Teachers can create school supply lists for students and parents on Amazon.com. The obvious advantage is that parents could order supplies directly from Amazon, but the lists can also be printed and taken to the store during back to school shopping. The site has two sides: the parent list to search for school supply lists, and the the teacher side to create lists. Start by choosing "Start a new list" on the Teacher side. Amazon will prompt you to sign in, and then you can create a book list or school supply list for your classes. You can also copy the list and edit your choices, so I can make a list for my Comp 1 class and use the same list for Comp 2, only changing the textbook. Choose "editlist" on the far left, and then fill in the details. If you teach college or are using the lists for a workshop, homeschool group, camp, or professional development, you can choose "other". The only difference will be that your list will not be found through the parents' side of the search list, and you will need to give out the URL. Fill in your details, and press save. Amazon will walk you through the steps of editing your list, adding items, and editing those items so that students know if they are optional and if other verisons are acceptable. On the last screen, you will have the choice to print off a list or give students and parents a URL. I put all of my steps in a collection below, and you can see the my test collection of an Amazon school supply list here. Remember, if you are a camp, college, or homeschool, choose "My school is not listed" so that you can add it in. If you are in a k-12 school, you should be able to find your school on the drop-down list and add your list to that school, so it will be found when parents look it up on Amazon.
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Successful teams, whether sports, academic, or otherwise, start before a single team member is placed. Team-building begins when coaches decide on appropriate goals for the team. With a goal foundation in place, coaches can then design try-outs that will bring in team members capable of meeting the team's needs. Goals for Quiz Bowl TeamsAcademic team coaches know that they will need to have students strong in a broad knowledge; all scholastic quiz bowls meets are designed around trivia. However, there are other questions that a coach needs to address before try-outs. When will the team practice? Try-outs should be the same day and time as practice. If potential members can't make it to tryouts, they probably will not make it to practice. How many members will be allowed on the team? The number of open spots will determine how well-advertised the try-outs are. If coaches are looking for a few kids, then getting the try-outs notice on the daily bulletin and putting posters up will be enough. If coaches are creating a team for the first time, it might be necessary to have skits and mini-tournaments at lunch to generate interest. What level of competition will the team face? If the team is a young middle school or junior high team, a coach might have a goal to offer quiz bowl exposure to the students and not focus on winning. A more experienced team might have more competitive goals. Try-outs should be geared to getting the type of students who meet team needs. Advertising Tryouts All students should have a chance to try out for the team. Coaches should make sure the tryouts are well-advertised in the bulletin, school newspaper, hallway posters, and other communication. Coaches should note how often practices and competitions are held, so that students can assess if the being on the team fits into their lives. Coaches should have a sign-up list so they can adequately prepare for the number of students intending to tryout. Preparing Questions for Tryouts Coaches should have a written test; buzzer skills can be built during team-practice.A shy student should not be excluded from the team, because confidence can reduce shyness. If possible, using real questions from competitions is the most fair and accurate way to assess qualified team members. Create quiz bowl questions that are similar to competition questions will also suffice. Coaches may also want to test the questions on students who can be trusted not to reveal the questions to people trying out. If the questions can be tested, the coach can determine if the questions makes sense to teenagers, and also determine how long the test takes. Sometimes tryout tests take much longer than a coach estimates. During Tryouts Coaches should have sharpened pencils and paper available for the students, and enough tables and chairs or desks for everyone. The coach should introduce herself and announce the goals for the team, giving estimates for practice times and competition times. Current team members might help by passing out papers and pencils. It is important that the coach makes the students aware of when and how the results will be given; it might be necessary to get student schedules so the coach can have notes delivered. Plan to help students keep calm; trying out is unnerving. Determining Who Makes the Team Coaches should check the tryout answers and take the top students for however many spots need to be filled. Students who qualify should be congratulated and told of the next meeting date, as well as informed in writing of what is expected of team members: behavior requirements, grade point averages for eligibility, and attendance concerns. Coaches should make their standards clear from the moment students are placed on the team. Being on a scholastic bowl is a rewarding experience for students, but the process of trying out is rewarding as well, even if the end result is rejection. Coaches should send notes to everyone who tried out, thanking them for their interest in the team. Students who tried out but did not qualify might be used as substitutes, timers