Printing Calendars

Would you like to print the calendar so that each day's activities are in their own box?

     1. Click on the "month" tab above the calendar.
     2. Click on the "Print" Tab on the right side above the calendar. (Note: Do not use the File>print in your browser toolbar.
         You won't get the traditional box calendar that way. )
     3. You'll get a preview that shows the events in a traditional box view.
     4. Click the small printer icon in the preview window that opens.

How Often Should You Update Your Web Pages?

Page Type	Suggested Update Schedule
Home Page	Monthly
Schedule Page	Monthly
Calendar	Daily
Assignment Page	Daily
Sharing Page	Weekly
Useful Links	Weekly
Document Manager	Daily or Weekly
Forums/Blogs	Daily
Custom Forms	Daily or Weekly (when in use)
Album	Monthly

Is Your Site Being Seen?

Is anyone seeing your site?

You can find out how many people have viewed your website. Here's how:

     1. Login into SchoolCenter.
     2. Click on "Reports" in the gray bar at the top of the page.
     3. Click on "Website Stats" under "Usage Report."
     4. You'll be able to see the total hits (views).
     5. The report includes monthly totals as well as a combined total of hits.

Calendar Settings

Would you like to see a list of certain types of calendar activities? You can easily do this!

     1. On the calendar page, scroll to the bottom of the page to the "Categories Available" section.
     2. Then, click on the category of your choice. All of the activities in that category will be listed.
     3. If you selected the "Month" tab, you will see all of the activities for the month in that category.
     4. If you selected the "Year" tab, you will see all the activities in that category for the year.

Creating A Banner

You can create your banners with your own text on the SchoolCenter Website. Follow these steps and you'll have unique banners in no time.

     1. Login to SchoolCenter.
     2. Click on the "Admin" button in the toolb at the top of the page.
     3. Click on "Banner Image Creator."
     4. Give your banner a title in the box provided and click on "Add New."
     5. By using the icons in the Tool Bar, you will be able to add images and layers to yourbanner and change its height and width,
         as well as change the border size and color and the background color and image.
     6. You can also select whether you wish your background to be transparent by clicking on the dots on the bottom left-hand corner
         of the Color Picker.
     7. If you do not wish to have a border, leave the Border Size setting at 0.

Babel Fish Translator

Here's a great idea to make your pages more accessible. Add the Babel Fish Translator to each of your pages and anyone looking at your website can have the page translated to another language of their choice.Here's how to add the translator:

     1. Login into SchoolCenter and navigate to the page where you want to add the translator.
     2. Click on "Edit>Page Settings."
     3. Click the "Details" tab.
     4. Put a checkmark in the box in front of the words "Show Babel Fish language translation box."
     5. Click "Done."

Why use a PDF?

PDF stands for portable document format. This format allows users to create a document that is "print friendly" so that viewers who may not have the same software can read and print it.

Steps for saving a document in PDF format on your Apple computer:

     1. Create the document in Word or AppleWorks.
     2. Click on File>Print.
     3. In the bottom left corner of the window click on the PDF button.
     4. Name your PDF document and save.

(Note: Be sure to save it as a .doc or .cwk file, too. You'll need it for additional editing.) Share your tips and tricks Important Dates

Copyright and Your Website

Don't forget to consider copyright laws when creating and managing your website. You want to avoid using someone else's web designs, text, images, copyrighted worksheets, photographs, midi files or sound files, or your own reproductions of copyrighted work (like an MP3 or a CD you own). In some cases, the original authors are willing to allow the use of their items but may require that you provide a link back to their webpage on your site. This information is usually posted on the site where the original image is found.

The best rule is to ask before using. With the ease of email, asking permission to use an item on your website is a fairly easy process. It's important to remember that having permission or a license to use something in your classroom is not the same as having the right to post something on a website.

For further information, check out this website from Stanford University: Websites:

Five Ways To Stay Out Of Trouble

Do You Have Subscribers?

You can allow parents, students, and community members to subscribe to your webpage. When you do this, you add the ability to notify subscribers by email when you update your page. The email is sent to all of your subscribers at once so you do not have to send individual emails to each one. You can personalize the email to be as specific or as general as you would like.

There are two steps to this process. First,you have to add the feature allowing readers to subscribe to the page. Second, you need to notify those subscribers when you update the page.

To add the subscription feature to your page:

     1. Go to the page you want to edit.
     2. Click on Edit>Page Settings>Details.
     3. Put a checkmark in the box in front of "Allow public to subscribe to this page."
     4. Click "Done."

To view your list of subscribers:

     1. Go the page you want to check.
     2. Click on Edit>Notify Subscribers.
     3. The first line will report how many subscribers you have. Choose "Click to View" to see the list of subscribers.

To send subscribers an email notification of page updates:

     1. Go the page you want to check.
     2. Click on Edit>Notify Subscribers.
     3. A window will open with 2 boxes. The first box is for the subject of the email. Thesecond box if for the text of the email.
     4. You may use the default information or type in your own text for the boxes.
     5. Click "Send Message." Every subscriber will receive your email notification.

Hide Pages Under Construction

Have you ever visited a website and been greeted with the "Under Construction" message? Chances are good that you have and you were likely frustrated (or even annoyed) by the event. And, in fact, all websites are technically "under construction" because they are updated (more or less) frequently.

If your page isn't finished, it isn't ready to be published. SchoolCenter provides an easy option which allows you to hide your webpage from public view until you are ready for it to be published. You will still be able to view and edit the page when you login to SchoolCenter but visitors to your website will not be aware it is even there.

Keep Your Website Up-To-Date

Items to Check

Check each week. Put a checkmark in the box when complete.

