Use Twitter as your webpage

Twitter has a negative reputation among teachers and it's not fair. Yes, there is a lot of bad stuff on it, but you can find that content on any social media. If you understand how Twitter works and start slowly, Twitter can be a powerful way to communicate to student and parents. Here's one way to set up Twitter to be your classroom webpage.

Create your account at Twitter.com. When you set it up, you'll want to consider the purpose for your account and name it appropriately. For example, I could go with @Mr.Vfourthgrade or something else that represents my room. This step is important because it sets the tone for how you'll be utilizing the resource and it's the first thing your viewers will see. You can add a picture, additional website, and bio information for your class. 

That's it. Start tweeting. 

Here's the thing to remember. Choose to not follow anyone or have any followers, and you'll have a simple website address that displays all your tweets. You can link this page to your primary website or school website so everyone can see what's happening in your room. 

If you want to allow followers, they'll be able to get updates each time you tweet. And what's more, you won't see any other tweets on your page but your own. Be careful though. If you follow others, then their tweets and possibly their followers' tweets could appear in your timeline. And you don't want that. So if you are starting out, I wouldn't recommend following anyone right away.

Here are a few examples of classrooms in Columbia Public Schools who have started tweeting this year. Remember that they are just starting out. Follow them and join the journey.

Benton Elementary School

Ms. Woods' 2nd Grade at Benton

Douglass High School's Media Center

Social Media #MAEOP

Jayme and I just had a great time presenting to the Missouri Association of Educational Office Professionals at Stoney Creek Inn. Our task was to create a presentation that would be a good overview for office personnel who are new to social media. We boiled the broad world of social media to Google tools, Twitter, and Facebook.  You can view the presentation here: 

#GetConnected

I can say that I've not had a more fun audience. They had great questions and were able to think through how social media could make their information dissemination more efficient. Hopefully, Twitter has a few more users after this morning. 

Outlook Resources

Now that you've had some time with the new email system, you probably have already formulated some opinions about the efficiency of Outlook. Trust me, I've heard them all. So for all you Outlook-philes and Outlook-phobes out there, I wanted to pass along some resources that Erica and Jessica have put together to help guide you through the world of Outlook. 

Here's a rundown of all the great features you will find:

• creating a signature
• recalling an email (whoops)
• out of office replies
• sharing calendars
• making contact groups
• cool shortcuts

Link to infinite Outlook knowledge

There's a lot of resources and features in Outlook that weren't available with Groupwise. Look around and see what best fits your needs. And if you have any questions, give us call. 

Smart Notebook's Ink Layer

If you are used to working with Smart Notebook, you either love or hate the ink layer. For some, it was a great way to write on top anything on your computer. For others, it was the annoying thing that popped up at the worst possible time. But as you might gather from my verb tense, the ink layer is no more!

This issue has been one of the biggest questions we've fielded so far this year. As you can imagine, we only hear from those who really like it. So per popular request, our man Ken put together an awesome resource to guide you through several ways you can write on all your documents, get all your teaching done, and not miss the ink layer ever again. Check it out:

Four options for writing on documents using the Smart Board

Installing popular software

There's an easy way to install your favorite software on your CPS computers. It's called the Microsoft System Center 2012 and it's located in your "Start Menu". Go to the "Start Menu" and scroll for the folder called "Microsoft System Center 2012". Click on "Configuration Manager" and then "Software Center". A new window will open up and show you what software is available to download

Currently, there is Inkscape, Scratch, Google Earth, Sketchup, and Smart Response available for download. New programs are on the list to be added. And the best news is that you can request for software to be added to the software center. Just email your friendly instructional technology specialist or talk to your media specialist about your request. It's a great way to add large software to a lab of computers. 

Easy web-browsing for students: Symbaloo

I was informed about this great web 2.0 tool from a kindergarten teacher (let's call her Ms. R) this week and I have share it with you. It's called Symbaloo and it's something you have to check out. 

The premise is simple but awesome: users create "web mixes" of sites they want students to access. But wait! My Diigo account does the same thing. Why change? Because Symbaloo lets you assemble boards of sites that include icons and allow you to color-code them. Check out my example: 

Ms. R uses it so effectively. She codes all her sites by category and color. So when her kindergarten students get to the board, they know exactly what sites to visit because they can either find the icon or go to the color that Ms. R instructed them to visit. Simple. And you can make your boards public and link them to your teacher site so students and parents can access  it from anywhere.

What a great alternative to the traditional "helpful links" page! Have fun creating your boards! 

Get your CPS email on your mobile device

It's finally here!! All last year, everyone wanted to get their school email on their mobile device. And why not? We need to be connected. With the switch to Outlook this summer, all CPS teachers and staff are now able to install email through the mail client on any mobile device. Here are links to some great directions written up by our Applications Specialists:

Device instructions:
iPhone
iPad
Android