eNews #86

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.

Dr. Russell Sabella is available for workshops, presentations, keynotes, and other speaking engagements. Workshops and presentations may last from several hours to the span of a course or institute. Download a brochure that details various trainings including Technology Boot Camps for Counselors, Solution Focused Brief Counseling and Consultation, Sexual Harassment Risk Reduction, Peer Helper Programs/Training, the ASCA National Model™, and more!

Word 2007 provides easy access to all the commands necessary for creating a mail merge. These commands are available in the Mailings command tab on the Ribbon. For users unfamiliar with creating mail merges, the commands progress from left to right across the Ribbon in the order that they are needed for a successful mail merge.

You can format paragraphs so that Word doesn’t leave a single line of the paragraph at either the top or bottom of a page. This tip explains the controls in the Paragraph dialog box that allow you to control that level of formatting. (This tip works with Microsoft Word™ 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003.)

Word Hyperlink Checker is a free MS Word tool for managing and checking hyperlinks in Word documents. Use this Microsoft Word™ add-in every time you need to check whether a link of your Word document is valid. With Word Hyperlink Checker you can quickly find suspicious and broken links in Microsoft Word™ documents of any size. It processes hundreds of hyperlinks in no time.

3. Drag the Screen resolution slider to the left to decrease the resolution of your monitor, or to the right to increase it. Click Apply.

4. If the Monitor Settings dialog box appears, look at your display. If you like the new resolution, click Yes. If not, click No, and return to step 3.

If you have a scroll wheel mouse, you can use the wheel to enlarge or shrink the screen size of your document or worksheet. Hold down the <Ctrl> key and spin the wheel toward yourself to zoom out or away from yourself (forward) to zoom back in. You may need to enable this feature to make it work properly; to do so, in Word or Excel, choose Tools, Options, click the General tab, and check the Zoom on Roll with Intellimouse box (a scroll mouse of any brand will work).

Did you know that you can change the Lotus Notes default opening window from the “Welcome Basics” screen to your Mail Inbox view? Did you know that you can specify that messages from certain people always appear in your Inbox view in colors you choose? Read on for instructions on how to change the settings so you can more quickly identify and open incoming messages from selected people.

Do you use the shortcuts available to help you browse the Web more quickly? Following are several tips to help you use Firefox and Internet Explorer more effectively. NOTE: These tips apply to both Firefox and Internet Explorer unless otherwise stated.

What if you want to communicate with others on the Net for only a very brief period of time? You can create a disposable web page with as little effort as a few key strokes and start right away at filling up the page with the content you want. Disposable web page offers you the convenience and freedom of getting information out there on the Internet with as little hassle as can be. Why is it call disposableWebPage? Each disposable webpage has a count down clock. You can set this clock to count down anywhere from 90 days to 0 days from the time the page is created. When the remaining time reaches 00:00:00:00, the page is automatically set for disposal and will exist for 2 more weeks before it gets incinerated.

Our keyboard shortcut database is searchable by software program and covers all the major operating environments including Windows, Macintosh, Linux and browser-based applications.

Next time you do a web search with Google, type "time" followed by a city, state,

or country and Google will return the time for your desired location. If you enter a location with multiple time zones, we'll display results for all applicable time zones; or, if you enter a location in multiple states or countries, we'll show all locations with a similar name so you can choose between them.

flauntR is a new web based image editor - extremely fast and works in the browser. It's layout looks no different from any desktop based software.

The Stop Bullying Now! Activities Guide, a handbook of ideas for putting the Stop Bullying Now! Campaign to work in your school or community, and a Video Toolkit DVD containing webisodes, PSAs, and video workshops are now available! You can request a printed version of the guide by calling 1-888-ASK-HRSA or _download a PDF version at

From the website ... “Our product is explanation. We use simple tools to make sense of a complex world. We're interpreters. We present your products and services in plain English using short, unique and understandable videos in a format we call Paperworks.”

Although this is a bit older, it is still helpful. Here is an article I co-authored entitled Podcasting in Educational Leadership and Counseling.

