Tuesday, August 27, 2013

SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #141


SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #141
  Date of Publication: August 27, 2013


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 news@schoolcounselor.com


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Please take a moment to visit our Sponsors:

Start your school year off right with Hallways, the premier management software for school counselors. Use Hallways to track student data and appointments, and document your work within the ASCA National Model and Student Standards in an intuitive, integrated workspace. www.ihatepaperwork.com/hallways

 
BASED ON A TRUE STORY of OLD-FASHIONED LOVE ... Sina is a devoted daughter, an average student, and just happens to be at the center of the greatest tomato-flying mishap in Sicily's history.  This heartwarming story of food, family, and a deep and lasting love is destined to become a classic in children's literature.
PASTA is LOVE may make you laugh, and it may make you cry, but one thing is for certain, it will make you hungry!  It may also answer the age-old question, it there really a 'happily ever after?'   Ages 6-9
Available now at: http://www.pastaislove.com/

  The Time Elapsed Analysis & Reporting System (T.E.A.R.S.) is a Microsoft Excel add-in that automatically calculates the total amount of time that you have spent in different aspects of your work. After exporting your calendar data from Microsoft Outlook to Excel, this add-in extracts elapsed time, sums up the number of hours in each category, and then produces both a table and a chart. If you ever wondered where your time goes, you will want to use T.E.A.R.S. to learn more.

http://www.schoolcounselor.com/tears/

 


Must See Videos
New videos have been added since the last issue: 
•         Amazing Battery Test!
•         Long Island Landscapers
•         The Joy of School Counseling
•         MACH 1 Surprise

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.
http://guardingkids.blogspot.com/

– 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.
http://counselingtechnology.blogspot.com/

– Must See Videos. When I see a video that would be useful, inspiring, enlightening among counselors, I post it here.
http://counselingvideos.blogspot.com/

– Twitter. Postings about all thinks counseling, life, humor, and more.
http://twitter.com/rsabella

– Pinterest. Lots of resources for counselors, parents, and others.
http://pinterest.com/rsabella/
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Recent Past Issues:

SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #140
http://schoolcounselor.com/newsletter/newsletter140.htm


SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #139
http://schoolcounselor.com/newsletter/newsletter139.htm

SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #138
http://schoolcounselor.com/newsletter/newsletter138.htm

SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #137
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/NEWSLETTER/newsletter137.htm

SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter #136
http://www.schoolcounselor.com/NEWSLETTER/newsletter136.htm
 

Posters
Beautiful ... Inspiring
 .. Motivational ... Touching
Counseling Posters for your Office
 and Home


Career Posters
Inspiration/Motivation
Change
Most Popular

TIPS AND TRICKS

Google Alerts
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your queries.

http://www.google.com/alerts 
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How to Stop Google from Keeping a Record of Every Search You Make
Do you use Gmail, the Chrome browser, or other Google service? Then Google may be keeping a record of every search query you make. That’s right; if you have a Google account, Google may know everything you ever looked for on the web. That is, unless you turn off Google’s collecting of all your searches and clean out the web history they’ve kept. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-stop-google-keeping-record-every-search-you-make.htm

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Microsoft Office Training Manuals (Free)
There are course materials online for Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 at the moment, all downloadable as PDF files with no registration required. The 2010 documents on offer are shown below.

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EZANALYZE and Microsoft Excel Comparison
EZANALYZE, developed by Dr. Tim Poynton, is an amazing Microsoft Excel addin that makes using Excel much simpler, essentially eliminating the need to use formulas. However, EZANALYZE sometimes does not work on the Macintosh platform. In this case, I would recommend that you either (a) do the data portion of your work on a Windows PC or (b) make your Macintosh dual boot and have a Excel for Windows operating. If you must move ahead without the use of EZANALYZE, then this table will help you to find the corresponding functions.
This handout is available online at http://bit.ly/ezanalyze2excel

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The Time Elapsed Analysis & Reporting System (T.E.A.R.S.) is a Microsoft Excel add-in that automatically calculates the total amount of time that you have spent in different aspects of your work. After exporting your calendar data from Microsoft Outlook to Excel, this add-in extracts elapsed time, sums up the number of hours in each category, and then produces both a table and a chart. If you ever wondered where your time goes, you will want to use T.E.A.R.S. to learn more.

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The Google Image Ripper improves on the existing Google image search tool by allowing you to safely and easily search through the results as thumbnails and also as a gallery of full-size images without having to surf to each website. You have the option to show the link to the website where the image is hosted but don't have to risk visiting a malicious site just to see it. This site is NOT associated with Google in any way, this is simply a tool for use in conjunction with the existing service.
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Seven Free Add-ins and Apps to Supercharge Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is already a robust, feature-filled office suite. If you want to make it even easier and boost your productivity, here are seven awesome, free add-ins and apps for your downloading pleasure.
Also check out my ongoing list here:

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The newest version of Google Keep reminds you of important tasks and errands at just the right time with notifications in Chrome or on your Chromebook. To get started, select the “Remind me” button from the bottom of any note, and add a reminder for a specific date and time or a more general time of day, like tomorrow morning.