and score-keepers during competition, or as a practice team for the official team. Including students who did not qualify demonstrates that the coach appreciates the risk and effort taken in trying out for a team. Originally posted on Suite101 on October 10th, 2008 The opportunity to work on the yearbook attracts a lot of student applicants. The idea of making a giant scrapbook is alluring, and sponsors need the right people. All students want to be involved with the yearbook. They want to be in the yearbook, they want to use the cameras, computers, and other equipment, and they want to be involved with deciding what moments are declared "yearbook moments". Sponsors have a responsibility to the students and parents who pay for the books to find the best people for the job. Often, this can become an after school activity for gifted students. Size of the Yearbook Staff The size of the staff will depend on the size of the book, the size of the school, and the age of the students involved. A sponsor should have at least one editor assigned to "mugshot photos" - the small school pictures appearing in the book. One editor should be assigned to sports, one editor assigned to clubs, and one editor assigned to after school activities. Each grade should have at least one editor to cover in school activities, and depending on how active the school is, there should be an editor to cover guest speakers and whole-school presentations. This means that the yearbook staff of an average high-school will have a minimum of 8 students, because the same students who edit can also take pictures and write for the other sections. Roles of the Yearbook Staff Yearbooks come together much like a quilt -- students gather pictures, ideas, quotes, and stories, and periodically through the year the staff sews the book together. General roles include: Editors These students are responsible for specific sections of the book. Editors make sure page layouts look profession, words are correctly used and spelled, and that stories, pictures, and quotations fit the theme and goal of the yearbook. Editors help establish story ideas, including scheduling surveys and mining for quotations. They may have to learn software such as Josten's Yearbook Avenue. Photographers These students are responsible for gathering pictures for the yearbooks. They must be willing to attend after-school activities, including club meetings and presentations, to get pictures. They must be friendly, outgoing, and respectful, and they should have a sense of balance in photography. Writers/Reporters These students are responsible for collecting surveys, conducting interviews, and writing stories. These are students who will be capturing the story of their school, so they should be able to write clearly and in a voice that appeals to students and the adults who pay for the yearbooks. They should be able to avoid cliches and other common writing mistakes, and they need to stay motivated to write. Students need to cover multiple roles, because a yearbook staff does not need to be overpopulated. Once mugshot names are edited, that editor is available to help other editors with their sections. When sports are not in season, that particular student can help in other areas. Roles blend into one efficient team. Finding a Yearbook Staff It is important to hold a meeting about the yearbook at the same time that the yearbook staff will be meeting after-school. Sponsors should explain the goals of the yearbook and what qualifications he or she is looking for in staff members. If students need to have internet access outside of school, access to a specific level of hardware or camera, or be available at certain times after school, the sponsor should stress that before taking applications. The sponsor should then have students submit an application explaining why he or she wants to be on the yearbook staff, including samples of writing or photography. Creating a yearbook is stressful, busy, and rewarding. Yearbook advisers should take the time to find the best students to wear the many hats involved in creating the yearbook. Finding the right staff and keeping the staff to a reasonable size will reduce the stress, manage the work, and increase the rewards. Originally posted to Suite101 in October 2008. Using computers to communicate means more than student email or instant messenger. Teachers can expect their students to work together in a meaningful way with some free tools available online. The mindset of computer usage is toward and understanding of Cloud Computing- working, sharing, and collaborating. Schools can reflect this mindset by incorporating collaboration in the computer lab and beyond. Understanding Forum Options Forums, also called message boards or bulletin boards, are built on group communication and collaboration. Generally, one person posts a topic, and other people build on it by offering comments and information that can be read by the whole group. Sites offer different levels of access, and the teacher would want to be the exclusive moderator, to maintain control over topic creation and comments. If a teacher simply wants students to be able to communicate and discuss in an online forum, a simple message board will be sufficient. If a teacher wants students to share files or work on a topic and add information collaboratively, online web applications, such as wikis, might be more useful. Creating a Class Message Board Many teachers and students already use Nicenet, a free, simple forum that does not have advertising. The site is reliable and powerful, and offers a secure forum for group conferencing, personal messaging (which teachers may want to disallow), and document sharing. How to Create a Nicenet Forum for a ClassSetting up a Nicenet forum with topics will take a minimum of 20 minutes, so teachers need to have a block of uninterrupted time available.
