Staff Development Tips - Week of 4/24/00
We've added several new Staff Development professionals to the list this
week. Welcome!
If you know of someone who would enjoy this information, be sure to
forward it to them.
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Quotes to Use
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"If someone brings a lot of new technology into your school district, and
doesn't provide staff development, the only thing that will change is
your electric bill." David Thornburg
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Cry Uncle!
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As The Technology Tamer, I have five principles for taming technology.
The first three principles for taming technology are:
Make Technology Fun
Customize your Environment
Invest in tools
We discussed each of these in a prior issue of this newsletter. In case
you missed them, you can see them on the archives pages at
http://www.techtamers.com/free_resources/educational_technology/ednews/
The fourth principle is to Give yourself permission to say "uncle"
Remember when you were a kid and your sister was tickling you? When you
just couldn't take it anymore you cried "uncle!". The same applies for
technology. Sometimes you HAVE to turn off.
You recognize the symptoms. You feel closed in. The phone is ringing, new
email is arriving, someone's at your door, someone's in your office and
your to-do list has exceeded the memory of your Palm Pilot! It's time to
say 'uncle'. Virtually every technology person I talk to admits that they
have times when they "unplug." They go somewhere and don't take their
pager, cell phone, laptop or Palm. They become out of touch with the
world. This period of peace may last one to four days. But without
exception, they come back refreshed and willing to re-enter the fray.
Do our staff development participants have this need? Yes - but probably
on a simpler level. While our tolerance level may be set very high,
theirs may be low. They may need to cry uncle when they get 5 emails at
once. For us, this may seem like a piece of cake - but for them, it may
be the overload level. Encourage them to take a break, admit they've had
enough - and not feel guilty about it.
By learning to pace themselves and recognize their overload point early
in their technology career, they're more likely to stay with the learning
of technology. Be sure you're creating a supportive environment that lets
them cry uncle without guilt.
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From the e-letterbox
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Jim Haskins writes:
Excellent topics and thoughts. This should be put up in every school's
staff lounge or newsletter so they can see [that] technology usuage is
being slowed by educators not willing to make the change. Hopefully they
can see that they and their students are the losers. Great web sites
also. Thanks we will share them .
Great feedback, Jim! Thanks. I hope that we are making small changes that
will create the big changes needed to make a difference in our students'
learning. That's what makes the difference in the long run!
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Add excitement with new templates
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If you've been giving workshops on the same software package for a while
you know that you could use some excitement. By providing the attendees
with a few new templates, you can do just that. Here are a few of the
most common places to download new items.
Microsoft Office 98 for Macintosh
http://www.microsoft.com/Mac/downloads/default.asp
Here you'll find templates, clip art, specific tools for educators, and
the new Internet Explorer 5. While IE5 shows on the front page, notice
the tabs for the others downloads (yes, it took me several tries before I
noticed the other categories; hence my need to point it out to you!)
Microsoft Office for Windows
http://cgl.microsoft.com/clipgallerylive/default.asp?nEULA=1&nInterface=0
Clip Art Gallery Live for current clipart. This gallery extends beyond
your installed clip art. It has web art, as well as static graphics.
If you're using a Windows version of Office, it's always easiest to
connect via the Web Link under the Help menu option.
Education Forms for Microsoft Software
http://www.microsoft.com/education/technical/network/edforms/default.asp
Designed for an Exchange Server, you can still try out these
administrative forms. Everything from Budget Transfers to Use of School
Facilities, these forms can help win an adminstrator's support.
AppleWorks for Macintosh
http://www.awug.org/
The AppleWorks Users Group provides the best source of ongoing support
for this package. With a newsletter and interaction, you can learn to do
just about anything you need. Version 6 of AppleWorks has just been
released (http://www.apple.com/appleworks/extras.html), so there are lots
of new tools available.
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Missing an issue?
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If you're missing a past issue of Staff Development Tips, go to the
Followup page for TechTamers at http://www.techtamers.com/free_resources/educational_technology/ednews/. The
archives of the tips are there, as well as numerous other resources.
See you online!
Jeanette S. Cates, Ph.D.
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