Microsoft Word Templates

I have found that Microsoft Word is an excellent resource for numerous templates that can be extremely useful in the educational field, both to administrators and teachers. As a teacher, I have always created a weekly newsletter to be sent home with students and posted on a webpage. Recently, I located a template for a student newsletter that saved

me a great deal of time and effort and actually allowed me to create a much

more professional appearing document.

What other types of Word templates have you found to be helpful in teaching or adminstration?

Blogging for Teachers and Administrators

Blogging is a very interesting concept. It seems to be an excellent method of communication between those in like areas of employment and an efficient way to share useful information.

Though I understand the benefits, what is your opinion about how blogging may open up a window for complaints from disgruntled parents or co-workers?

Mail Merge

I had never used the Mail Merge feature until recently. Previously, I had been manually entering parent names and addresses onto correspondence. Mail Merge is a much simpler method of accomplishing the same task.

Exel is the program I have been utilizing to maintain an address listing. Do you have any suggestions about more efficient ways to use this feature?

Surveys for Teachers and Administrators

During a recent college course, I became familiar with making surveys online. I found that by utilizing a free web site, I was able to create a survey that could be issued to all

parents having a valid e-mail address.

My survey can be found at

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mmRY26OgYKIbOHaW4MY0lA_3d_3d

In my district, parent volunteers are regarded as a great asset to teachers and administrators. I opted to create a survey for parent volunteer interests.

What other surveys have you found to be useful?