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Below are some sites to have students practice tech skills for upcoming assessments:
Mac Basics: Dictation lets you speak text instead of typing
With Dictation, you can use your voice instead of typing text. No setup or special training is required. This works on all of our new AAPS teacher laptops and new district iMacs. Dictation also works on any computer running the Apple Mavericks or Yosemite Operating Systems.
Kalpa Professional Development System
Kalpa Professional Development registration system is used to track your PD hours and to register for the sessions you wish to attend.  
Click here>> Kalpa directions on how to register and complete surveys.

There are lots of ways to view your files, folders, and Google documents in Google Drive on the web. Let’s take a quick look around.

Note: Not seeing the new Drive? Click the gear icon and select Experience the new Drive!


My Drive

When you first get Google Drive on the web, all the files and folders you’ve uploaded and Google Docs that you own are in the section called My Drive:



Click the New.png New button to upload more files and folders to My Drive.

Other navigation options:

Incoming

Incoming is where you’ll find the files, folders, and Google documents that have been shared with you.

Incoming only shows items that were shared with you explicitly. You won’t find items here that were shared with the “Public” or “Anyone with the link.” (You can find those items using the search box.) If you’ll be referencing a shared document often, you can drag it into My Drive (or a specific folder in your Drive) so that it appears there as well.  

Starred

Click Starred to see all the items you’ve marked with a star. Just click the star to the left of an item to mark it. Stars are like “bookmarks” or “favorites” in a browser to mark web sites you want to access frequently.

Recent
Use the Recent view to see all the private and shared files that you've opened, in reverse chronological order. This is a great way to quickly find your most current stuff.

Trash

Trash contains everything you’ve deleted. To delete an item, click the item and click the trash icon that appears:

Note: You can only trash items that you own. Trashing an item you don’t own will take it out of your Google Drive, but not remove them for everyone else.

Your trash is never automatically emptied, so you’ll probably want to clean it out once in a while. Items in your Trash still count toward your storage quota, so this helps free up some space.

To clean it out:

  • In the Trash view, click the Trash drop-down menu and select Empty trash to permanently delete everything:


  • Or, select individual items and click Delete forever:



    Notice that after you select items in the trash, you can also choose to Restore them.

Add files and folders to Drive


When you’re ready to create new documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more, just click the red New button and select an app from the list to get started.

Upload files and folders to Google Drive

It’s also easy to upload existing files and folders to Google Drive on the web. Here’s how to upload a file (folders work the same way):
  1. In Google Drive on the web, click the red New button and then select File upload.


Select the file (or files) you want to upload and click Open.



That’s all you need to do. As soon as the upload completes, you’ll see the file in My Drive:


Click here to read more information on Google Drive.

This post was adapted from Google DN:GA-GSGD_103.00
The M-STEP Preview must be used in Google Chrome. 

1. Copy and paste the following link into Chrome:


2. Click on the desired selection: 

  • Sample Item Sets
  • Select Grade Level
  • Select Subject
3. Click "Click here to sign on". 
4. Once on the sign in page, use the username and password displayed on the screen to log in.

Log into Power Teacher

Click “Reports”




A Menu list of files will appear.

Click “Class Attendance Audit” to open the list of options

Select “DST Class List w Google Permission”

Click Submit.



Click  Refresh, then

Click View.



Here is a class list.




Notice that the majority of names have a Yes. 
These individual students have a district assigned Google account.

The full email address is listed.

Print your Report.
Log out of Power Teacher.


Go to this link for more information:
http://www.a2schools.org/parents/files/parentfaqgoogleapps.pdf


Prepared by Monica Groeneveld, December 2014
Tip#10 Don't see "Save As...."?   Hold down the Option key when you click on the File menu.

Tip #9 Do you keep bookmarks on the "bookmark bar?"  You can edit the name of each bookmark to give it a better (and shorter) name.  Hold down the Control key and click on the bookmark in the toolbar.  Then choose Rename Bookmark... (in Safari), Edit... (in Chrome) or Properties (in Firefox).


