Microsoft Teacher Guide: All the tools educators need, all working together

Class dismissed. Yet you keep the information flowing.


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So much of what you need to accomplish in a day happens before, between, and after classes. But with e-mail to lesson podcasts to interactive discussions and presentations, you can keep students, teachers, and parents informed and engaged.

Share information in e-mail

Microsoft Office Outlook makes it simple to manage your e-mail. Create and modify groups, save, sort, and archive messages; manage your contacts list, and keep track of your day, week, or month.

Send reports and newsletters

Send letters to parents, create weekly or monthly events calendars, and format reports to school administrators using Microsoft Office Word for clear, professional looking-communications.

Image of Word document
Use existing templates to create better looking reports, newsletters, and other documents you create. View larger image.

Hold interactive meeting and share documents online

Hold interactive discussions, edit documents collaboratively, prepare virtual lessons, even broadcast a presentation when you use Windows Vista, Office Live Workspaces, or Windows Live. Or create a podcast that students can listen to on their Zune or other MP3 player.

Screenshot of Windows Vista Meeting
Meet with parents, teachers, and students online using Windows Meeting Space. View larger screenshot.

Keep everyone on the same page, even if you're not in the same room


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	Educator home Microsoft Office for Education Lesson plans Download Learning Essentials Templates for educators
	Featured products
	Microsoft Office Onenote Office Live Workspaces Microsoft Office Groove Windows Vista

Whether you need to share lesson plans and ideas, work together with students on a science project, or speak with parents, you can share information and work together.

Take, share, and work together on notes

Gather, organize, and find and kind of digital file in one place using Microsoft Office OneNote. In addition to helping you take better notes and organize them, you can share notebooks that can function as virtual workspaces. For example, share notes and work together on projects with all the English teachers or everyone your second-period geometry class.

Video: Take, share, and work together on notes with OneNote

This demo shows how you can use an Office OneNote 2007 shared notebook as your brainstorming center so that your team members can add ideas and play off each other's thoughts, no matter where they are.

OneNote 2007 Demo: Which Way Do You Want to Share a Notebook?

Work together on online workspaces

There are two ways you can work with teachers and students online:

1. Save, share, and work together using Office Live Workspaces. When you initiate an online workgroup, students, teachers, and parents can all share, review and edit files from any computer connected to the Internet. No more endless e-mail exchanges.

Read examples of how you can use Office Live Workspaces

Office Live Workspaces image
Work together on documents using Office Live Workspaces. View full screenshot.

2. Work with Groove. If some members of your group don't have Internet access when they're away from school, try Microsoft Office Groove. With Groove you don't need to deal with networks or servers since all the Groove files and tools are stored on your computer. Groove automatically updates and synchronizes all the project files, so everyone's working together and working on the same page.

Screenshot of Groove
Create workspaces where you and others can access and work together on documents. View full screenshot.

Have online meetings

You can create student teams and collaborate with teachers if everyone is using Windows Vista. The Windows Meeting Space enables face-to-face collaboration for small groups of up to 10 users, whether you are on or off the school network.

Screenshot of Windows Vista Meeting
Meet with parents, teachers, and students online using Windows Meeting Space. View larger screenshot.

Create lessons and activities that keep students engaged and involved


	Additional resources
	Microsoft Office for Education Lesson plans Download Learning Essentials Templates for educators
	Featured products
	Microsoft Office Onenote Windows Vista Zune Microsoft Math

Whatever the class, odds are you've got a lot of ground to cover and very limited time to do it. It's critical to get students engaged right from the start.

Here are some ways you can do engage your students.

Create, edit, and share movies

Using Windows Movie Maker in Windows Vista you can create and broadcast videos on your computer. If your students are using Windows Vista, you could create a movie as a class project.

Share videos and podcasts with students

If you'e presenting a video or want students to share theirs, have students watch it on a Zune. You can also create podcasts and share them with fellow teachers and students on a Zune or other multimedia devices.

Microsoft Zune lineup
Zune to share videos and podcasts with students.

Simplify math

You create a challenging math assignment, confident that Microsoft Math will help guide students to the correct answers using built-in tools such as the Graphing Calculator and the Equation Library.

Image of Graphing Calculator
Students can use the graphing calculator in Microsoft Math. View larger image.

Welcome to a more well-ordered information universe


	Additional resources
	Microsoft Office for Education Lesson plans Download Learning Essentials Templates for educators
	Featured products
	Microsoft Office Onenote Windows Vista Learning Essentials Microsoft Office

Save, organize, and retrieve whatever information you need at the moment you need it—from test results to class notes to photos, video clips, and Web pages.

Keep and find your notes in one place

OneNote 2007 is the do-it-all digital notebook that lets you make sense of the mountains of information that come your way.

The search features in OneNote help you find the notes and files you need—so no more rummaging through paper files or folders on your computer. And you'll never lose important files, because OneNote backs them up automatically. Plus, OneNote integrates with Outlook, making it simple to manage meetings and tasks as well as files.

Video: Organize, search, and find information in a OneNote notebook

This demo shows how much flexibility OneNote 2007 gives you for organizing your notes.

OneNote 2007 Demo: Organize, Search, and Find Information in a OneNote Notebook

Find documents on your PC

The search functionality in Windows Vista makes it easier to find files—even if you don't know where they are. You'll spend less time managing files and searching for data—freeing up more of your time for teaching. Automatic backup in Windows Vista means you'll never lose work or waste time re-creating it.

Create better looking reports, projects—faster

Microsoft Learning Essentials extends the capabilities of Microsoft Office with templates and tutorials designed for schools. Prepare lesson plans and class materials more efficiently, spend less time grading, and use templates to keep your class organized.

Learning Essentials screenshot
Learning Essentials gives you tools, templates, and other information to help you get the most out Office in the classroom. View larger image.