Thursday, January 28, 2010

iKeepSafe Video Ads on Internet Safety

iKeepSafe Video Ads on Internet Safety "Digital Literacy" -- Parents, Educators, and others should watch these together http://bit.ly/9Be2Ye

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #115

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SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #115
January 27, 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.

Happy Birthday to SchoolCounselor.com

It was 11 years ago today (January 27, 2010) that I registered this domain with one intention: to assist counselors in advancing their technological literacy. My criteria for including information has always been the same, I call it E3: What technologies help counselors to achieve their goals more effectively, efficiently, and enjoyably? That mission remains the same today.

Everyone deserves a gift on this special day. So all back issues of the newsletter are now available for download. From issues 20 through 95 (I’m still working on putting together last year’s issues, this will be a belated gift for you). Click
here to get them now or copy and past the following into your browser:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/508472/online-files/e-newsletter%2020-95.zip
 

Please take a moment to visit our Sponsors:
"I've Got" Interactive
Book Series
 

The "I've Got" interactive book series combines poetry, photographs, and motivating activities to help kids 5-12 sort out their feelings in a fun-filled way. The books teach children the basic skills needed to flourish in any social situation. These books are designed to help kids develop a strong sense of self, learn good decision-making skills, embrace compassion and empathy, and create a hopeful future - all of this while having fun, and communicating well!
http://www.ivegotbooks.net
McGraw-Hill's Top 50 Skills for a Top Score
Brian Leaf has redefined test-prep. Check out his innovative series "McGraw-Hill's Top 50 Skills for a Top Score," available anywhere books are sold. "This book is a good read even if you don't have to take the ACT."
Edward Fiske, Fiske Guide to Colleges

"The specific skills needed for the ACT, confidence building, stress-management, how to avoid careless errors this book has it covered!"
Laura Frey, former President of the New England Association for College Admission Counseling

"What a surprise, what a relief! An SAT guide that actually meets students where they are, talks to them with wit and compassion and clears away the panic of test-taking. And, the writing is first-rate, too. Bravo Brian Leaf.
Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, former Editor, The New York Times Book Review

I enjoyed the informal writing style, and the flash cards for math are brilliant! Students are used to stacks of vocabulary words in preparation for the verbal portion of the test, why not drills on flash cards for the math section?
Denise Brown-Allen, Ed.D., Upper School Director, The Pingry School
http://www.BrianLeaf.com

A Fixer
A fixer has the illusion of being causal
a server knows s/he is being used in the service
of something greater,
essentially unknown.

We fix something specific.
We serve always something:
Wholeness and the mystery of life.

Fixing and helping are the work of the ego.
Serving is the work of the soul.

When you help, you see life as weak.
When you fix you see life as broken
When you serve you see life as whole.
Fixing and helping may cure. Service heals.

When I help, I feel satisfaction.
When I serve, I feel gratitude.

Fixing is a form of judgment.
Serving is a form of connection.


- Unknown


Top 5 Training Topics for School Counselors
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/top5training.htm
Also see
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/508472/Top%206%20MAIN.pdf

Must See Videos

A few selected videos added since the last issue.
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/

(Click on the Youtube logo on the bottom right corner to watch in full screen; also know that if you can’t see the video, your network is probably blocking YouTube).

The Lost Generation
A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward. Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite. This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant. Read as you listen…forward and backward. This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old. The contest was titled "u @ 50" by AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/2010/01/lost-generation.html

Amazing Sand Art and Storytelling
This one, I believe, can easily be incorporated into the classroom in so many ways (academic, social, emotional, personal, career, etc.). The video shows the winner of " Ukraine 's Got Talent," Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch. The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize.
http://bit.ly/7D0n8J

