Saturday, November 20, 2010

Schoolcounselor.com eNews #122

SchoolCounselor.com eNew #122
November 20, 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.

Please take a moment to visit with this month's sponsors:

Did Captain Jack Sparrow use the words macabre, belligerent, and superfluous in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies? The answer is "Yes!" So, see if your students can Name That Movie! as you test their movie trivia knowledge and help them learn more than 1,000 SAT, ACT, and GED vocabulary words taken from Step Brothers, Iron Man, Mean Girls, The Notebook, Pride & Prejudice, Miss Congeniality, Shrek, and more!
Visit http://www.brianleaf.com/ to learn more.

Counselor Must See Videos
More at http://counselingvideos.blogspot.com/


Postings from Russ Sabella ...
– Keeping Kids Out of High Tech Trouble. This blog 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.
– SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter. The SchoolCounselor.com e-Newsletter is an electronic publication 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.
– Must See Videos. When I see a video that would be useful, inspiring, enlightening among counselors, I post it here.
– Twitter. Postings about all thinks counseling, life, humor, and more.

The Importance of Making Appointments
http://bit.ly/on-call-counselor.
Full magazine is online at http://bit.ly/93K79X
Alternate address for the column:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/508472/available%20upon%20request%20from%20fsca%20mag.PDF
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TIPS AND TRICKS