Nicenet will give each class a "Class Key" which is needed to join classes. This tool makes Nicenet secure and private. If the teacher wants to create additional forums, he simply click on "create a class", but it is important to continue using the established user name. How Students Join and Use a Nicenet Forum
Teachers need to take students on a tour of Nicenet, showing them how to post messages in the conference area and post documents on the document section. Explain the teacher's policy on messaging (some teachers do not allow it; personal private messages are counter-intuitive to group collaboration). HTML is available on Nicenet, but tends to slow down the site. How to Create a Class Wiki A wiki supports the curriculum by giving students shared online workspace. There are multiple sites available for class collaboration, such as class-wiki.intodit.com, PBwiki (which offers password protection) and the extremely powerful Google Apps (which may be too powerful for simple class communication purposes). One excellent wiki site for teachers is Wikispaces, which has a special section for educators. Once a teacher has selected a wiki or other collaborative-writing and working application, the steps to creating an online workspace for students is similar other forum set up procedures. Again, teachers will:
Once students are working as a group, new opportunities and challenges will present themselves. Students will be able to create online projects, but some may be frustrated by the lack of fanciness that a hands-on project can offer in the classroom, with glitter, markers, and colored paper. Although new leaders will emerge in a technology-based project, the same headaches that come with any group work will appear in collaboration, although the beauty of message boards and wikis is that the teacher can truly determine "who said what" first. The end results are impressive, do not use up classroom supplies or space, and can be shared with parents from home. Other classes can see work examples, and students in other classes can build on each other's work. The positives of working in collaboration online far outweigh the negatives. Although some school districts are exceedingly restrictive in approved internet sites, there are some sites that have established their safety and reliability, and they are popular with teachers and students. Originally posted on Suite101 on November 29th, 2008 I have been using The Wayback Machine to find my old articles, and it has my Suite101 profile from 2010! A lot has changed since then; I no longer teach middle school, Suite101 is gone, and I write sitting next to a dog instead of two cats. Also, there is another writer named Alex Sharp and an actor, so I have switched to Ally, which is the nickname I use more frequently anyway. Right now these links go to the Wayback Machine. I am even going to frame it in Suite101 green. Alex Sharp Feature Writer - Audiobooks/Ebooks Alex teeters on the brink of gadgaholism, which explains how she reads daily without risking paper cuts. When she isn't reading ebooks, Kindle books, book apps, and Google books, she is listening to audiobooks, podcasts, streaming audio, and goofing around with Apples's enhanced editions. She writes about her experiences with words beyond print at eBibliotopia. When her gadgets are charging, Alex is teaching, writing, editing Project Gutenberg books to convert into future ebooks, experimenting with theater, and making short films for a small circle of artists. In addition to her current position as Feature Writer for Audiobooks/Ebooks, Alex has earned twelve Editor's Choice Awards for :
She is still teaching and parenting, and when the children aren't keeping her busy, she is blogging on Suite 101. In some towns, people are afraid of the local serial killers. In this surrealist satire-comedy, residents are afraid they are the local serial killers. There are more routes into Wigfield, the book, than there are into Wigfield, the town. The print edition includes portraits of the characters. The 2003 live performances can be seen in online clips posted by devoted fans. The audiobook is the recommended route into Wigfield, because it is performed by the three authors: satirical comedian Stephen Colbert, improvisational comedian Paul Dinello, and comedic actress Amy Sedaris.