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Coursera
Take the world's best courses, online, for free.

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Free Technology for Teachers: Upload Your Own PDFs and EPUBs to Google Play Books
Google announced a great update to Google Play Books. You can now upload your own PDFs and EPUB files to Google Play Books. Upload your files and you can read them on your iPad or Android device with the Google Play Books app.

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WORTHY WEBSITES AND SOFTWARE

Maildrop.cc
MailDrop is a free throwaway e-mail address. It's temporary. It's transient. It's disposable. It's meant for those times when you don't want to give out your real address. Just give someone any e-mail address in the maildrop.cc domain, come back here, put in the e-mail address, and you can see that inbox. Make sure to read more here before you start to use this service. you should have no expectation of privacy when sending messages to your MailDrop inbox.

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25 TED Talks Perfect For Classrooms
TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) represents the best things about the Internet … and sometimes the world, for that matter. With the click of a button you can be inspired, educated, encouraged, wowed, or entertained by speakers from all walks of life. Whether you’re looking to inspire or entertain your students, the following TED talks have terrific lessons embedded in fascinating talks. While not every single talk may float your boat, there are likely a few that you should think about showing to students this year.

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Groopic lets you take one picture of the group, then switch photographers and take another. The app then blends the two images into a seamless group photo without ever having to ask a stranger to take a group shot of your friends. Available for iOs and coming soon for Android.

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Breathe New Life Into Your PowerPoint Slides With Dozens Of Exciting Free Tools & Resources
This page offers links to a number of ideas and free resources that can help you add fun and pizzazz to your PowerPoint slide presentations by incorporating engaging visual and audio elements. http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/10/bring-new-life-to-powerpoint-slides-with-dozens-of-exciting-free-tools-resources/

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Fotor
Using Fotor photo editor, you can resize your photos, crop them, adjust the lighting curve, rotate them, adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness, adjust the tone and colors, or just straighten a crooked shot! But wait! That's just in the basic edits module. You can also add a photo effect, photo frame, clip art, text, or use our unique color splash, mosaic, and tilt shift tools! And the program is free.

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AM-DeadLink detects dead links and duplicates in browser bookmarks and text files. If a bookmark has become unavailable you can verify and delete it permanently. Additionally you can download FavIcons for all your Favorites and Bookmarks. This program is free.

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10 Great New Tab Page Extensions For Google Chrome
For anyone who uses the Chrome Browser and wants more tab features, there exists a large choice of extensions that change the new tab page.
See other extensions here: http://bit.ly/top-addins

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Tokkers (sounds like "talkers") are talking QR codes and mobile landing pages that let you add an audio message to almost anything. Anyone with a smart phone can instantly hear your message.

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Find your lost Android device with Android Device Manager
Find your lost or stolen Android device and remotely wipe your personal data with Google's new Android Device Manager.
Click here to learn more or here to start using it.

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Google Doc Templates
Before you spend time creating a spreadsheet, form, document, or presentation, check out the available templates on Google Docs. You can also download these and convert to Microsoft Office format.
and check out the section for students and educators here.

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Mailinator is fundamentally quite different from other services. Other services let you "own" email addresses. Not here - at Mailinator all email addresses are owned by everyone and anyone. All email is public. Mailinator is "receive-only".You cannot send email from Mailinator. Any email that gets sent to Mailinator is deleted from the system after a few hours This site is great if you need a quick and disposable email address and you’re not worried at the content (e.g., inputting a valid email address before gaining access to a download).

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JUST FOR FUN

Amazon.com Funny Reviews
Helpful product reviews written by Amazon customers are the heart of Amazon.com, and we treasure the customers who work hard to write them. But occasionally customer creativity goes off the charts in the best possible way. Enjoy this collection of some of the funniest, top-voted reviews written by your fellow customers.

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Get Rid Of Those Zits & Marks From Your Selfies With Blemish Remover
The free Windows application lets you zap those zits and nasty black marks in no time.

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Take Me to Another Useless Website

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PRIVACY POLICY
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Want to advertise in this newsletter? Visit http://www.schoolcounselor.com/advertising.htm
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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.
Sabella & Associates, LLC, 4922 SW 26th PL, Cape Coral, FL 33914


Monday, August 19, 2013

Data Boot Camp 2.0: Anything missing?


