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April 11, 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.

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Highlights from SchoolCounselor.com

Top 5 Training Topics for School Counselors
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/top5training.htm
 

TIPS AND TRICKS

The 4D Method for Email Management
One interesting technique for effective email management was designed by the Microsoft Corporation, and it’s called the 4D Method. Although, it was originally intended for users of MS Outlook, this technique can easily be adapted for just about any other client or web-based email account. Read more >>>
http://www.nirmaltv.com/2010/02/09/the-4d-method-for-email-management/

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Microsoft Excel Tips and Tricks
Source: http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/spreadcheats/

– If you need to type content in a cell and you want to see it in multiple lines then use alt + enter to break the content in several lines. See to the right for an example.

– Keyboard shortcuts for selecting specific parts of your spreadsheet (click here). I find most useful to click on Cell A1 and then press CTRL + * (or CTRL-Shift-8) to highlight the entire sheet of data.

– 5 Areas where Mouse Kicks Keyboard’s Butt
http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/03/02/using-mouse-excel/

– Jump to last row / column in table with double-click
Just select any cell in the table and double click on the cell-border in the direction you want to go. See the screencast at http://chandoo.org/img/l/go-to-last-cell-in-table-row.gif

Also see:
31 Excel Tutorials – Learn and Be Awesome in Excel
http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/03/11/learn-excel-in-31-days/

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Live Movie Maker
Source: Komando.com
An improved video-editing tool. Live Movie Maker offers some noticeable improvements over the old Microsoft Movie Maker. And it works in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Live Movie Maker adds new transitions, effects and captioning tools. It can produce movies in widescreen format. You can also upload videos directly to YouTube. But most importantly, it hands many popular HD video formats. (Live Movie Maker is part of the Windows Live suite. It will try to install Photo Gallery, Messenger, Writer and more. All are fine programs. But during installation you can unselect any programs you don’t want.)
http://www.windowslive.com/Desktop/MovieMaker

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Best Free PDF Tools
Ever needed to merge, split or reorder the pages of a PDF document.? Would you like to encrypt or decrypt a PDF or maybe add headers and footers? You can do all this and more using these handy free PDF utilities.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-pdf-tools.htm

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Easily Reduce Cable Clutter on your Desk
If you have USB cables, cell phone chargers and other connecters lying all around your desk, just get a couple of binder clips from your nearest stationery store and fix them to one edge of your table as shown in the picture on this site.
http://www.labnol.org/gadgets/reduce-cable-clutter-on-desktop/13270/

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Change Word 2007's default paste-formatting option
Source: Worker’s Edge
One of the best features Microsoft added to Word 2007 is the ability to change the program's default paste setting so added material adopts the formatting of the destination document. To do so, click the Office button and choose Word Options > Advanced. In the Cut, copy, and paste section, select Match Destination Formatting in the "Pasting from other programs" drop-down menu.
Also see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA102157081033.aspx#5

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Google Search Now in Haitian
Haitian Kreyòl is spoken by more than 10 million people in Haiti and in the Haitian diaspora in the Bahamas, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, France, French Guiana, Puerto Rico and the United States. The massive earthquake that recently stuck Haiti took a heavy toll on communication infrastructure (including TV, radio and newspapers). In the weeks following the earthquake, the Internet has become an important tool for Haitians to search for news and information. We previously added support for Haitian Kreyòl to Google Translate and we are happy that Google search can now be used the Haitian people in their native language.
http://www.google.ht/

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Arm Yourself Against Cyber Fraud
Industry experts forecast that banking fraud will continue to be a critical problem in 2010. This news comes from GovInfoSecurity.com's March 2010 handbook, which features an intriguing cover story entitled "10 Faces of Fraud: Old and New Schemes Target Banking Institutions and Their Customers."
http://docs.govinfosecurity.com/files/handbooks/RSA2010/BIS-EOY-RSA.pdf

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Find Opening Hours of Tourist Places with Google
The trick is simple. Type the name of the place that you are planning to visit and add the word “hours” to your search query. When you do this, Google will automatically show you the visiting hours of that place in the search results itself. Read more ...
http://www.labnol.org/internet/find-opening-hours-of-tourist-places/12870/

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WORTHY WEBSITES AND SOFTWARE

MTV: A Thin Line
MTV's A Thin Line campaign was developed to empower you to identify, respond to, and stop the spread of digital abuse in your life and amongst your peers. The campaign is built on the understanding that there's a "thin line" between what may begin as a harmless joke and something that could end up having a serious impact on you or someone else. We know no generation has ever had to deal with this, so we want to partner with you to help figure it out. On-air, online and on your cell, we hope to spark a conversation and deliver information that helps you draw your own digital line.
http://www.athinline.org/

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Team-Maker
A simple and handy random team generator that lets you create teams quickly and easily. Creating diverse groups can be tedious and time-consuming, not to mention worrying about the problem of bias or favouritism. This online tool solves these problems.
http://chir.ag/projects/team-maker/

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Grants
Source: Komando.com
Times are still tough. Unemployment is high. And this means less money for various organizations. If you have an organization that needs money, consider a government grant. Sounds good, but first you need to find one. Grants.gov collects information from 26 government grant agencies. You can search for grants related to a particular subject. Or browse by general category. You don't need to sign up to search for grants. However, you will need to register to apply for them. Registration is free.
http://www.grants.gov/