DownloadTube is another free web service which allows you to specify the YouTube video and then convert and download it to different formats online. All you need is to specify the YouTube video URL and the format to download the video.
http://downloadtube.org/
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PC Security Checklists
A series of free 15-point checklists to help you ensure that your computers and files stay safe from viruses, hackers, phishers, trojans, and all other threats.
http://www.defeatingthehacker.com/securitysavvy/freestuff.html
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Microsoft Word 2007 Keyboard Shortcuts
Source: http://homeworktips.about.com/od/computertips/a/shortcuts.htm
If you are lilke me, you can work faster by keeping your hands on the keyboard instead of going to the mouse. Here are some common keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word. You’ll probably find that the more you use them, the easier you will remember them.
If the desired function involves a section of text (words you have typed) you will need to highlight the text before typing the command. For instance, to BOLD a word or words you must highlight them first.
Bold: CTRL + B
Center a paragraph: CTRL + E
Copy: CTRL + C
Create a hanging indent: CTRL + T
Decrease the font size by 1 point: CTRL + [
Double-space lines: CTRL + 2
Hanging Indent: CTRL + T
Help: F1
Increase the font size by 1 point: CTRL + ]
Indent a paragraph from the left: CTRL + M
Indent: CTRL + M
Insert a footnote: ALT + CTRL + F
Insert an endnote: ALT + CTRL + D
Italic: CTRL + I
Justify a paragraph: CTRL + J
Left-align a paragraph: CTRL + L
Mark a table of contents entry: ALT + SHIFT + O
Mark an index entry: ALT + SHIFT + X
Page Break: CTRL + ENTER
Print: CTRL + P
Remove a paragraph indent from the left: CTRL + SHIFT + M
Remove paragraph formatting: CTRL + Q
Right-align a paragraph: CTRL + R
Save: CTRL + S
Select All: CTRL + A
Shrink Font One Point: CTRL + [
Single-space lines: CTRL + 1
To type a Subscript: CTRL + =
To type a Superscript: CTRL + SHIFT + =
Thesaurus: SHIFT + F7
Remove Hanging Indent: CTRL + SHIFT + T
Remove Indent: CTRL + SHIFT + M
Underline: CTRL + U
Undo: CTRL + Z
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Word 2007 Demo: Build a document with building blocks (video)
Fear the blank page no longer. With the new building blocks feature in Word 2007, you can create sharp-looking business documents more easily than ever. You assemble your document from galleries of pre-designed parts, add your business information, and save the building blocks to use again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyzAqQ7D6mk
Related: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-20018679-68.html
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Prevent People from Forwarding or Replying All in Outlook
If you frequently send out mass email news letters and keep getting users replying to all recipients or need to disable the ability to forward an email, Microsoft Exchange and Outlook have you covered. Exchange and Outlook enable their own special flags that can disable this functionality and it can be extremely helpful if you need more control over your sent emails.
Click here.
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AT&T Natural Voices Wizzard Software is pleased to offer Version 4.2 of AT&T Natural Voices Text to Speech (TTS) for Windows and Linux, an award winning text to speech technology developed by AT&T Laboratories. Natural Voices is believed by many to be the most natural sounding TTS available, the "highly scalable" multi-threaded technology can automate and add tremendous interactive and humanistic value to a wide variety of applications and projects.
http://wizzardsoftware.com/att_nv_landing.php
Also see http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php
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21 Videos on the Solution-Focused Approach
http://solutionfocusedchange.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-21-videos-on-solution-focused.html
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The (Very) Unofficial Facebook Privacy Guide [DOWNLOAD]
Like Facebook, but wish your information wasn’t so public? Time to lock your settings down. Facebook doesn’t make this easy, however; features are constantly added and the default for each new one seems to favor transparency instead of privacy. The result: there are hundreds of little changes you need to make to truly control where your information goes. Enter "The (Very) Unofficial Facebook Privacy Manual". This handy guide outlines everything you could ever want to know about locking down your privacy on Facebook, and a few things you probably didn’t even know you wanted to know.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-unofficial-Facebook-privacy-guide/
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Demo Slam is a new site that showcases Google technology in new, creative ways to help more people understand the free tools available to them. You can watch new slams each week, vote for your favorites and create your own slam. It's a place where tech demos become more exciting and engaging, thanks to the creativity of Google users.
http://www.DemoSlam.com
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Sample Anti-Bullying Report Form
http://www.d300.org/form/20756
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Posters
Beautiful ... Inspiring .. Motivational ... Touching
Counseling Posters for your Office and Home
Edublogs hosts blogs and provides custom blogging platforms to individual teachers, school districts and hundreds of thousands of students. We’ve grown to become the largest, most trusted, best supported and widely used way for teachers and students to engage with the world of blogging.
http://edublogs.org/
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Blio is a FREE eReading application that presents eBooks just like the printed version, in full color, and with all of the features you’d want from an eReader.
http://www.blio.com/
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Google Chrome Extensions at School: Get more done!
Whether you’re writing a term paper for your classic Greek literature class or collaborating with your lab group over IM, Google Chrome extensions can also help you keep track of all the important things you have to do during the day.
http://googleforstudents.blogspot.com/2010/09/google-chrome-extensions-at-school-get.html
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What’s new in Google Docs
If you’re new to Google Docs or don’t use it very often, the new Google Docs YouTube channel is a good place to start. These videos give a high level overview and steps to get started. And since each video is focused on one feature, its easy to only learn about the ones that matter most to you.
http://www.youtube.com/docs
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Rohos Mini Drive. Free edition.
Creates hidden and encrypted partition on the USB flash drive memory. If you have many private files on the USB drive and want to keep them in secret, you can protect them by a password and strong encryption with Rohos Mini Drive.
http://www.rohos.com/
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ToneCheck
Studies show e-mail messages are interpreted incorrectly 50% of the time.* ToneCheck™ is an e-mail plug-in that flags sentences with words or phrases that may convey unintended emotion or tone, then helps you re-write them. Just like Spell Check… but for Tone.
http://tonecheck.com/
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Microsoft Expression Encoder
Are you looking for a screencasting tool for Windows that doesn’t cost a dime but can still help you create high-quality screencast videos? Read on.
http://www.labnol.org/software/best-screencasting-tool/17855/
Download link: http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Encoder4_Overview.aspx
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Convert web page to RSS feed
Page2RSS is a service that helps you monitor web sites that do not publish feeds. It will check any web page for updates and deliver them to your favorite RSS reader.
http://page2rss.com/
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The Things You Would Have Said
Whether the person has passed away, contact was lost, or the strength needed at the time was lacking, this is a chance to say what you have always wanted them to know.
http://wouldhavesaid.com/
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Balabolka is a Text-To-Speech (TTS) program. All computer voices installed on your system are available to Balabolka. The on-screen text can be saved as a WAV, MP3, MP4, OGG or WMA file. The program can read the clipboard content, view the text from DOC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, ODT, PDF and RTF files, customize font and background colour, control reading from the system tray or by the global hotkeys. Balabolka uses various versions of Microsoft Speech API (SAPI); it allows to alter a voice's parameters, including rate and pitch. The user can apply a special substitution list to improve the quality of the voice's articulation. This feature is useful when you want to change the spelling of words. The rules for the pronunciation correction use the syntax of regular expressions.
http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm
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SuperF4 kills the foreground program when you press Ctrl+Alt+F4. This is different from when you press Alt+F4, which only asks the foreground program to exit, allowing it to decide for itself what to do.
http://code.google.com/p/superf4/
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Dimensions
Dimensions takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.
http://www.howbigreally.com/
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AndreaMosaic is a free project to create digital art using images and computer software. With AndreaMosaic you can create your own photographic mosaics made with your own pictures. A photo mosaic is an image composed of many tiled photos.
http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/
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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 hearthrob fades away. It removes wrinkles, or it can remove entire facial features.
http://www.hanovsolutions.com/?prod=PhotoWipe
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Boogle. Google with a nugget of inspirational wisdom.
http://www.boogle.com/
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http://www.schoolcounselor.com/privacy.htm
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Sabella & Associates, LLC, 4922 SW 26th PL, Cape Coral, FL 33914
Sabella@Schoolcounselor.com