Redefining Respect in America Event
The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) hosted an engaging panel discussion at the National Press Club with the goal of staring a national discussion around respect, online aggression, and their links to crime prevention. The event, Redefining Respect in America, featured speakers Deborah Norville (Inside Edition anchor and author of The Power of Respect), Rosalind Wiseman (author of Queen Bees and Wannabes); Rachel Simmons (author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls); Christopher Moessner (Senior Vice President, Research, Stewart and Partners); and Dr. Sameer Hinduja (Co-Director, Cyberbullying Research Center, Florida Atlantic University). This too would make for a wonderful classroom discussion.
http://bit.ly/8eYH09

Think Before You Speak
This video, produced by a student (Ashley Cole), can easily be used as part of a classroom lesson/discussion. Ashley did an amazing job ..
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/videos/2010/01/think-before-you-speak.html

You can also see more at
http://www.thinkb4youspeak.com/


New Resources

GuardingKids.com: A Practical Guide to Keeping Kids out of High-tech Trouble is now in the Kindle Store
http://bit.ly/5AscZw

School Counselors Website: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
http://www.scribd.com/full/25909385?access_key=key-2mevhq09v2ed06f02dn4

New Resources on GuardingKids.com

– My PowerPoint and Related Files to be used with Elementary School Students (195 Mb). I've used this (and the middle/secondary one below) successfully in a class assembly style format.

— Update: Copy of my comprehensive PowerPoint (for Adult Audiences) regarding Guarding Kids (67 Mb; PDF)

– My PowerPoint and Related Files to be used with Middle and Secondary School Students (574 Mb)

– Table of comprehensive cyberbullying curriculum resources.

Go directly to http://www.guardingkids.com/resources.htm.


TIPS AND TRICKS

School Counselors have been asking me about how to take advantage of Smartboard technology so I put the question out on several forums. Here are some responses:
Karen Phillips wrote: I used http://www.angriesout.com/index.htm#kids for an anger management group when I was in the elementary setting. There are some interactive activities that were great and led to further discussion. I recently used our Smartboard in the computer lab for a career lesson for 7th graders. I utilized http://www.vaview.org/ as a springboard for introducing career clusters and career exploration; I've also used it for a 5th grade career lesson. The stopbullyingnow lesson I presented went over well with 5th graders and it offers loads of further options for discussion. I love the smartboard! It really helps getting the kids up and moving and everyone wants to get involved.
Clare Simon wrote: I have used the US Dept. of Health & Human Services' website www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/ with 2nd graders. The webisodes and games were interactive, informative and fun for the students.
Tim Gillian uses http://www.coderedrover.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jetable
To avoid spam, jetable.org provides you with a temporary email address. As soon as it is created, all the emails sent to this address are forwarded to your actual email address. Your antispam address will be deactivated after the lifespan you selected comes to its end.
http://www.jetable.org/

BTW, you can also easily accomplish sort of the same thing if you have a Gmail account:
http://lifehacker.com/144397/instant-disposable-gmail-addresses

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Osun.org
although you can already do this with Google’s advanced search options, this site does make it quick and simple to search out documents of the PPT, DOC, and PDF type.

Also see SlideFinder at
http://www.slidefinder.net/ which is a special search engine just for Microsoft PowerPoints. Here are the direct results for the keyphrase “school counseling.” You can click on the thumbnails to see more of the presentation or click on the down arrow to download. So far, no registration required.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BibMe is a free automatic bibliography generator that supports MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian formatting. BibMe leverages databases provided by Amazon, FindArticles, Yahoo! News, and CiteULike to quickly and accurately AutoFill citation information for you. BibMe will then format the citation information according to the rules and guidelines of the style guides. If you prefer, you can enter your citation information manually. BibMe also contains a quick citation guide to show students the correct syntax for citing in various formats.
http://www.bibme.org/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How to Completely Erase a Hard Drive
If you want to donate your computer and really want to erase all data from the hard drive ... (NOTE: Make sure to backup all your stuff first because once it’s gone – it’s gone!). Sometimes simply deleting files isn't good enough. In this how-to video segment, PC World explains a number of simple techniques for permanently and securely removing sensitive data from old drives before recycling or disposing of them.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/157126/how_to_completely_erase_a_hard_drive.html?tk=nl_wbx_t_crawl2