Create surveys, landing pages, polls, quizzes, contact forms, ticketing queues and mobile marketing campaigns. Whatever data you need, we can help you get it. It's free for basic use (up to 250 responses). Add as many questions as you want and create as many surveys as you want. If you want a higher level of responses (up to 50,000) and more options, there is a monthly/yearly fee. Non-profit and educational organizations can get 50% off the fee. Embed your surveys into a Web page, add it to a wiki, etc.

Given a valid U.S. postal address, this server attempts to rewrite the address in the proper format along with the ZIP+4 code. If it is successful, you can retrieve a Postscript or a GIF file of the address for printing, with a barcode! You can also view a street map of the address, from 2 different Internet map sites (MapBlast and MapQuest).

While editing a presentation, hold down the CTRL key while clicking the slide show view button; this will open a tiny preview window showing that slide in slide show mode.

Picture yourself sending your principal, superintendent, colleagues, and parents a 3 minute PowerPoint show that demonstrates how you and your school counseling program are able to successfully tackle student achievement problems. Instead of writing a paper report, your show includes graphs, information, and your voice, telling this digital success story. Go to my website at http://www.schoolcounselor.com and download a sample show and a handout with step-by-step directions.

For greater flexibility when you present, you can create a main presentation that contains a menu and link the items in the menu to other presentations. When you decide to cover a topic, you click on its menu item to go to the presentation on that topic. When you're done covering that topic, you click on a button to return to the menu in the main presentation. From there you can go to another topic.

Quickly create a note from text in another program. Select the text and drag it onto the Notes button in the Navigation Pane.

Use this online form to estimate the value of the library services you use each month. Services listed include materials borrowed (books, movies, audio books, museum passes), magazines used in library, interlibrary loan, children's programs attended, computer use, reference questions, and more. From the Maine State Library.

This site provides "a mosaic of landing site images and a tour of the Apollo landings" on the moon. Click to zoom in on the landing sites for the "six missions of the Apollo Program, which lasted from 1963 to 1972." Also includes a FAQ and a relief map showing moon elevations. From Google, in partnership with scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center.

Tune in to live talk radio stations. Catch up on the latest news, sports and political programming.

The NAUPA website consists of state officials charged with the responsibility of collecting and reuniting lost owners with their unclaimed property. This site was developed by state unclaimed property experts to assist you - free of charge - in your efforts to search for funds that may belong to you or your relatives.

The SchoolCounselor.com newsletter may contain links to sites on the Internet owned and operated by third parties. SchoolCounselor.com is not responsible for the availability of, or the content located on or through, any such third-party site. Information in this document is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and freedom from infringement. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and the use of this document. SchoolCounselor.com will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of this information, including, but not limited to direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, and consequential damages.

Questions ...

• I'm doing an in-service for parents about middle school transition and I don't want to "reinvent the wheel." How do I find a such a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation online?

• I'm developing a handout for a classroom guidance and want to quickly find specific illustrations that fit, how do I do that? How do I copy these images into my Microsoft Word file?

• How might I quickly find and download sound and/or videos to include in my presentations, use in class, or include in my work?

• Once I find a website, how can I put a button on my browser to quickly get there again without having to type in that long address?

• What should I know about viruses?

• How do I translate into Spanish or another language an e-mail or letter to a parent?

• Once I find a site that I like, how can I find related sites and return to these sites quickly?

• What is an Internet Explorer plugin or addin?

• How exactly do I expand or narrow my searched to find just what I'm looking for?

• What other tools does Google offer me?

• How can I become a power Googler?

Answers ....

World Wide Web Boot Camp for School Counselors - CD

Russell A. Sabella, Ph.D.

With over 36 videos and lots of tips, tricks, links, this CD gives you step-by-step instructions for effectively and efficiently navigating the Web. Because all the files are on the CD, you won’t need to connect to the Internet for all the essential information (only linked web sites require an Internet connection). What you see and hear on the videos is what you do. This straightforward approach makes learning how to use the Web as easy and convenient as watching television. This tool will help students, practitioners, and professors alike spend less time searching and more time finding relevant resources available on the Web.

The content on the CD is equivalent to a full-day workshop in the computer lab.

Windows Only (not available for the Macintosh)

30% OFF

~~$19.95~~ $9.95 (plus $2 shipping)

Now available for download, you’ll be up and running in minutes.

Visit http://www.schoolcounselor.com/store/www-bootcamp.htm to view sample videos and order now.