
Redefining Respect in
America Event
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/2010/01/redefining-respect-in-america-event.html
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FEATURED COLUMN:
The School Counselor’s
Website: Frequently
Asked Questions and Answers
More than just a delivery system for
information, today's websites are online tools and
systems which can help us to collaborate, communicate,
process data, and even deliver interventions. An
effective website can help the school counselor to
better connect with students, teachers, community
members, and other stake holders at anytime and from
anywhere.
The technical side of a building a website has all but
become a non-issue due to the powerful and user-friendly
software and web-based services now available to all of
us. Indeed, the hard part is getting the ideas right --
making sure that the words and pictures on your website
represent the best of what your counseling program
offers. In addition to providing information, creating a
counseling website may also help you to provide students
and others with important tools. For instance, one
online GPA Calculator provided by the University of
Maryland (http://www.sis.umd.edu/gpacalc/java.html)
allows a student to calculate a list of possibilities
for reaching their desired GPA given their current GPA
and number of credits. Another site (http://cyberguidance.net)
allows secondary students to request a copy of various
scholarships by completing an online form. This same
site which was created by Mr. Bob Turba, counselor at
Stanton College Preparatory School located in Duval
County, Jacksonville, Florida, has many other tools and
ideas for infusing technology into your school
counseling program (Sabella, 2003).
Read more >>>>>
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/resources/counselor-website-faq.htm
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TIPS AND TRICKS
Make no mistake about
it: Your online reputation matters.
Microsoft released a key study today from
Cross-Tab that shows employers and HR professionals are
searching for information about prospective employees
online to help make a hiring decision. This study
surveyed consumers, HR professionals, recruiters and
hiring managers in the United States, the United
Kingdom, Germany and France.
http://bit.ly/ce7iDp
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Google Docs
You can now upload, store and share any file in
Google Docs, giving you one place where you can upload
and access your key files online.
We support files up to 1GB in size. So instead of
carrying a USB drive or emailing a file to yourself, you
can use Google Docs to access your files on different
computers. This can also help you work with teams to
organize and collaborate on information online,
especially when combined with shared folders.
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/01/upload-and-store-your-files-in-cloud.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excel Keyboard Shortcuts
– Open Thread
http://bit.ly/cKEkaS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Polish My Writing
This is a demonstration of some new software (and
Firefox addon) that can help you with a bit of editing.
The program uses artificial intelligence and natural
language processing technology to find your writing
errors and offer smart suggestions. Note: does not work
with Microsoft Word).
http://www.polishmywriting.com/
Also see
http://www.afterthedeadline.com/
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Microsoft Word: Strip
Hyperlinks From Pasted Text
Source:
PC World
I'm constantly copying text from e-mails, Web pages, and
other online sources into Word documents, and always
with the same result: a bunch of unwanted hyperlinks for
Web links and e-mail addresses. Good luck plumbing the
depths of Word's menus to find a way to remove these
links. One solution is to right-click any linked item
and choose Remove Hyperlink, but that's a pretty slow
method if you have multiple links you want to, well,
unlink. Thankfully, there's a fast, easy, and automated
solution: Select the entire block of text, then press
Ctrl-Shift-F9.
Presto: no more hyperlinks. All that's left behind is
plain text. To my knowledge, this works in all versions
of Word.
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Speech Recognition
(Windows XP and Vista)
Have you thought about dictating instead of
typing (think email, web page forms, and documents). I
do it all the time. This link is a neat demo for
Microsoft’s speech to text (and text to speech) program.
This program comes with Office 2003. If you have
upgraded to Office 2007, you have to be using the
Windows Vista or Windows 7 OS. Although there is a
setting for making this program work in all software,
even non-Microsoft software, I have not been able to
make this happen effectively. Instead, it only works in
Microsoft software (e.g., Internet Explorer and not
Firefox; Microsoft Word and not WordPerfect).
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/demos/windowsvista/speechdemo.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Use the Amazon Filler
Item Finder to help locate those hard-to-find
cheap filler items needed when your shopping cart falls
just short of the $25 minimum to receive FREE Amazon
Shipping.
http://www.filleritemfinder.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monitoring your digital
reputation
A list of specialized search engines to help you
monitor your online digital reputation.
http://bit.ly/a8MwfU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pauker is a
generic flashcard program written in Java. It uses an
innovative combination of ultra-short-term, short-term
and long-term memory. You can use it to learn all the
things you never want to forget, like vocabularies,
capitals, important dates, etc
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pauker/files/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aged Tires: A Driving
Hazard?
