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

Must See Videos

New videos added since the last issue.

http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/

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TIPS AND TRICKS

Paste Plain Text Into Excel

Want to paste text from Word or IE into Excel without having it munge up the formatting in the cell? Hit F2 so you're in Editing mode before you paste. Then only the text will come through, not the formulas.

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Use Universal Fonts

Avoid font hassles when you move a PowerPoint file from computer to computer by using fonts like Arial, Verdana, or Times New Roman. Computers with older versions of Office won't always have the PowerPoint 2007 default fonts (Calibri, Corbel, and so on). Or else, when transferring a presentation to another computer to edit it, make sure to embed the fonts inside the presentation so they will be available when you make changes. To do this, choose File | Save As, choose Tools | Save Options and click Embed fonts in the file checkbox.

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Microsoft PowerPoint: Creating Action Buttons

Action Buttons let you navigate quickly and efficiently within a slide show. They can also be used to activate hyperlinks, letting you jump outside of the show to visit useful websites. If you want one or more buttons on all slides, they can be added to the Slide Master and so show up automatically on all slides. Or specific buttons can be created just for specific slides.

http://www.washburn.edu/cas/history/stucker/PPTactionbuttons.html

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Microsoft PowerPoint: View and Edit a Presentation

To display a presentation on the screen as you work, click the View tab and hold the Control key as you click the Slideshow button. This displays the presentation in the top left of the screen, allowing you to move between viewing the presentation and editing it.

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Microsoft PowerPoint: Don't Use All Your Slides

If you've got a presentation with a ton of slides but only a handful fit the current audience, don't waste time by scrolling through all the slides. On the Slide Show tab, click Custom Slide Show, select just the slides that make sense, and click Show to launch an abbreviated presentation.

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Video Tutorials: Docs in Plain English

If you're just getting started with Google Docs, this video tutorial is a great introduction. It highlights the basics of creating and sharing online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

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Put Office's AutoCorrect Feature to Work for You

I'll bet you've got your own list of terms you've typed so often you can barely see the letters on their keys anymore. But there's no need for you to spell them out each time you need to use them. Just enter them once in the AutoCorrect dialog box in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office apps along with the abbreviations of your choice. Then simply type the abbreviation to have the entire word (or words) displayed when you press the space bar.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-9946984-68.html

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Convert PDFs to Editable Text

Here’s a nifty trick .. Want to convert a PDF file to text? Send it to your Gmail account and view the attachment as HTML. You can then cut and paste it, with formatting, into a word processor. Second, WordPerfect X3 users also know that this word process can import and convert PDF files to Rich Text. Also, you can download a piece of free software called Some PDF Converter which will do the trick.

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Citation Machine: APA Citations Made Easy

Citation Machine is an interactive web tool designed to assist high school, college, and university students, their teachers, and independent researchers in their effort to respect other people's intellectual properties.

http://citationmachine.net/index.php?reqstyleid=

also see http://www.sourceaid.com/

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WORTHY WEBSITES AND SOFTWARE

Windows Defender

Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected and minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive. Now with 2 free support incidents for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/

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Penzu

The easiest way to keep a journal on the web.

http://www.penzu.com/

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IrfanView

This graphics viewer (pronounced ear-fan-view) lets you see any image file and most digital videos with just one right click. It's that simple. You can also use this power viewer to convert files to other formats and do some quick editing and annotation. Free.

http://www.irfanview.com/

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Eraser

Never get rid of an old computer without making sure the hard drive is wiped clean. That doesn't mean just reformatting it, but actually obliterating all data by overwriting disk sectors multiple times. Open-source Eraser can fit on a floppy disk or a USB key and do the job. Free.

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser

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Reel Life Wisdom

Serving inspiration-seeking movie quote lovers worldwide

http://www.reellifewisdom.com/

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DupliFinder

This free application can search through your images collection and find duplicates not only by file name or size, but also by visual similarity.

http://www.codeplex.com/DupliFinder

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Free Microsoft Office Templates

http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/office2007templates/

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Zac Browser

Zac Browser - Zone for Autistic Children is a content restricted web browser that was developed specifically for children with autism, and autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), and PDD-NOS. It provides a full-screen interface with access to games, music and other online activities that cater specifically to kids who display the characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, like impairments in social interaction, impairments in communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior.

Also ..

Kidzui

Just like adults have Internet Explorer, Safari or FireFox, our kids can now finally have their own internet browser right on the desktop! Because it is an internet browser a small safe download is necessary. The kids love it and I have peace of mind that the websites they're playing on are all kid-safe and parent-approved.

http://www.kidzui.com/

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YouTube Video Annotations

Video Annotations are a new way for you to add interactive commentary to your videos!

http://youtube.com/t/annotations_about

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JUST FOR FUN

A Cool Way of Peeling an Egg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETgWdRfRY2U

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SPARKLING MOMENT Exercise

A nice exercise to start a training or workshop.

http://solutionfocusedchange.blogspot.com/2008/05/sparkling-moment.html

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10 Healthy Foods Under $1

Most of us don't need to hear it or read it ... we have felt it in our wallets every time we've gone to the grocery store. But just because food prices are rising doesn't mean you can't make healthy food choices. The good news is that many foods that are good for you are also cheap. Here is our list of the top healthy foods you can find in your grocery store for under a dollar.

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Learn to Play an Instrument Online

Chances are at one point or another, you've either purchased an instrument or considered doing so with the intention of learning to play it; most of us, however, never get around the learning part. The internet is a glorious fount of freely available information, and it's slowly filling up with excellent tutorials for getting good at just about anything—including playing a new instrument. Hit the jump for a handful of great resources for getting started with a new instrument online for the low, low price of free.

http://lifehacker.com/391435/learn-to-play-an-instrument-online

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Musopen is an online music library of copyright free music (public domain music). We want to give the world access to music, without the legal hassles so common today. There is a great deal of music that has expired copyrights, but almost no recordings of this music is in the public domain. We aim to record or obtain recordings that have no copyrights so that our visitors may listen, re-use, or in any way enjoy music. Put simply, our mission is to set music free.

http://www.musopen.com/

Radio setting .. This is a streaming music player that randomly plays music from our database. If you want an easy way to relax and enjoy our music, this would be the page for you.

http://www.musopensource.com/radio/index.html

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