TECHNOLOGY TOOLS BY ALEXA BELTZ & MICKAELA PEREZ

TEXT TO SPEECH 1.If you have a Mac, click on the system preference icon 2.A screen like this should appear and click on diction and speech

1.Click on Text to Speech 2.Choose a voice that you like from drop down menu 3.Click Play to hear the voice 4.If you would like a voice to come on when you have an alert, click here 5.Then click set alert options 6.The voice that you chose will announce the application name when there is an alert – click ok

7.Click speak selected text when the key is pressed 8.Now you can highlight any words and press Option & Esc buttons together and it will read the text to you!

DICTATION 1.Now click dictation in the same screen 2.Click on Dictation ON 3.A screen like this will appear and you will click on Enable Dictation

4.Now click the Use Enhanced Dictation button 5.The key you will press for this action will be the fn key which is located on the bottom left hand side of your keyboard 6.You will press this button twice in a row for it work 7.You may also go to the Word program and click EDIT at the top and select Start Dictation at the bottom 8.You may now start speaking and the computer will type what you speak!!

CLEANING UP YOUR COMPUTER!

WHY SHOULD I? An organized desktop and files makes it EASIER and FASTER to find things. Being organized on your computer allows you to be more organized in your classes. It helps you find your homework and enables you to be more likely to turn the correct assignments in. There are many ways to organize your files!  School Year – ;  Grade – 9 th, 10 th, 11 th, 12 th ; Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior  Classes – English, History, etc

STEP 1 - GETTING STARTED! Clean out files you don’t need!  Get rid of junk! Clean out old assignments you don’t need. They are taking up space on your computer!! DELETE – DELETE – DELETE! Step 1 – go to your desktop and start going through your files and deleting what you no longer need. GO!

STEP 1 - KEEP GOING! Now go to your downloads and again – delete what you don’t need! If it is something you need – leave it and we will find a home for it later. GO! Go to Finder and select downloads! Start cleaning! Don’t stop! Keep going – now go to your documents, movies, music, and pictures!

CLEAN UP SHORTCUT!! Go to your Finder – select ALL MY FILES!  Now you can go through all files by year and easily see what you can get rid of! Right here! Start cleaning up those files!

IT’S ALL CLEAN – NOW WHAT? Congratulations! You computer looks great again! Now it’s time to create and organize!! WAIT!!! – We just deleted allllllll that information and now – we are making more stuff?!?!

STEP 2: CREATING HOMES! When items (or files) have a home – you know where to find them…quickly! Now is the time to decide how to label your folders for THIS YEAR!  By year – 2014  By grade – 9 th grade (this way is the easiest)

EXAMPLES OF FILE HOMES! Notice: Only folders – no loose files! Clearly labeled The years are graduation years of students – not the school year These folders are in the 2016 folder above. They are a specific students school year labeled by grade.

STEP 2 – CREATE YOUR FILE HOMES! Decide how to label your folders.  Desktop folders – recommend by grade level.  9 th Grade or Freshman  10 th Grade or Sophomore  11 th Grade or Junior  12 th Grade or Senior You can make folders for each class inside your desktop folders.

HOW TO CREATE A HOME Right click on desktop screen and select “New Folder.” Single click on the folder where it says “untitled folder”. Single click again and it should become highlighted – type new name.

STEP 3: REPEAT! Now that you have created a home for all of this year’s files you need to create a folder or home for each class! Open your newly created folder on the desktop. Mine is named 9 th Grade. When opened – it’s empty.

CREATE MORE HOMES! Create folders for each class you have!  English  History  Math  Science  Study Skills  Etc. Repeat step 2 to create a folder. Go back if you can’t remember!

IF YOU HAVE TIME… You can get real crazy and create more folders in your class folders. Folders for discussion questions, assignments, quizzes, tests, etc. Depends on what your teacher needs you to do!

QUESTIONS OR ADVICE? If you have questions or need help please ask your teacher or a friend! Do you know an easier way to clean up or create folders? Please share with us!

WHEN FINISHED… You should have a beautiful desktop!

SUMMARIZING TEXT

REQUIREMENTS Mac Computer Microsoft Word

UPLOADING THE TEXT Upload text you wish to summarize to Microsoft Word.  Can retype if text is not available online  Can copy and paste from a file  Can copy and paste from online This document – original length – 7 pages!

SELECTING TEXT Select the text you want to summarize In the example – I selected all of the story (remember the 7 pages!) You can select all text at once by pressing Command A!

SUMMARIZE! Once text is selected, go to the WORD tab at the top of the tool bar

SUMMARIZE!  Then select Services

SUMMARIZE!  Select Summarize option

SUMMARIZE!  Decide how short you want it to be. Change the tab to lengthen or shorten your summary!

SAVE YOUR SUMMARY Click on the RED dot (as though you are closing the program)

SAVE YOUR SUMMARY! Select SAVE Rename and select where you want to save your summary Select SAVE

READ YOUR SUMMARY! You are finished! Read your summary!

BOOKSHARE Go to website: A screen like this should appear: Click Sign UP

Next click which category applies to you Click I confirm and then Continue

Fill out all information Click CREATE ACCOUNT

You’re Almost Done You must certify that you have a disability, so once you see this screen, check your because there will be directions on how to proceed

Click the member agreement form and fill out Click the Proof of disability form and have your SPED teacher fill it out

COMPLETEBOOKSHARE Once your SPED teacher sends in the information and the company receives and processes it, you will be able to download books, select audio, read online, etc. This is a great tool to utilize, so sign up TODAY!!