As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each week, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: Some kids are hard workers, but they just don’t get computers. Their effort deserves a good grade, but their product is nowhere near class requirements. What can I do?

A: Don’t be afraid to give students a Mulligan–a do-over for you non-golfers. Some students don’t perform well under the pressure of a deadline. Some are so sure they’re no good at technology, that becomes their reality. Offer students a second chance if they’ll work with you after school. I have had countless students take advantage of this and come out after a few of those sessions strong and confident in class. All they had to see was that they could do it. Maybe some simple phrasing confused them and you can clear that up. Maybe the noise of a full class distracted them. Whatever it is, if you can show them how to find alternatives, solve their problems, they can apply that to technology class and other classes.

Most of the students I help 1:1 only need a few projects and then I never see them again for help. In fact, their confidence is so improved, they often are the kids who come in during lunch to offer assistance to other struggling students. (more…)

In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip:  Where Did the Taskbar Go?

Category: PC, Keyboarding

Q: Some programs hide the taskbar when they open. How do I access the Start button when that happens?

A:  Push the flying windows (between Ctrl and Alt) to bring up the Start button.

It might have disappeared because it’s set to Autohide. Here’s how to fix that:

• Hover over the area where the taskbar lives.
• If it appears, right click on it and select Properties. Go to the Taskbar tab.
• Make sure the box that says Autohide isn’t checked.

If the taskbar doesn’t appear, hover over the extreme bottom edge of the screen. If a double-headed arrow appears, click and drag up to bring your toolbar back from the edge.

Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.

What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.

(more…)

How to Automate an MLA Heading in Word

In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: Solutions to unusual problems

Category: Problem-solving

Whether you follow Habits of Mind, Common Core, Depth of Knowledge, IB, or another K-12 learning strategy, every student must learn problem-solving to become a functioning, contributing adult. There are thirteen great strategies that can be taught as part of ‘problem solving’ between kindergarten and eighth grade—a few each year, when they’re age-appropriate for your group.

Here’s a poster with the strategies. Post it on the wall in your classroom. Let students notice when they’ve accomplished one and what’s coming up in their future:

Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.

What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.

–image credit Deposit Photos

(more…)

Today’s tip: Find a lost program

Category: Problem-solving

If a program disappears, here are two quick ways to find it more than half the time (on PCs):

• Look around the screen
• Check the taskbar

Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.

What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.

(more…)

I’ve had a lot of trouble with my email the last few months. My newsletter is falling apart. My home email is changing servers–who knows what that will require on my part. My spam folder has had a mental breakdown and never (ever) works correctly. And, my internet services are suffering more than their usual annoying level of quirks and breaks.

I’m looking for a change. There’s one big option I’ve been watching for a few years: Starlink. It doesn’t use fiber or cable–it runs off satellites. I haven’t pulled the trigger (it requires geeky setup and a substantial startup fee), but every year, after every internet and email problem, it gets more interesting. Starlink probably won’t fix my email problems, but it might put a dent in my internet issues. Several friends and efriends use it and are thrilled with it. Liesbet over at Roaming About, a self-proclaimed nomad, happily roaming about South America, switched to Starlink and loves it.

One of the reasons I don’t make the switch is it’s not easy (and I like easy). It costs something like $600 in equipment and the monthly fee is somewhere around $150-$200, but to get away from the Earth-based internet problems that can be hacked, cracked, and virused is appealing. (more…)

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

You sit down to type, start in on that long project with an imminent deadline, and nothing happens. The cursor blinks… and blinks… and blinks… but goes nowhere.

What do you do?

Before you buy a new keyboard, try a few things:

• Is the keyboard’s power light on? If it is, check your screen. Is there something that’s preventing you from typing? Maybe a dialogue box that wants an answer? If the light isn’t on, continue down this list
• Check the plugs. Maybe the cord that connects the keyboard to the computer is loose or fell out.
• Reboot. Sometimes the stuff in the computer’s boot-up sequence that makes the keyboard work gets lost. Restart your computer so it can re-establish itself.
• Do you eat at your keyboard? Does anyone? I say this next solution hesitantly: Bang on the key. Sometimes keys get food between them. If that doesn’t work, turn the keyboard over and see what falls out.

If none of those work, here are some pretty good suggestions from ChatGPT:

(more…)

In these 169 tech situations, you get practical strategies to address many classroom tech situations.

Today’s tip: Fix computer with system restore

Category: Problem-solving

Q:  My computer no longer runs right. I downloaded the auto-updates to my PC and it hasn’t worked right since. What do I do?

System Restore is a recovery tool for Windows that allows you to reverse certain kinds of changes made to the operating system. One way to think of it is as an “undo” feature for the most important parts of Windows.

Here’s how you use it:

• Type ‘system restore’ into the search bar at the bottom of the start menu.
• Select ‘system restore’ from the list.
• Follow the directions.

Note: The system restores to a point you created earlier so you have to have done that. If you need help with this concept, here’s a longish YT that covers it in depth: (more…)

Has this happened to you? You spend hours rewriting an old lesson plan, incorporating rich, adventurous tools available on the internet. You test it several times just to be sure. It’s a fun lesson self-paced lesson plan with lots of activities and meandering paths students undoubtedly will adore. Technology enables it to differentiate authentically for the diverse group of learners that walk across your threshold.

Everyone who previewed it is wowed. You are ready.

Until the day of, the technology that is its foundation fails. Hours of preparation wasted because no one could get far enough to learn a d*** thing. You blame yourself–why didn’t you stick with what you’d always done?  Now, everyone is disappointed.

(more…)