The Data Boot Camp for School Counselors and Administrators, first published in 2006, was 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 -- the CD  demystifies how it's done.

Now I am 80% finished with a major update to the program, Data Boot Camp for School Counselors and Administrators 2.0. Before version 2.0 is complete and goes into production this December, I want check with you about a couple of things:

1. What are your data related questions or competencies that you would like to see and that are not included in version 1.0 (see here)?

2. What are your favorite consumption methods (e.g., install the program on your desktop, go to a website online, watch from your iPad or other tablet, kick back and watch an ongoing DVD on your TV or monitor)?

Please comment below (or here if you received this via email) or email me directly at sabella@schoolcounselor.com

Thanks!
Russ Sabella, Ph.D.
www.schoolcounselor.com

Friday, August 9, 2013

Relevant Professional Development for School Counselors and Educators



Click here to see the catalog:
http://bit.ly/sabella-training or here

Also ...

Webinars from SchoolCounselor.com

Each webinar is customized for either 60 or 90 minutes.
Other options available upon request.

 
Creating Compelling Charts: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
School Counselors, Administrators, and other Educators are compelled to make data driven decisions, monitor student achievement, and communicate results. Initiatives such as the ASCA National Model™ and RtI include these as critical components of an overall school counseling program. This workshop will help counselors understand the differences among various charts and their appropriate uses. This "nuts and bolts" training will also show participants how these charts are created and customized using Microsoft Excel and other productivity tools.
Demonstration
  • Overview what data looks like in Excel
  • F11 for creating charts
  • Disaggregation Charts
  • Creating a Picture Chart using PowerPoint
  • Creating a Waffle Chart using PowerPoint
  • Adding a goal line (RtI)
  • Change chart format (colors, font, etc.)
  • Save new format as template for future charts.
  • Animate chart bars or arrows (e.g., percent change).

Solution Focused Scaling with Students, Parents, and Stake Holders

The solution focused counseling model encourages others to think about times when their problems did not exist, how these times contributed to the absence of the problem, and how to recreate such circumstances in their present situations. Focus is on the students/parents strengths and abilities rather than their weaknesses. Solutions are derived by the students/parents themselves and therefore not only are they more involved in their success, but the solutions fit their unique lifestyles. Finally, because they find their own solutions that work, often self-esteem is increased. With this emphasis of counseling on solutions rather than problems, counseling becomes brief. This webinar covers the popular solution focused scaling approach with lots of handouts and resources. Teachers who want to conduct solution focused conferences with parents should also attend.

Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, with the intention of harming others. The technology used includes e-mail, message boards, blogs, instant messaging, cell phone, text messaging, defamatory personal Web sites and/or online personal polling Web sites. Frequently, media such as sounds, text, video, altered graphics, and photos are incorporated into the piece to add to the attacks. This webinar endeavors to help you understand the nature of cyberbullying and provides helpful tips for prevention and intervention among both bullies and victims.

Developing Multimedia Results Reports

This webinar will help participants to develop self-advancing, narrated, multimedia results reports. In essence, counselors will create a digital story that demonstrates the positive impact they have on students and other stake holders.



Guarding Kids from Harmful Online Content
The Internet is replete with pornography and websites that support eating disorders, self-injury, suicide, hate, and racism. This webinar overviews both human and technological solutions for blocking, filtering, monitoring, and setting up conditions and consequences for accessing online content.



Solution Focused Leadership and Organizational Development

Dr. Russ Sabella has held various leadership positions including Past President of the American School Counselor Association and President Elect of the Florida School Counselor Association. He has been a featured trainer at various Leadership Development Institutes and has helped many counseling organizations over the last 20 years to "get to the next level." In this presentation, he shares various solution focused principles that will help leaders to stay focused on what matters, to move from admiring problems to embracing solutions, and develop a "slow and go" attitude to building sustainability.

School Counseling 2.0: Communication/Collaboration Technologies to Reach and Teach Each Our Stake Holders

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have great potential for helping school counselors disseminate important information and interact with students and stake holders. This comprehensive training incorporates focuses on free or almost free services that counselors can use to enhance their school counseling programs.

How to Use Google Docs to Collect and Analyze Data

Although student information systems house insane amounts of data, school counselors sometimes need data not collected (e.g., social, personal, career data). This webinar will demonstrate how to do this most effectively and efficiently using technology. Specifically, counselors will learn how to use Google Docs (free with a registered account) to do just this. Google Docs allows for free and unlimited data collection and can even provide a quick summary of your results! From homework completion rates, to event RSVP’s, to cyberbullying surveys, this webinar will show you how to do it.

Contact Dr. Sabella about a webinar for your School or Organization:
Russell A. Sabella, Ph.D.
Sabella@SchoolCounselor.com


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