There is only one route into Wigfield, and most people avoid it. Even the school bus changes routes so that the Wigfield children can not find it. Russell Hokes, an aspiring author who is documenting the town's struggles, says anyone driving through Wigfield will "drive faster to hoping to ignore what he has just seen." Cars break down, though, and it is through such accidents of fate that Hokes manages to tell Wigfield's story. Wigfield is told by different townspeople, a chapter at a time. The three authors take turns narrating the chapters with so many different cadences and accents that it is difficult to believe there are only three people bringing these strange townspeople to life. Everyone has a different reason for living in Wigfield, and even those who want to leave can't figure out how to escape. An Amy Sedaris' character, Cinnamon, reflects on moving and helplessly wonders, "How am I supposed to move my mobile home?" The established residents of Wigfield face more than the internal threats of serial killers, toxic waste, and three corrupt mayors. There is an external threat. The government has decided to pull down the dam where the people of Wigfield have illegally squatted, and the prospect of moving is something every resident will have to face. Cinnamon angrily speaks up for her town, arguing that Wigfield is more than "just a chain of porno shops, strip clubs, and used auto parts yards...it's pornographers, strippers, and people who sell used auto parts." Russell Hokes' teenage murder of his grandmother demonstrates that he has a kinship to the other characters who downplay their own murders to avoid revealing that they are potential suspects for the current Wigfield Maniac. He bonds with the characters in order to take advantage of their hospitality and in the hopes that they will write his book for him, as he has no idea how to write a book and spends much of the book attempting to abandon his contract. The town latches on to Hokes as a potential savior. If his story can not save the town, the mayors reason, perhaps his story can convince the government that Wigfield is a town full of people deserving of eminent domain payments. In "'Daily Show' Meets Second City in 'Wigfield' Tour", The Chicago Tribune's Nina Metz reported the idea came from a profile he did of a town while working on Comedy Central's Daily Show. She quotes Paul Dinello as explaining the authors' approach to the book." Because we had never written a book, we created a character who had never written a book and probably never read one." The April 27, 2003 article has a detailed history of the work the Colbert, Dinello, and Sedaris had done up until that point, and can be found on jerriblank.com, a fan site for the trio. In addition to the inexperienced narrator, the town has three mayors, and Colbert, Dinello, and Sedaris are well-known for working as a collaborative trio. The familiar satire of The Colbert Report is displayed at in Wigfield, and fans will recognize Amy Sedaris' sense of hospitality that is flaunted in her 2006 entertaining guide I Like You. For readers who are fans of the authors, the book has hidden gems that sparkle in other works, such as their Comedy Central series Strangers with Candy.After listening to the audiobook, the next step is finding a copy of the printed book, where the authors pose in dramatic photographs of the characters, such as Paul Dinello lounging across a kindergartenish stage, holding an elaborately costumed rabbit. Wigfield is unlike a town anyone has ever experienced, so it follows that the audiobook is unlike any anyone has ever heard. Publication InformationWigfield: The Can Do Town that Just May Not was written by Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, and Amy Sedaris. The audiobook was released by Highbridge Audio in April 2003. The ISBN is 1565117727. It is also available as an Audible download. This article was originally published April 27, 2010 on Suite101.com, when I was the featured writer for audiobooks and ebooks. Norton has great tech support, as I have learned this week, because I am setting up my Composition 2 class on Blackboard. Many high schools and colleges use They Say I, I Say, so I am sure I am not alone in setting it up on Blackboard.