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TypeWith.me which turns out to be a quick and dirty document collaboration tool. Free, easy, point and click functionality. In fact, they don’t even require any registration. Let’s take a look at what TypeWith.me can do with online document collaboration.
http://typewith.me/

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EasyPrompter
If you help kids create videos or do this yourself, this will be an amazingly helpful site. This web-based teleprompter software is free, doesn't require any plugins or flash and is fully configurable.
http://www.easyprompter.com/

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Miro is a free HD video player. It can play almost any video file and offers over 6,000 free internet TV shows and video podcasts. Miro has a simple, gorgeous interface designed for full screen HD video. Since Miro downloads most videos, you can take your shows with you, even on an airplane. Quite simply, Miro is a better way to watch all the video you care about. Best of all, Miro is 100% free and open source, developed by a non-profit organization and volunteers around the world.
http://www.getmiro.com/

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Safe Schools: Utilizing Youth Leadership Programs to Develop a Safe School Climate
In developing school based approaches to create safe schools and positive school climates the single most important factor that youth leadership programs neglect to focus in on is the importance of developing a sense of belonging to a group identity for young people. We know that “After transition to middle school, peers become primary sources of support and motivation to achieve while the quality of teacher-student relationships tends to decline with time” (Wentzel, 1996). As we set a calendar each year to tackle the critical issues in youth development with great activities, assemblies, and orientations, we must first address the importance of a student body feeling included or connected to the youth leaders facilitating the activities. A major finding of 90,000 students grade 7-11 is that when students feel connected (i.e., feel close to people at school, happy to be at school, part of the school, treated fairly, feel safe) to their school that this “connectedness” is protective against every health risk behavior—alcohol use, suicidal attempts, teen pregnancy, and acts of violence towards others. It is this “connectedness” that we must establish as a foundation of our youth leadership program.
Read more >>>
http://bit.ly/cT79MF

Also see GuardingKids.com Blog
This web site supports Dr. Russell Sabella's work on educating children, parents, educators and other stake holders about the responsible use of technology. Included in these pages you will find helpful resources, lesson plans, links, and more. Russ's most recent book and workshops are primary resources for meeting this mission.
http://guardingkids.blogspot.com/

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OnlineFamily.Norton
Your children are online. You're in the loop. Like most parents, you're concerned about what your children are doing on the Internet. OnlineFamily.Norton gives you the tools to manage where they go, how long they are online, who they talk to, and what information they're sharing with others. Best of all, it helps you open up a positive dialogue with your children about good online habits. OnlineFamily.Norton gives you the tools to manage where they go, how long they are online, who they talk to, and what information they're sharing with others.
http://bit.ly/b0xqts

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AVG Rescue CD: A powerful toolset for rescue & repair of infected machines.
The AVG Rescue CD is a powerful (and free) must-have toolkit for the rescue and repair of infected machines.
http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd

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Mashpedia
Mashpedia is an effective medium to find digital content and information about specific themes, providing a didactive and intuitive way of learning. For every topic you get a basic definition, the latest related news, videos, images, twitter messages and relevant links. At Mashpedia you have access to the most recent developments, events, comments and trends involving the topic in question, allowing you to have a practical outlook on the topic in mention.
http://mashpedia.com/

Try this: http://mashpedia.com/school_counseling

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ZeuApp
Jumping all over the Web is just the price of free software. But does that have to be the case? ZeuApp can make setting up a computer much easier. It pulls together links to 82 programs. Download any of them with one click.
http://blog.zeusoft.net/zeuapp

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JUST FOR FUN

q-compare: Compare Amazon and eBay prices
Select Category and your location, enter your query, click on search and finally click on the item to compare.
http://www.q-compare.com/

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MEETorDIE
Helps You Estimate How Much Money Your Meetings Are Wasting
http://meetordie.com/

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YouTube Disco
Are you an audiophile who loves to discover new kinds of music? If you are, check out YouTube Disco, a new YouTube music discovery project that lets you explore new music by just searching for an artist.
http://www.youtube.com/disco

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Clicker is a site that makes finding missed shows easy. Type in a show and click Find. It will comb though several online TV sites. You will get a list of places to view the show.
http://www.clicker.com/

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FlipText.net
Write upsidedown
http://www.en.fliptext.net/

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PhotoWipe is a revolutionary image processing tool that magically removes unwanted objects from your photos. Just paint over them in black, and click go! Uncovers hidden details in your photos. Sit back and watch as cage bars disappear from the zoo, and your old girlfriend or boyfriend fades away. It removes wrinkles, or it can remove entire facial features.
http://www.hanovsolutions.com/?prod=PhotoWipe

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ImageChef
Drop your own photos into over 40 fun picture frames. Add your own text and share via email, MySpace, Facebook and more.
http://www.imagechef.com/

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Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
by Chip Heath, Dan Heath
Thoroughly enjoyed this book which focuses on solution focused or strength based approaches to change. Even includes a school counseling example.
Amazon.com: http://bit.ly/aO0SzI

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Sabella & Associates, LLC, 4922 SW 26^th PL, Cape Coral, FL 33914
Sabella@Schoolcounselor.com