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897
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WORTHY WEBSITES AND SOFTWARE
YouTube Music Discovery
Project and Playlist Creation Tool
Source:
http://bit.ly/9ft1Ze
The tool allows you to enter an artist or band name, and
press a big "Disco!" button. The resulting page features
a description of the artist or band you chose, with a
sample playlist of related tracks pre-populated. You
also get a list of the artist's songs that are available
on YouTube that you can add to the playlist, and a list
of links to "related" artists.
http://bit.ly/9VOikF
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Educational Video Sites
RefSeek's guide to the 25 best online resources
for finding free educational videos. With the exception
of BrainPOP and Cosmeo, all listed sites offer their
extensive video libraries for free and without
registration.
http://www.refseek.com/directory/educational_videos.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Technology How-to Guides
John Larkin, an Australian educator and
technology trainer, has collected all of his useful
handouts on a single page. They cover everything from
cables and connectors, storyboarding, how to set up a
Flickr account and everything in-between! Take the time
to learn something new this week with his practical
material.
http://www.larkin.net.au/020_technology_howtos.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CloudPad
A simple note storage application that allows you to
quickly find, navigate and prioritize your notes. Notes
are associated with tags that can be viewed and
navigated via the common Cloud metaphor.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cloudpad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Generic Workshop
Evaluation Form
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26509490
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FillAnyPDF is a
free web-based service where you can upload any file in
PDF, PNG, JPG, or GIF format. You don't need to do
anything to your form before or after it's uploaded; the
service will do all the heavy lifting for you.
Source:
Lifehacker
http://www.fillanypdf.com/
PDF Filler
Also see this one which is more basic and easier
to use.
http://www.pdffiller.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tidy up your hard drive
through defragmentation
Source: Komando.com
Losing your keys in your home is a pain. It's made worse
if you haven't picked up in a while. A tidy house makes
finding things easier. And the same is true on your
computer. Whenever you click a document or program, your
computer starts searching. It has to find all the
associated files on your hard drive. Those files aren't
always grouped together. If files are fragmented all
over the drive, accessing them is slow.
http://www.komando.com/downloads/category.aspx?id=8202
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Web 2.0 Tools
Great categorized list of interactive Web tools
(housed at Purdue).
https://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/INSITE/Web+2.0+Tools
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PDFmyURL lets you
convert any webpage into a PDF document and save it to
your computer. Simply paste the URL and click the
button. You can also drag the bookmarklet to your
toolbar so you don’t have to visit the website.
http://pdfmyurl.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Can you protect your ID
for free?
http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=8120
Also see
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HassleMe
Not eating enough fruit? Forgot to feed the fish again?
Need a little help keeping your New Year's resolutions?
Tell us what to hassle you about, and we'll nag you via
email at semi-unpredictable intervals. HassleMe is
unique because you never quite know when your reminder
will come along.
http://www.hassleme.co.uk/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Easy Poster Printer
works on a simple principle: your image is
divided into sections and fed to your printer chunk by
chunk so the end result is a stack of segments that can
be reassembled into the large image. (NOTE: They require
you to upload your image and thus have less control over
it and less privacy.)
Source:
Lifehacker
http://www.gdsoftware.dk/products.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TeleKast
Source: Komando.com
As we've learned from our president, teleprompters help
spoken presentation. Turn your computer into a
teleprompter with TeleKast. This free program allows you
to create and segment scripts. Print them out or display
them in real-time. There are some limitations. For
example, it can't display mirror images, yet. This means
it won't replace professional teleprompter software.
However, it will be perfect for home and budget use.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/telekast/
Data Boot Camp for School Counselors
and Administrators - CD
Russell A. Sabella, Ph.D.
This CD is
designed to help you become more proficient in
using Microsoft Excel™ to make data an important
part of your comprehensive school counseling
program. From data-driven decision making, to
monitoring progress, to reporting the positive
impact you're having on kids -- this CD will
demystify how it's done.
With the Data Boot Camp for School Counselors
and Administrators, what you see and hear on the
videos is what you do. At your fingertips,
you'll have access to 30 videos and lots of
graphics, tips, tricks, and resourceful links.
This straightforward step-by-step approach makes
learning how to use Microsoft Excel™ (and a bit
of PowerPoint™) as easy and convenient as
watching television. Data Boot Camp will help
school counseling students, practitioners,
administrators, and counselor educators to more
easily unlock the power of data so you can more
effectively support student achievement.
The content on the CD is equivalent to a
full-day workshop in the computer lab!
Visit and learn more about the contents of the
CD and view a couple of sample videos (Remember,
these samples may take a few moments to load
because you are online. However, on the CD, this
is not an issue because the videos are all
located on the CD itself!).
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/store/data-bootcamp.htm
$18.95 (FREE
shipping)
Please allow 5-7 working days to arrive
|
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JUST FOR FUN
Public Domain
Discover thousands of public domain books
http://www.feedbooks.com/publicdomain
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CRON-O-Meter is
free, open source, and cross-platform dieting software.
http://spaz.ca/cronometer/
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Newseum
Just put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world and
the newspaper headlines pop up... Double click and the
page gets larger....you can read the entire paper on
some if you click on the right place. You can spend
forever here..
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia
The free space simulation that lets you explore
our universe in three dimensions. Celestia runs on
Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/
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Sabella
& Associates, LLC, 4922 SW 26th PL, Cape
Coral, FL 33914
Sabella@Schoolcounselor.com |