All of the resources I am discussing are in the instructor section of W.W. Norton, which can take a few days to access because they have to confirm that you are actually an instructor. Since I am an adjunct, I emailed them from my school account(which is why adjuncts need access to the official email address, even if we always use a standard email) and answered some questions. When I first downloaded the Norton Coursepack, it put all of the coursework into my gradebook - over 9000 points. After a day or two of emailing, I realized that my version of Blackboard updated over the summer, so even though the Coursepack for Blackboard 8 seemed to work on Blackboard 9, they actually weren't the right ones. Once I got the resources downloaded and installed (and only install what you want, or you will get an overwhelming amount of content), I couldn't figure out how everything connected. The exams and quizzes are more enhancements than actual chapter by chapter connections, and they are mostly connected to conventions. So far, I have not seen any related to the readings. There is a They Say I Say PDF instructor guide that doesn't download as part of the course pack, but is helpful in connecting the textbook with the downloads. This semester, I am using They Say I, I Say by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. It is the Third Edition, Paperback, 2015, even though the ebook is available (and I would prefer it, but what about the circling and stars ?). As I write about my lessons using the book, I will be using the paper Kindle edition until the ebook world catches up to my teaching style. The Booker Prize Winner is a generous prism that colorfully reflects Thomas Cromwell and jarringly refracts Thomas More as they influence Tudor England. It would be impossible for Wolf Hall to be to have too many pages. Anyone familiar with Tudor history knows that the life stories of Thomas Cromwell, Anne Boleyn, and Thomas More end, and Hilary Mantel makes readers want those life stories to continue. The fictionalized history shines through the perceptions of Thomas Cromwell, and he sees England through daring eyes. Thomas Cromwell's Point of ViewSeeing with Cromwell's expansive, omniscient perspectives is compelling and inviting. Cromwell laughs at Charles Brandon, and readers laugh with him. Cromwell notices Anne Boleyn's beauty increasing with her power, and through his eyes, readers notice new details of her neckline. When the Duke of Norfolk offends Thomas Cromwell, the reader bristles, too. Lending new characterizations to lesser known figures, such as Rafe Sadler, enhances the reading experience of Wolf Hall. Mantel's details to characters who are already fictionalized with multiple views, such as Henry Viii, seem so authentic and authoritarian that readers feel a sense of relief, as if Wolf Hall has finally unravelled the true identity of the faces in the museum paintings. The one area where Cromwell's perspective feels wobbly is his hybrid resentment-admiration of Thomas More. Through Thomas Cromwell's eyes, the beloved Thomas More is less than his reputation suggests. Thomas Cromwell's MirrorAs pointed out on The Thomas More Book Club site, Mantel uses Cromwell's ability to uncover the hidden flaws in More's new rug to demonstrate how only the talented eyes of Cromwell can see the hidden flaws in More. When More is imprisoned on charges violating Cromwell-authored laws, Cromwell struggles to accept that More will not sign the oath. Cromwell bitterly complains that he is not getting work done and that even from the Tower, More has too much control over events. Frustrated, Cromwell confronts the placid More, saying, "You call history your aid, but what is history to you? It is a mirror that flatters Thomas More. But I have another mirror, and when I hold it up, it shows a vain and dangerous man, and when I turn it about it shows a killer..." (p. 463) The beauty of this scene hints at the Mantel's wide talents. Her uses of metaphor and dialogue share a rare accuracy; twin arrows flying to the same mark. What is more remarkable is what the reader discovers upon reflection. If Thomas More looks through Cromwell's mirror and sees a vain and dangerous man, More will not be the reflection shown when Cromwell turns the mirror. Then Cromwell will be seeing his own reflection, the reflection of a killer. Thomas Cromwell, KillerThroughout the novel, Cromwell avoids memories of a person he killed during his shadowy days in Italy. He is disturbed to hear a musician say he looks like a murderer, and Cromwell is equally disturbed when Gregory confirms that assessment. Cromwell equally avoids recognizing that his laws and his rigged juries actually lead to death. Instead of focusing on the deaths of the Carthusian monks, Cromwell wonders how More and his daughter can watch the so calmly. Instead of answering Norfolk's accusation that the privy council is setting up John Fisher and Thomas More to be murdered, Cromwell retreats and watches quietly. When More is waiting for execution, Cromwell can not resist visiting him in the Tower, but he separates himself from knowing More, dropping his name and looking at him as "the prisoner". Hilary Mantel's Use of the Third PersonThere are an abundance of Thomases in Wolf Hall, an unfortunate circumstance created by historical fact. