We can help! Bring us your requests for full-text professional journal articles. We can usually find them for you. Sometimes we can print them out right away! We want to assist you in any way we can with your advanced degree!

 [This cartoon artwork is in the public domain. It was originally published at: http://www.ai.uga.edu/tonysnod/cartoons.html. This version for class use only; no reproduction or printing allowed.]

Would you like to set your PowerPoint presentations to music? Even better – music that is free of copyright restrictions? Check out the site www.freeplaymusic.com. This site allows you to sample a wide variety of instrumental music – everything from soft jazz to hip hop to rock. Once you find something you like, it can be in your presentation in a flash.

Here’s how it works:
1. Click on a style or enter a search term to find music that meets your needs
2. A results screen will come up. Click on the shortest time frame on the Preview side to hear a sample
3. If you don’t like it, try another one. If you do, look to the left of the preview option and find MP3. 
4. Right click on the length of clip that best meets your needs and choose “Save Target As…” Save it somewhere you will be able to find it, either on a flash drive, your folder on the server, or, if you are at home, your MyDocuments folder.

Once you save the clip, you are ready to insert it into PowerPoint.
1. Go to the slide you want the music to play on and choose Insert–> Movies and Sounds–> Sound from file.
2. Browse to where you saved the music. Select it and choose Open.
3. PPT will ask you whether you want the sound to play automatically or when clicked. Choose whatever works for you.

Voila! you have successfully inserted music into your presentation.
I know what you’re thinking. Now the music only plays on that one slide and stops when you click. Here’s the trick:
1. After you have inserted the sound, click on Slide Show –> Custom Animations.
2. Click the arrow or right click the sound icon in the window that pops up on the right.
3. Choose the Effect tab and adjust how long it plays.

Good luck! This also works well for student work and is a great alternative to using copyrighted music from a CD. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Bridget in the Nexus.

Do you like to take digital pictures? Do your pictures sometimes come out too dark, or does everyone have red eyes (and it’s not Halloween)? Picasa 2, a FREE photo editing tool from Google, allows you to simply and quickly fix these common problems, make other adjustments, and add special effects to bring out the best in your photographs. Picasa also allows you to organize and share your pictures. The program is installed on school computers and can be downloaded for free for home use at http://picasa.google.com/.

Our online subscription to “Issues & Controversies” offers Browsealoud, an assistive technology software that delivers speech options to allow students to listen to database content without any special equipment.

This spoken text capability is also available with NetTrekker, our subscription database of educational websites.

Brief commentary on the future of education…
Download Video: Posted by mcleod at TeacherTube.com.

Bored with making posters and doing PowerPoint presentations? Tired of the same old thing? There are many alternatives to traditional projects that you can try using Microsoft Publisher.
Using templates where you just type in your information, Publisher lets you create banners, greeting cards, advertisements, brochures, pamphlets, etc. etc. instantly and painlessly.
Are you a history teacher studying Ancient Egypt? Your students could create an advertisement for a company that will mummify people, incorporating what they have learned about the process and social customs.
Maybe you teach English and you are studying Edgar Allen Poe. Your students might collaboratively create a newsletter showcasing his accomplishments.
An environmental science teacher might have the students make a flyer detailing the dangers of the global warming or benefits of legislation supporting clean air.
If you teach a business class, you might have students create their own business cards.
Study Skills/Resource students might use the calendar feature to plan long term assignments and homework.
A foreign language class might create a travel brochure for a culture they are studying.
The ideas are endless. Microsoft Publisher offers students a chance to show their knowledge in a professional, real-world product that is both motivating and educational. Check it out today!

Educational video has been a staple of curriculum for decades—all the way back to the old reel to reel filmstrips and 35mm slides. The latest incarnation, digital video, now makes this process much more convenient.
In the past, subject specific video could be hard to find. It is also very expensive; a single 20 minute film can cost $100. Time is also an issue; often you do not have time to show an entire movie but certain scenes would be relevant. Unfortunately, the trouble of rewinding and fast forwarding to get to the right place was cumbersome.
Gone are the days where you have to purchase or rent movies to show in class, or deal with any of these other issues. Usher in United Streaming—an online video library with over 40,000 video clips, all correlated to state standards, searchable by subject, grade level, or keyword, ready for downloading during the school day or from the comfort of your own home.
Research suggests that students learn better when they are presented with material in a variety of formats. Video allows those visual learners to connect to a curriculum and develop understanding they might not get from lecture alone.
Many teachers at West are already taking advantage of this great service. Downloading is not difficult to do and can be mastered quickly. It happens overnight, minimizing the time commitment from you. Videos can be shown as is by copying them onto CDs, or they can be integrated into PowerPoint, Word, Inspiration, or other documents for a complete multimedia experience.
It’s easy to get started with United Streaming.
1. Go to http://www.unitedstreaming.com/ and enter the passcode (see Bridget to find out what it is) to create your account.
2. Sign into United Streaming using the new user name and password you created.
3. Type a search term in the box to find videos for your lessons.
It’s that simple. For more information, please see Bridget in the Nexus.

The increased prevalence of PowerPoint presentations, DVDs, Internet research, and technology use in general has created a noticeable gap in resources. If your students create PowerPoint presentations in class, how do you present them? Labs are always full, and the cords just don’t reach from the computer to a projector in the middle of the class (not to mention the insurance liability when someone trips over them!). How do you show your class what you expect them to be doing in the labs? What if you want to play a review game on the computer? Are you afraid your class will sleep through that DVD on Ernest Hemingway? If any of these scenarios apply to you, a media cart is the answer. The technology department has taken all the equipment you would need to do any of these things and more, and placed it on a self-contained cart you can wheel to your classroom. Projector, laptop, DVD/VCR combo, and speakers combine to allow you the ultimate multimedia experience. Teachers who have tried them find them to be convenient and an enhancement to their curriculum. A media cart can be checked out from Sandy in the Nexus. If you would like additional information or a demonstration, please contact Bridget at bfitzsimons@sd129.org.

A feature in NetTrekker allows students to select websites at specific reading levels and to highlight sections of text which are then read aloud to them!NetTrekker is a district subscription for online research that enables students to do Internet searches within an evaluated database of educational websites. The sites are rated and each has a grade level readability designation. Results can also be sorted by or limited to grade level readability.

To get to NetTrekker:
It’s listed as a “Favorite” on the Internet Explorer toolbar. If you need a user name and password, please see Kathy, Bruce, or Bridget.

The “Read Aloud” feature can be selected by clicking the button “OPEN Read Aloud” under the purple toolbar.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask us!

Those who have used EBSCO for full text magazine articles will notice a new look this fall. And if you haven’t used EBSCO, this would be a good excuse to login and see how it might be useful for you and your students. The name has also changed, to Student Research Center, and several formerly separate databases have been added. The added databases include EBSCO Animals, Health Source, and Newspaper Source.
In addition, users can now select which content sources (e.g., Magazines, Newspapers, Biographies, Radio & TV News Transcripts, Film & Video, Primary Source Documents) will be included in their search. They can also make use of an online dictionary and encyclopedia, and even limit searches according to appropriate Lexile reading levels.
The Student Research Center is available under the favorites menu on all computers at West High. For home access, see Bruce, Kathy or Bridget in the Library Media Nexus.