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Don't forget to underline …
I saw this animation
being used on a screen made by a classroom assistant. She said it
was nothing but I thought it was simple but effective at getting
the message across. It speaks for itself! |
| Submitted by: Tim Kitchen, St Thomas of Canterbury R.C. School
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Graduated colour
Here's an easy special effect for brightening up text on an Easiteach
screen when you're using the computer keyboard. In Edit Mode, highlight
the first letter of the text and apply a Fill Colour to it. Then
highlight the last letter and apply a different Fill Colour. Finally,
select all the text and press Ctrl-G. Presto—colour-graduated
text! |
| Submitted by: Heidi Upham, RM Learning |
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Add an accent
To enter a special character or foreign letter in Easiteach, an
easy way is to copy the character you want and then paste it into
the Easiteach screen. All the available characters can be found
in the Windows Character Map, which you can access from the Windows
Start menu (in Windows XP, click on Start | Programs | Accessories
| System Tools | Character Map). Going in and out of Easiteach
to do this is easier if you select Glass Mode. |
| Submitted by: Catherine Snowden, RM Training |
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More or less
Less can be more. When you're composing Easiteach screens, it's usually better not to include all the information as you would if you were writing a book. The Easiteach screen is there to support the teacher, not as a substitute. Leave yourself some work as a teacher, and it will help make your pupils think. |
| Submitted by: Sylfest Muldal, RM Learning |
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Cloning a page…
When you want make two similar screens, it's easiest to make the second from a copy of the first. Then when you click from one screen to the other, it looks much better because they will be exactly aligned. |
| Submitted by: Susan Purkis, RM Learning |
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…and how to do it
When you're using the computer's keyboard, you can copy a whole page by selecting it in Storyboard view, then using Ctrl-C to copy and Ctrl-V to paste (or hold down the Ctrl key and drag away a copy to the place you want). |
| Submitted by: Dan Warner, Haringey LEA |
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Bank your own resources
Can you add pictures to the resource bank? Yes you can - all you need to do is move the picture files into existing or new folders within the Multimedia or Resource Banks folders. Easiteach picks them up automatically. |
| Submitted by: Jon Deeks, RM Learning |
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Need
to hide an answer?
Here's how. Write the answer first; then use the Rectangle
tool, or any shape or picture, to cover the answer. In Edit Mode,
highlight the object covering the answer. Then click the Utilities
button on the Easiteach toolbar, then Links, then
the Animate tab, and select the Hide/Show
on Click button. Now when you click the object the answer
will appear, and when you click it again it disappears - easy if
you know how! |
| Submitted by: Alison Garrett, Port Moody, B.C. |
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Neatly does it
Easiteach
gives you the freedom to position objects anywhere on the page -
so how can you align a lot of text items, or pictures, to quickly
give a neat and professional look? Select all the objects and use
one or more of the Align tools on the Easiteach
toolbar. There are 11 of them - as well as lining up things, they
let you easily even out horizontal and vertical gaps between pictures
or text, and to centre one object over another. |
| Submitted by: Susan Purkis, RM Learning |
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Colours to be seen in
Whiteboard
screens aren't always easy to read. Some colour combinations are
a lot more readable than others, especially for visually impaired
or dyslexic pupils. Black text on yellow shows up well.
For more information, visit the RNIB's
website |
| Submitted by: Susan Purkis, RM Learning |
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Level lines
When creating screens, try them out on the full-size whiteboard before you show your class. Sometimes lines which look straight on a computer screen can appear broken and jagged when looked at on the larger whiteboard. |
| Submitted by: Rob Lievesley, RM Learning |
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Don't be dazzled
To be sure of your pupils' attention when you don't want them looking
at the screen, use the Fade Easiteach Screen button to dim
the screen temporarily. Then you can step in front of the whiteboard
without looking like The Illustrated Man! |
| Submitted by: Sylfest Muldal, RM Learning |
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Smooth moves
Are you having trouble moving small objects around the screen? You can sometimes end up accidentally re-sizing the object instead of moving it.
The problem is cured if you change the object's properties so it can't be resized. To do this, select the object and then choose Object from the Utilities menu, and click to de-select the Sizes checkbox.
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| Submitted by: Meg Blacker, RM Learning |
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Get the big picture
When you use the Multimedia Bank, double-click on a picture to display it full-screen. Click once again to return to the previous view.
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| Submitted by: Catherine Snowden, RM Training |
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Mini story
Does your file have too many pages to see in Storyboard view? Just drag the corner of any one of them to resize them all and make them fit.
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| Submitted by: Catherine Snowden, RM Training |
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Get
up, stand up
Easiteach isn't just a presentation tool - the power is really when pupils
use it themselves. Ask questions that will get pupils involved at the front
of the class - such as "Could you show me what that will mean?" and "Come up
to the whiteboard and show your solution to the rest of the class." |
| Submitted by: Martin Adams, RM Learning |
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