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey holds the puppet strings in Henry's reign. Wosley mentors Thomas Cromwell, who must navigate through a sea of Thomases: clever Thomas More, powerful Thomas Howard, sly Thomas Boleyn. Rather than call Cromwell by his Christian name, Mantel settles on the pronoun "he", which is the only confusing part of the book. Even in the audiobook edition of Wolf Hall, reader Simon Slater confuses which "he" is speaking, and confuses Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell as a result. In the upcoming sequel, Cromwell will face the beheading of Anne Boleyn and her alleged lovers, which are historically thought to have been set-up by Cromwell, and already in the first book, he is shown retreating from the Boleyn family and planning to vacation with the King when he visits the Seymores at their home, Wolf Hall. This may be when Cromwell moves from "he" to "I" in his narration, as he begins to plan his own power grabs so that he can manipulate a prince, just as his mentor Wolsey manipulated Henry. History suggests that any problems between Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell came from different ethical standards. Historians traditionally present More as having many of ethical standards, and Cromwell as having few, if any. Hilary Mantel is not a historian, although Wolf Hall reflects exceptional research. Just as Wicked managed to humanize the Wicked Witch of the West at the expense of Glenda the Good Witch,Wolf Hall humanizes Thomas Cromwell at the expense of Thomas More. Publication InformationWolf Hall was published by Henry Hold in October 2009. It is available as a Kindle book, and there is an enhanced UK Wolf Hall app. The ISBN is 0805080686. The Wolf Hall audio book was released by Macmillan Audio in November, 2009. It is read by Simon Slater. The ISBN is 1427210160. This article was originally published in November 2009. Links may go to the Wayback Machine. There is a way to add in RGB and HSL color codes for Access to make your forms and reports match your website's color scheme.
When you select the object where you want to have your color, find that line on the property sheet. If you know your color code, you can write it in. Otherwise, move your mouse over the color area (in this screenshot is it labeled "Back Color"), you will see a dropdown arrow and an ellipse (...) box. Choose the ... to get more options. A familiar color selection box will pop up, but we are not done yet. Choose "More Colors" down at the bottom of the Color Picking box. When you are there, you will see another box. Choose the Custom Tab, as shown to the right. You will then be able to enter the RGB or HSL colors. If you want to match Pantone colors, you need to convert them. On the Pantone color site, you can find your color and Pantone will give you the color values for RGB, HEX/HTML, and CMYK. These instructions were written with Access 2016, but they apply to Access 2010 and 2014, as well. I use iCloud to back up my iPhone, including my photos and videos, but I have also starting using Google Photos. I used Picasa when it was active, so I have some Google Photos already, and I used to have an Android (RIP, my HTC) so I have a lot of Google Photos from those days. After installing the Google Photos app, I went into settings (the three lines on the top left) and choose Back up & sync. I made sure my photos were set to auto-backup at the free storage quality. Google started saving my photos, and whenever I check it, I see a nice collection of my recent photos and screenshots. I don't know how the photos will print, but I back up my photos at full-size to my computer and this Google Photos option is free. We all know that free is good. There is a setting called "Free Up Space", which will remove photos that have been backed up. I plan to use this when I am low on phone storage, which happens frequently. I am leaving the "Limit cache size" option off, because I like seeing the little thumbnails, but for someone who had a lot of photo storage space issues, limiting the cache might be a good options. |
AuthorAlly Sharp is a teacher, writer and editor, and technology trainer. Archives
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