Organizing Your Photos...

So, your pictures are now on your computer, but they are in no kind of order! Here are some tips from organizing your photos and making specific pictures easy to find.
To have your pictures successfully organized, the key is to use ALBUMS!
1. First, create a new album. You can either choose “File” and then “New Album”, or click no the plus sign in the left corner.
2. Type in the name for your new photo album. (Ex: End of the Year Party)
3. Click OK
4. Locate “Library” and then click on “Photos”. Click on any photo you would like in this album and drag it to the album title. You can also highlight more than one at a time and drag them into the album.
This way, you can have your photos organized by events, months, or place, depending on how you title your albums
You can also organize your photos using keywords. This is helpful, because you may want to find a particular picture, but you don’t know which album it falls under. iPhoto has some keywords available for you, such as favorite, family, vacation, etc. You can use words for school photos, such as science or project to make these photos easily accessible.
To add a keyword to your picture, click on “View” at the top of your toolbar, and then make sure Keywords is checked. Next, run your cursor under the picture’s name. It will prompt “add keywords”, then click. Add keywords to help you identify your pictures.
To find a picture with a particular keyword, type in the keyword in the spot available next to the magnifying glass and hit enter. It will pull up any picture with that word.
Good luck organizing all of those great shots!
Next time, we will talk about editing your photos…

Logging in at the Computer Lab

There have been some questions as to how to log on to the computers in the computer lab. Your students each have a log-in that they can use. It is as follows:

Log-in: Student number
Password: Last 4 numbers of their Social Security Number

You may want to consider making cards with your students' information on it, laminate them, and use these whenever you go to the lab.

Good luck and have fun! :)

How to Import Photos into iPhoto

For the next entries, I will be giving you a few helpful hints for importing, organizing, and editing your photos. These can be pictures you take with your digital camera or ones that you take using photo booth.
First, we need to get these beginning of the year shots off of your camera and onto your computer. Follow these easy steps to import your pictures.
1. Connect you digital camera to your laptop.
2. Launch iPhoto (This should happen automatically, but just in case…)
3. Type in a name for this set of pictures.
4. Add a description for the roll if you would like. This can help you find images later on.
5. Click the Import Button
It may prompt you to delete items from the camera. Only do this if you do not want to add these images to another device and you no longer want them on your memory card.
If you have images on a CD, you can insert your CD, wait for the CD image to appear on your desktop, and then drag the CD to the iPhoto icon in your dock.
If you have taken pictures in Photo Booth and you wish to add them to your iPhoto library, open Photo Booth and select the picture you would like to move. Next, click on the second icon from the left which is labeled “iPhoto”. Your Apple will then send it to your iPhoto Library.
Have fun snapping those pictures!

Using Spotlight Like a Pro!

This is a great tool, especially when you cannot remember a document’s name after a long and relaxing summer. Simply click on the blue magnifying glass in the top right corner of your screen. In the box next to the word “Spotlight”, type in a word that appears in this document. It does not even have to be in the title!!

This feature will automatically divide your data into different categories, such as documents, PDF files, images, and even bookmarks. If you know the piece you are looking for in a word document, check under “Documents”. If you are looking for a folder, look under “Folders” and so on. This is such a great way to find those resources that you cannot find by looking through all your folders.

A different way to use spotlight is to find answers to your questions about Macs! First, click on the blue apple in the upper left-hand corner and select “System Preferences”. Then, type what you are curious about in the blank next to the spotlight. Your computer will then highlight areas in “System Preferences” that may help you to accomplish your goal. For example, if you type in “Change Background”, your computer will put a spotlight on “Desktop and Screen Saver”.

Try this out by typing in a word that appears in your documents, and see this amazing tool at work! You’ll never have to search through folder after folder again!

Software Updates

Making updates on your computer is important, but can take a good bit of time. I like to do this when I do not need my computer, because it can take up to a few hours.
Click on the blue apple in the top left corner of your screen.
Choose “Software Update…”
Your computer will search for new updates and alert you to what needs to be updated.
Click on the blue key that says “Install ___ Items”

iMovie for FCTM

I asked Zak Champagne to send me a link for his iMovie focusing on the Florida Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference, because I wanted to share it with all of you. He created this using iMovie, and it is a neat way to get information across not only to other teachers, but can be used to teach your students, as well. Some of you participated in an iMovie workshop last year, so don't forget about this great tool as we start a new school year. The video also provides information about the FCTM conference that will take place in Jacksonville this year, which sounds great. Thanks, Zak!

Go to the FCTM website: http://www.fctm.net/
Click on the TV in the 56th FCTM Conference block

Making a Faculty Distribution List

Now that we are back from summer, this is a great time to update your Faculty Distribution List. Distribution lists are great tools for sending out e-mails to the whole faculty, your grade level, math teachers, etc. This posting will focus on our faculty distribution list, but please check the earlier postings for how to make a different distribution list, such as for your grade level.
To make a distribution list for the faculty:
• Open up your e-mail
• Click on “Contacts” on the left side of your window.
• Under the web address, you will see the word “New”. Click on the arrow on the right-side of the word "Contact", and change this word to “Distribution List”.
• Next to “List Name”, type in MOE Faculty.
• Click on “Find Names”
• Next to “Office”, type in “Mandarin Oaks” and click “Find”. This will pull up anyone whose e-mail shows that they are employed by Mandarin Oaks.
• Put a check next to the teacher’s name, and then when you reach the bottom click on “Add recipient to Distribution List”.
To send an e-mail to this distribution list, click on "Contacts", select "MOE Faculty", and then click on the third icon from the left that looks like a letter and envelope.

Be sure to check in for the next posting focusing on how to use "Spotlight" on your Apple. You will be glad you did!