District Student Support Services received a grant from the Santa Clara Department of Drugs & Alcohol to purchase two class sets of student responders, often called "clickers." You may have seen these interactive devices used on television programs as a way to survey audience opinions. Clickers instantly record each person's response and tally the total results immediately. This technology is a powerful tool to gain data and share ideas.

Interested in learning how to use this technology?
Possibly interested in checking out a class set from Support Services?

Then attend the Clicker Training.
January 23, 3:00-6:30pm
PAUSD District Office

For more information and/or to reserve a spot, email Karen Bloom at kbloom@pausd.org.

BrainPop and United Streaming - Two Great Resources

I receive a number of teacher questions about two resources available in the District, so here's a quick review.



BrainPOP: This service features online animations for Science, Health, Math, Social Studies, English, Arts & Music, and Technology for grades 4-12. However, we also have BrainPOP Jr for K-3 as well as BrainPOP en Espanol. Check out a few of the free animations and then see your librarian for complete login information. I think you and your students will enjoy these Tim & Moby flicks!

United Streaming: Video-on-Demand (streaming or downloads)
This service has educational videos - all subjects, all grade levels - available for streaming or download. They have entire videos, but what is especially nice is that they also have the same videos available in topical segments of just a few minutes. So you can open a lesson with a 3-5 minute clip that pinpoints your topic for the day. Everyone who explores United Streaming finds useful resources to support instruction. Note: InClass users, you can download clips and them post them to your courses for review. To get started, download this PDF and look up your school's initial passcode to log in. Then create your own login account and your off and running!

Reminders: CUE and IM_Paula

• February CUE Conference - We Pay!
Silicon Valley CUE's 10th Annual Technology Conference is on Saturday, Feb 2, 8am-3pm at Palo Alto High School. This year's conference focuses on Web-Enhanced Learning and features Bernie Dodge as a keynote. Dodge currently teaches at San Diego State University and is widely known for originating the concept of webquests. Since Paly is hosting the conference, PAUSD employees can register for free. Additionally, the EdTech department will pay for employees' lunches so the whole day is free! Register by JANUARY 18, 2008.

Click here to register online.
Click here if you prefer a hard copy of the registration form to fill out and mail in.
Contact Chuck Merritt at Paly with questions.

• Instant Message (IM) Paula for Help
If you use instant messaging, feel free to add me as a buddy and contact me with technology questions on-the-fly.
Add my account to your buddy list, and you'll be able to see when I'm online. If I'm at my computer, I'll write you back.

Account name to enter as your buddy: PaulaPAUSD
This account will display as Paula@PAUSD. "Talk" to you soon!

Notes:
•  If you already have me in your buddy list, add the above buddy name as well so that you will continue to "see" me.
•  If you don't have an IM account, go to AOL, then the AIM tab, then Get Free Screen Name.

Teacher's Toolkit

ArtRage 2.5
ArtRage is an inexpensive, easy-to-use painting package. You can paint with oils, sketch with pencils, sprinkle glitter, and more. You can paint with gold leaf, silver foil, and other metallic colors. You can even load in your photos as Tracing Images to help you recreate them as paintings. For the advanced user, ArtRage also offers multiple layers for painting, and layered PSD document import and export so you can easily use it alongside your existing tools.

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3.9+ or Windows Vista or XP
Cost: Free starter download to try it out. Then $25 for individual license. If you want this for a lab, there's an email link for education pricing.
Features
Download

Upcoming Workshops for Teachers & Staff

All full day workshops run 8:15 am to 3:00 pm at the 85A Lab on the Paly campus (unless otherwise notified). To register and receive sub codes, log on to Bob, click on the Workshop Registration link, select the workshop you want, and click on the Register button. You can also register for the 60-minute sessions online (or drop in).