Tip #8 Spotlight is a great search tool to help you find documents on your computer. You can search for file names or individual words in the documents.  Make it easier than ever with a keyboard shortcut:  Hold down Command and tap the spacebar:  Spotlight will open and be ready for you start typing.  Press Return to search.


Tip #7 Don’t like the idea of the disappearing scroll bars? Would you prefer they just showed all the time?  
Here’s how:
Go to Apple/System Preferences/General. (First icon on first row)
Look for “Show Scroll bars” and put a dot by “Always”.

Tip #6 Don’t like having to delete your name from the Account Name field whenever you log into FileMaker Pro? 

Here’s how to have that field stay blank, as it needs to be:
When you FIRST open FMP, while the QuickStart screen is still up, click on the word FileMakerPro up in the top toolbar and go down to Preferences.  Under the "General" Tab, by "User Name", click the circle by Other and leave it blank. Then when you get to the first login screen, it will leave the Account Name field blank and you will just have to enter the generic password (ateamuser# for ATeam; teacher, Music, physed, esl or iltteacher for Elem report cards; ). Remember you never enter anything in the Account Name field.

Tip #5  Ever wonder how you could make Screenshots for handouts or help tickets?
On the Mac, press Command-Shift-3. (Command is the key with the propeller on it, next to the Space bar.) You hear a snapshot sound, and you get a graphics file on your desktop—a picture of the entire screen image.
If you press Command-Shift-4 instead, you get a crosshair cursor; you can draw across just one portion of the screen. Or, if you now tap the Space bar, you turn the cursor into a little camera icon. You can now click on just one window or toolbar that you want to copy.
In Windows, PrintScreen key copies the whole screen image, as a graphic, onto your invisible Clipboard. If you add the Alt key, you copy only the front window.
In both cases, you can hold down the Control key to copy the image to the Clipboard instead of leaving a file on the hard drive. Once you copy the image,  paste into an e-mail message or any other program.

Tip #4  How can I make it a PDF?
Anything you can print, you can turn into a PDF document — an amazingly convenient feature. Choose the Print command — but instead of choosing Print, click the PDF pop-up menu or Open in PDF and choose Save as PDF.

Tip #3  Ever feel like Your inbox is your task list?


Many of us keep emails in our Gmail inboxes to remind us to do something later. Maybe you star it, or use Priority Inbox so that it drops to the "read and important" label. To get control of your inbox keep your tasks in a task list, NOT your in inbox. Gmail makes this easy by providing you with an integrated task list. 

To move an email to your Google Task list, select Add to Tasks under the More Menu option in Gmail.



Tip #2  Sometimes the mouse is just too slow, here are are some favorite hot keys:

Word processing...
command-c (when something is selected) : copy
command-x (when something is selected) : cut
command-v : paste text

Finder...
command-d (when a file or folder is selected) : duplicate

Web browsing...
command-d : bookmark a page

General...
command-s : save a page
command-n : new document / browser window
command-z : undo last change to a document

The 'command' key referenced above is the key adjacent to the space bar.  Hold it with your thumb while pressing the other key(s).

Tip #1 Always have a backup to secure your data. 

Winter vacation starts at the end of the week. Before you leave for a well-deserved break, please take the time to:
1.Note your IDs and passwords are secure and inaccessible to others. It might be a good time to change your passwords, if they have been in use for 3 months or more. 
2.Ensure your data is secure – perform a backup of any computers you use
For directions on how to back up, please refer to the Instructional Technology blog:
http://aapsinstructionaltech.blogspot.com/p/clean-up-back-up-and-prepare.html



Happy Holidays from the ITD staff!


Help the district divert operational cost to the classroom by doing the following:
a.    Shut off all electronic devices (copiers, printers, scanners) when not in use
b.    Shut down all computers and mobile devices before leaving for the day on Friday
c.     Turn off all sound fields and projectors


We ask that you leave the power connected, but turn devices off using the devices power switch.