I also recommend:
http://www.wizard-industries.com/sure-delete/
http://eraser.heidi.ie/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PDFmyURL
Source: Komando.co
You can turn your documents into PDF files using free software. There's also PDFmyURL. As its name suggests, it turns Web pages into PDF files. PDFmyURL does a good job of keeping a page's formatting. And there's no software to install. So, you can use it on any machine with a Web browser. To use PDFmyURL, just enter a Web page address and click a button. You'll be prompted to download your PDF file. You can also specify advanced options if you need.
http://pdfmyurl.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Search Engine for Movie Clips
This could be helpful when doing guidance or consulting.
http://movieclips.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Google Reader Lets You Monitor Page Changes Without RSS
http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/google-reader-lets-you-monitor-page-changes-without-rss/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The 10 Commandments of PowerPoint
http://www.the20life.com/2009/05/11/the-10-commandments-of-powerpoint/

WORTHY WEBSITES AND SOFTWARE
VCD Menu Lite is a free Video CD / DVD menu and title page generation program for Windows. Add this utility to your video toolkit and quickly produce simple but attractive menus as front-ends for your VCD / SVCD / DVD movie and slideshow presentations. Pick your colors, type in titles and menu captions, grab the frames from your movie clips, then export to a JPG image. Use a VCD/DVD authoring program to convert your menu image into an MPEG still.
http://www.briggsoft.com/vmlite.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Momondo is a search engine for flights
We're not a travel agency, and we don't sell flight tickets. We simply google flights across sites to make it easy for you to save time and money.
http://www.momondo.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Google Docs Template Gallery
http://docs.google.com/templates?hl=en

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

chi.mp stands for Content Hub & Identity Management Platform. Use your chi.mp site to collect, promote and connect the elements of your digital life in one place. This includes displaying your contact information, biography, blogs, messaging tools, websites and outside services such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.
http://chi.mp/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TweakNow PowerPack is a free fully-integrated suite of utilities that let you fine-tune every aspect of your computer's operating system and Web browser.
http://www.tweaknow.com/powerPack.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gadwin PrintScreen is an easy to use utility that allows you to capture any portion of the screen, save it to a file, copy it to Windows clipboard, print it or e-mail it to a recipient of your choice.
http://www.gadwin.com/download/index.htm#PrintScreen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sprixi: Search Engine for Creative Commons and Public Domain Images
Free images to choose and use!
http://www.sprixi.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CaringBridge helps you stay connected with loved ones during a serious health event. CaringBridge makes family communication simple during a difficult time. Their free patient websites help loved ones share information and support throughout serious health events, care and recovery.
http://www.caringbridge.org/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TeuxDeux is a simple, designy, browser-based to-do app. Watch the video demo online, pretty cool.
http://teuxdeux.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seismic Look
The new desktop client for Windows 7, Vista, and XP streamlines Twitter into a series of easy-to-navigate categories and extra large status updates. It also makes it simple to use Twitter without having a Twitter account.
http://seesmic.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A New Year Resolutions Template
This is a swell excel template if you want to keep track of your goals or new year resolutions or just manage a list. See it for yourself.
http://bit.ly/832qZP

Also see

Joe's Goals is a simple yet powerful tool to make tracking your goals the easiest part of accomplishing them. Use the simple single page interface to setup daily goals and track them with just a click. Watch your daily score to gage your success and use negative goals (or vices) to confront and overcome bad habits that finally need to get the boot. Share your success with your friends and family or post your personal score badge to your blog or MySpace page. Add as many Goals as you want and update them all from a single interface.

http://www.joesgoals.com/

and

habitforge
http://habitforge.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Study Skills Assessment and more from the Walla Walla Community College Website
http://bit.ly/7UTiNi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Google Turns Google Docs Into a Storage Device
Google has announced that Google Docs is set to become more than just a place to make presentations, spreadsheets, and documents. Over the next few weeks Google will be rolling out the ability to upload all file types to Google Docs. Individual files will have a limit of 250MB, but you’ll have a total of 1GB of space to store your files. If you need more space than that it’ll cost you .25 per GB per year.
http://bit.ly/7ihkfD


Data Boot Camp for School Counselors
and Administrators - CD

Russell A. Sabella, Ph.D.

