A Fine Leader Will Be Missed!

The Talladega City Board Office was the site of a small gathering to honor and bid farewell to a wonderful leader, Mr. Lee Messer. Mr. Messer will be retiring on June 30 and turning over the reins to the District’s newest superintendent, Dr. Joanne Horton.

Along with a wonderful spread of refreshments, the guest of honor was presented with two gift cards from Central Office Staff and administrators. He was also given a frame filled with best wishes. Various employees rose to share memories, kind words, and thoughts of appreciation.

Talladega will continue to be home to Mr. and Mrs. Messer. Thanks for making a difference in our school system. You will not be forgotten!

Full house for "Multimedia Tech Camp"

All seats are full for the Multimedia Tech Camp coming up in July. Those who attended last year gave it rave reviews. It's great to see a large number of our teachers taking advantage of this training.

If you signed up and for some reason cannot attend, please be sure to go back into PDWeb and remove your name from the roster. If you did not sign up, you can go to PDWeb and get on the waiting list.

Multiple homepages

Are there several websites that you open every day on your computer? How would you like to be able to open them all at the same time? On my own blog, I wrote a post on this subject. That post can be read by going here.

2nd Annual Back 2 School Parent Extravaganza

Talladega City Schools are moving forward! Part of this movement includes the 2nd Annual Back to School Parent Extravaganza, slated for September 18th at Ellis Junior High School and Harwell Auditorium.

In the early planning stages, the District welcomes ideas and suggestions from anyone affiliated with our school system. What sessions would be of interest to parents? What should be added that we did not have last year? How can we ensure that parents know about the event?

Please email your thoughts to pthomas@talladega-cs.net

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." Helen Keller

One Stop Shopping for Professional Development

Do you ever wish you could find a one-stop shopping experience for Professional Development? Several teachers and administrators from Talladega City Schools found such a place this week at the Nuts and Bolts Symposium in Destin. This four-day “Focus on the Practical” event was geared especially for those who work with middle level students in grades 5th -8th.

The Symposium featured a keynote speaker and breakout sessions every day. Door prizes, snacks, meals, and fun were all a part of this experience. Motivation and ideas filled the head and hearts of those who traveled and represented TCS. The Symposium was worth the time and effort and next spring, the district would like to expand the participation of this event. Consider being a part!

School System Calendar

I have taken all of the dates principals have given me and combined them into one calendar. You can view that calendar by clicking on the link marked "School System Calendar" at the right. For each school, I have listed the events that would apply to the entire school (PTO meetings, book fairs, awards events, etc.). I did not events such as field trips for a single grade in order to keep the calendar as uncluttered as possible.

We often have multiple events scheduled on the same day simply because we have lacked an efficient mechanism for knowing what other schools have planned. That mechanism is here now.

As the year progresses, I know schools will be adding events. It will be important for sponsors to let me know about additions and changes. As soon as the calendar ceases to be to accurate, it ceases to be something any of us can trust.

You will notice there are links to a calendar for each school also at the right. During the year, I have been looking at the extent to which those have been used. Unless I hear otherwise from a principal, those links will cease to exist after the next couple of weeks.

Time Management Workshop

Around half of the organization and time management workshop I am doing for the JSU Inservice Center in Jun 20. The workshop is pretty comprehensive and covers the following topics:

• How to use “tickler files” to keep your desktop clean and your paperwork under control.
• How to use a daily planner as an effective tool to keep your organized and on top of your day.
• How to document quickly and easily.
• How to handle tasks which recur, whether each month or each year.
• How to handle multiple projects easily.
• How to organize the files on your computer in a logical manner.
• How to back up your computer easily.
• How to gain “chunks” of time by controlling interruptions.
• How to “batch” similar activities.
• How to establish priorities, delegate, and learn to just say “no.”
• How to organize files and folders so you can find what you want.
• How to back-up your data easily so that a hard drive crash won’t be a catastrophe.
• How to handle tasks which recur monthly, quarterly, or annually.
• How to handle documents you must “revisit” and update regularly.
• How to use e-mail effectively.
• How to organize correspondence so that you can find that memo in seconds.
• How to use Google to put most any information at your fingertips quickly.
  

The workshop will be held at the JSU Fort McClellan site. There is no cost. Even though Jacksonville is not our inservice center, our teachers may still attend workshops they offer. To register for the workshop, click here and follow the directions from there.

Setting up your new computer

Setting up a new computer can an complex task. Here is a set of directions that will take you from the initial setup through all of the configuring you will need to do.

Checking school e-mail from home

During the summer, most of you will not have access to your school computers on a regular basis. The e-mail you have come to rely on will be piling up over the next couple of months.

There is a way that you can check your school e-mail from your home computer.

• Open you web browser and go to http://mail.talladega-cs.net
• In the middle of the screen, you will see a set of 5 icons. Click the second one from the left
• You will be a login screen that asks you for your user name and password
• Once you login, you will see a list of icons running up and down (Desktop, Mail, Admin calendar, etc.) Click on "Mailbox"
• You will see your e-mail. You may compose e-mail or reply to e-mail just like you wold on your computer at school.