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Dr. Sylinda Gilchrist Banks for ASCA President

One of my colleagues, Dr. Sylinda Gilchrist Banks is running for ASCA President Elect. I am lending my support as I believe that she has what it takes to lead and advance our profession.

I would like to pass on a statement from Sylinda:


Dear School Counseling Colleague,
I hope this email finds you well.  My name is Dr. Sylinda Gilchrist Banks and, if you have not already, I want to encourage you to cast your vote in the current ASCA Governing Board Elections. You may have read in the September/October issue of the ASCA magazine that I am a candidate for the position of President-Elect. I want you to know that I have the experiences, expertise, and dedication to lead and advocate for our school counselors.
 Currently, I am an Associate Professor in the counselor education program at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, VA.. I have worked as a high school counselor in both urban and rural public school divisions, as well as a high school director for an alternative high school. Before becoming a counselor educator, I served as the school counseling specialist at the Virginia Department of Education. My work includes being co-author of “The Virginia Professional School Counseling Manual” and “Choice Theory: Using Choice Theory and Reality therapy to Enhance Student Achievement and Responsibility.” I am also former president of the Virginia School Counselor Association and currently ASCA's Southern Regional Vice President.

It would be my privilege to lead this association to ensure that we equip school counselors with the resources needed to overcome the challenges ahead of us.  We must partner together to do what is best for our profession, for school counselors, and for our students.  It is my goal that all students throughout our country participate in a comprehensive data driven school counseling program. And, I endeavor to help counselors build programs that ensure equity and access for all students.

To cast your vote, please go to https://eballot.votenet.com/asca/login.cfm. You will need your ASCA username and password.  If the above link does not work, than go to the ASCA home page http://www.schoolcounselor.org  and look under ASCA Happening to cast your vote.  Elections will be open until November 12, 2010.
Please forward this email to your colleagues and encourage them to cast their vote in the ASCA elections.

Thank you for your participation and support.

Sincerely,
 

Sylinda Gilchrist Banks

Friday, November 5, 2010

YouTube - cyberprof's Channel

YouTube - cyberprof's Channel: "Using PowerPoint and PhotoStory3 to create a Narrated Presentation"

IBM Lotus Symphony

IBM Lotus Symphony: "Working Smarter just got easier with Lotus Symphony. Award-winning office productivity software from IBM that is easy to use and provided at no charge."

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Things You Would Have Said

The Things You Would Have Said: "Whether the person has passed away, contact was lost, or the strength needed at the time was lacking, this is a chance to say what you have always wanted them to know."

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