My newest 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)
Now on sale for the remainder of January 2010
Only $10 and still, free shipping
Please allow 5-7 working days to arrive




JUST FOR FUN
YouTube: A doggy summer
http://bit.ly/2ji3jV

also see A doggy Christmas surprise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtPKbMwnRo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11 Ways to Listen to Music Online For Free from The 2.0 Life
http://bit.ly/7s6jtW

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fun Photo Box
Free online service to create funny greeting cards with your photos.
http://cards.funphotobox.com/

LoonaPix
Add photo effects or photo frames to your photos online. LoonaPix.com is a photo processing online service, that lets you make your photos funny and unique.
http://www.loonapix.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photovisi
Your own photo collage as wallpaper or print!
http://www.photovisi.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Goby is a search engine focused on exploring fun things to do with your free time, from taking a unique vacation to creating this weekend's adventure.
http://www.goby.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Calculate duration between two dates
This service calculates the duration, counting the day count and the number of days, months and years between two dates. Among other things, it can be used find how many days old you are and the weekday you were born.
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beautiful World
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24718795/Beautiful-World

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amazon.com 2009 Bestsellers
http://bit.ly/7i9YjE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BallDroppings looks fairly simple. You'll see a black screen. In the upper left corner is a hole through which balls drop. You can use your mouse to draw lines on the screen. A line can be extended or moved using the handles on either end. When a ball hits the line, it produces a sound. By drawing several lines, you can create music!
Source:
http://www.komando.com/
http://balldroppings.com/js/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FYI ..
Two months ago we let you know about Brian Leaf's 100 SAT/ACT workbook giveaway. Today he announced the winner ... Alicia K. Clement, 10-12th Grade Counselor at the Michigan Center Schools in Michigan Center, MI! Congrats Alicia! Even if you did not win, you can still download for free 40 pages of Brian Leaf's "McGraw-Hill's Top 50 Skills for a Top Score: SAT Critical Reading and Writing" at
http://www.brianleaf.com/index.php/SAT-Critical-Reading-and-Writing.html

____________________________________________

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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.



GuardingKids.com: A Practical Guide to Keeping Kids Out of High-Tech Trouble
Russell A. Sabella, Ph.D.

From podcasts to porn, cyberbullying to cell phones, Dr. Russell Sabella helps readers understand the risks that emerge when high-tech tools, uninformed parents, and exuberant youth collide. Because kids are growing up with modern technologies, many are more expert than their parents. As a result, a parent's ability to make effective decisions for how technology is used may be compromised.

GuardingKids.com empowers parents, educators, and other care takers to better understand the electronic terrain. Readers will be better able to help children safely and securely navigate a minefield of inappropriate and risky situations.

http://www.guardingkids.com/

Using SmartBoard Technology

School Counselors have been asking me about how to take advantage of Smartboard technology so I put the question out on several forums. Here are some responses:

 

Karen Phillips wrote: I used http://www.angriesout.com/index.htm#kids for an anger management group when I was in the elementary setting. There are some interactive activities that were great and led to further discussion. I recently used our Smartboard in the computer lab for a career lesson for 7th graders. I utilized http://www.vaview.org/ as a springboard for introducing career clusters and career exploration; I've also used it for a 5th grade career lesson. The stopbullyingnow lesson I presented went over well with 5th graders and it offers loads of further options for discussion. I love the smartboard! It really helps getting the kids up and moving and everyone wants to get involved.

Clare Simon wrote: I have used the US Dept. of Health & Human Services' website www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/ with 2nd graders.  The webisodes and games were interactive, informative and fun for the students.

Tim Gillian uses http://www.coderedrover.org

 

 

 

Blog Archive

Produced by Sabella & Associates, LLC

Copyright, 2009. All Rights Reserved. Contact Dr. Russell Sabella at news@schoolcounselor.com.