Check your contact and class schedule information. Correct any errors.
Check your assignment lists. Delete outdated assignments and add current assignments.
Without logging into SchoolCenter, check each of your web pages. If any of them show they are "under construction," login to SchoolCenter and hide them from public view.
Update your calendar.
If you have a web page for announcements or current events, delete outdated entries and add current announcements and events.

Sharing Information

SchoolCenter has a great feature that allows you to share information with other SchoolCenter users. This feature works on several pages including Calendar, Documents, What's New, and Useful Links. The process for sharing is the same for any of these pages.

To learn how to use this feature, let's share some information from the YISD main calendar. For our example, we will share the school holidays that have already been entered on the main YISD Calendar.

     1. Login to SchoolCenter.
     2. Click on your "Calendar" page.
     3. Be sure you are in "Edit" mode.
     4. Above the calendar, you will see a tab that says "Show Other." Click on it.
     5.Click on the "Browse" tab in the new window.
     6. You will see a listing of available sites that have information to share. The curved arrows indicate that there are additional
         sites to choose from.
     7. You will see "District Calendar." If there is a small plus sign in front of it, click that plus sign.
     8. Underneath the District Calendar are available category entries that may be shared. Put a check in the box in front of "Holiday."
     9. Click "Done."

To share documents, what's new pages, or links, simply follow the same steps from your Documents, What's New, or Useful Links page.

Use the Support Feature

SchoolCenter offers support to all users. This feature allows you to get support in either text or video format (or both!) To get support on any page, follow these steps:

     1. Create the type of page you would like to add.
     2. Click on the page that you want to get support for. For example, let's assume you want support on the "Forum" page.
     3. Click on the "Support" button in the top right corner of your page.


     4. You will be taken to the support page for that particular type of page. Click on your choice of either "Video Tutorial" or "Text Tutorial."


Market Your Website Top Ten

Remember to market your website to ensure that students, parents, and the community can access all of the great material you've placed on it. How do you market it? Try these ideas:

     1. Put your website address on every handout given in your classroom or at your campus.
     2. Share your website address on parent night.
     3. Put your website address up in your classroom.
     4. Put your website address in your email signature.
     5. If you are a campus, put it up on an outside sign.
     6. Include your address in your classroom or campus voicemail message.
     7. Tell everyone about your website.
     8. Create business cards with your website on it.
     9. Refer to your website often in class.
   10.Use your webiste in class so students know that about the resources it contains and your expectations for its use.

Add Your Website To Your Lotus Notes Email Signature

Adding your website address to your email signature is a great marketing strategy for your website. Follow these steps to add your signature:

     1. Go to mail.
     2. Login with your username and password.
     3. Click on Tools>Preferences.
     4. Click on Mail>Signature.
     5. Type your signature:
     6. Full name
     7. Title
     8. School Name
     9. Classroom Phone Number
   10. Classroom Website address
   11. Campus website address

Remember, your classroom website is simple to remember.

Which Page Should I Use?

Determining which page to select when adding new pages can be confusing. Use the following guidelines to choose your web pages:

Page Type	Purpose	Sharing Abilities (able to be shared from classroom to district, school to classroom, and school to school)
Blog	Create blog entries and decide if you would like to allow users to post comments on them. This is primarily used for ONE person to post a journal or diary type of entry. This would be a great page for a teacher to post daily updates to classroom hapenings. May set preferences for this page as to whether comments must be approved before they are publicly posted.
Classroom Calendar	A convenient way to inform students and parents about upcoming events in your classroom. Calendars can also be used to post assignments and may be made "interactive" by using the "Advanced Content Area"when editing to add links and graphics.	Yes
Class Projects	This feature allows students to have their own area where they can edit and track classroom projects. This section is suitable for Web quests, uploading PowerPoint presentations, journals, photo albums and countless other classroom-related uses. Students can be given their own login name and password and be granted access to this site.
Contact Form	Use this as an easy way for your page visitors to contact you.
Document Manager	Your Document Manager component allows you to upload and store files to your site. SchoolCenter supports over 350 file types. However, there is a maximum of 10MB per individual file.	Yes
Forum	Use this for group classroom "blogs." Within the forum page, visitors can participate in a variety of category-based discussions. A Forum is the most advanced discussion method. Teachers can post a lead question and students can respond to the lead question and other students, as well. May set preferences for this page as to whether posts must be approved before they are publicly posted.
Guestbook	With this, visitors to your site can add guestbook entries to existing threads. May set preferences for this page as to whether posts must be approved before they are publicly posted. If you would like to know who is visiting your website, this would be a nice way to encourage visitors to let you know they've seen your site.
Opinion Poll	A simple tool that allows you to gather valuable information about your school, teachers, sports teams, classroom, and website. This is easy to set up and use. Great for math classroom to gather data for statistics lessons.
Other Web Page	The Other Web Page component can be used to create a link to another page, placing the link along with the other links in your navigation structure.
Questions and Answers	The Questions and Answers component allows you to post frequently asked questions that site visitors may have about the community, district, schools, teams, clubs or classrooms. It's an FAQ page!
Scrapbook	Your scrapbook page component allows you to put your classroom or school on display by showing class pictures or important information. Use this page as a generic page.
Search	The Search page allows Visitors to search your site.
Site Search	The site map component allows visitors to easily navigate to any page throughout your classroom website.
Test Bank	The test bank page is available at the classroom level as a unique and efficient way to quiz your students over the material learned in class.
Useful Links	This is an easy way to add links to your page by creating a directory of links to outside web pages. Post your favorites for students to use when they finish an assignment early. It's a great idea to put a detailed description of what the link will do for students so links can be appropriately chosen.	Yes
What's New	This page allows you to post assignments, current news, events and updates to your site on one page. You can choose to show details initially or require that a heading be clicked on to show the details.	Yes