Techy Teacher Tuesday

I am linking up with my buddies Katie, over at Queen of the First Grade Jungle, Fern, over at Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas, and Erica, over at Erica's Ed-Ventures. My post is for all of you creative teachers who make products and you want to make a quick and easy, but attractive preview in Powerpoint. Quite by accident, I discovered the "change picture" option, and, ever since, making previews and products got a little bit easier. Here is a picture tutorial on how to make  a new preview using an existing preview.

(Right click on each photo to enlarge them.)

First, open up a preview that you already made.

Then, click on one of the images in the preview and click on "format."

Next, click on "change picture."

Find the picture you want to use in your new preview and double click to insert.

Voila! There is your new image, placed in the exact same spot as where the old image used to be. And, as an added plus, the new image is formatted exactly the same as the old image. Correct size and drop shadow, included! Isn't that amazing. 

Here is a side by side shot of two different previews that I made using the change picture option.

You can use the change picture feature any time you want to change from one picture to another and you want to keep the same formatting. I also use this function when I have a colored image and I want to change it to black and white. I do this when I create a product that has colored and black and white activities. I also use this function to change borders and frames. I love how the formatting stays the same.

I hope I have given you some helpful tips today. I learn best by trial and error. Usually, more error than trial! I accidentally clicked on this helpful feature one day and I've used it happily ever since. Please let me know if you already use this option when creating or if you will use it now. And, if you have other uses for it, please let us all know! Thanks, and, happy creating!

How to use Rafflecopter Repost

I wrote this tutorial back in July. I don't know why, but, I receive tons of spam emails in response to this post. I am ready to pull my hair out! I tried to adjust my settings on who can comment on my blog, but then I found out that no one was able to comment at all. That's just not cool! So, I'm going to delete the original post from July and repost the information today. Hopefully, those annoying spammers won't find it! And, maybe someone who didn't see it back then, will learn how to use the wonderful rafflecopter.

I have really come to love using Rafflecopter when I have giveaways on my blog. It has some great functions that make it easy to set up for a giveaway and easy for the people who are entering. I am going to explain many of its functions, in the hopes of helping some of you when you go to use it for the first time.

Click the image below to go to the Rafflecopter website. If you have never used it before, you will need to register. Don't worry! It is free of charge!

Once at the site, you have 3 options: 

If you want to start a new giveaway, click on Plan One Now in the  Happening Right Now or Starting Soon boxes. Since I don't have any giveaways running right now, it doesn't matter which one I click on. They both lead to the same page. If I did have a giveaway running right now, it would be shown in the Happening Right Now box.

Once you click on Plan One Now, you have the option of starting a whole new giveaway, or, duplicating a similar giveaway.

This is a great function because if you are having a new giveaway, but the prizes are from the same people as a past giveaway, you don't have to type in all the links again. You can just go in and change whatever is different this time around. 

If you want to plan a whole new giveaway, then skip that box and go right to Nickname This Giveaway. I am calling mine Learn how to use Rafflecopter, just for the sake of this tutorial.

Next, click on Add a Prize.

Type in the prize(s) you are giving away. You will have the opportunity to add in as many prizes as you want. For this giveaway, I am only giving away one prize. If you want to give away more prizes, just keep adding them.

Next, go to the How Can People Enter section and click on Add an Option. This is where you will add all the ways people can enter your giveaway.

Once you click on Add an Option, you will be given several choices to choose from.

If none of them are what you need, click on Choose Your Own Task. This is what I use when I want someone to follow my blog or teaching store. This is what you will see when you click on Choose Your Own Task: 

If I want people to follow my blog or teaching store, I will type in Follow My Blog or Follow My Teaching Store. Once I do this, I click on the link icon so I can add the link to my blog. This is very important! It makes it easier for people to enter the giveaway because they just need to click the link and they will be taken, automatically, to my blog. I usually make this mandatory by checking the box. (Oops! I forgot to do that!)

This is what it says inside the link box:

[Your text to link here...](http://Your-URL-Here.com)

They make it very easy for you to type in what you want the text to say and where the link is. I type in Click Here on the left side and I copy the link to my blog on the right side. I literally type right over what it says.

Here is one more really important thing! Do you see in the image below where it says I need extra info to verify this entry? And there is a box with a check mark in it? Keep that check mark if you need your entrants to verify that they have done what they were supposed to do before clicking enter. For example, if someone is asked to follow my blog, I will ask them what name they used to follow my blog. When they enter my giveaway, a blank line will appear and they will need to type in their name and/or blog name, so I can verify that they are, indeed, following my blog. However, if I don't need any information, I will uncheck the box so no one sees the blank line. Sometimes, when there is a blank line, people get confused because they don't know if they are supposed to type something in there or not. If there is no need for verification, there is no need for the blank line.

This is what it looks like when you go to enter my giveaway:

When you click on Follow My Blog, it will say Click Here. When you click on Click Here, it will take you right to my blog. You don't need to copy and paste the link. Not only is it easier, it looks better, too, without seeing the long link in there. You will do this for each blog and store you want everyone to follow. 

If you want people to leave a blog post comment, click on that, and type in what you want people to comment on.

You can assign a point value. If you really want people to comment, you can choose a higher number of points. This will increase their chances of winning.

Here is what a facebook option will look like. Just type in the name of your facebook page and paste in the URL. Choose your points and whether or not it is mandatory.

When you are done adding all your options, decide when your giveaway will begin and end. And, type in your terms and conditions. This is what I usually say, so people know that I expect them to enter my giveaway honestly:

All entries will be verified. Please do not click enter unless you have followed what is being asked of you. If a winner is chosen and he/she did not follow all the guidelines, another winner will be chosen. Thank you so much!

Last, click on Get The Widget. Click on Copy The Code. It will automatically copy to your clipboard. When you are writing your blog post, click on HTML and paste the HTML code into your blog post. When you click on Preview, you will see your Rafflecopter. 

My final Rafflecopter looks a bit different than some of my screen shots because I changed a few things along the way. The good news is, you can easily go back to your Rafflecopter and change anything you want and your information will change automatically, without you doing anything, except refreshing your page. Just click on Make Some Changes, which is on the page you get to after you click on Get The Widget.

When your giveaway is over, you just click on Moderate, and you are asked to Pick The Winners. When you click on Add a Winner, your rafflecopter will automatically choose a winner. 

Before I announce my winner, I like to verify that they have entered my giveaway honestly. I click on Show List, and follow the prompts once my list opens up. You can sort your entrants by options and search for the winner. Double check that they did what they were supposed to do. If they did not, I will choose another winner. Thankfully, I rarely have to do this! Then, click Announce and your Rafflecopter will add the winner's name.

That's it! I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and I hope you win the ultimate prize, which is to gain knowledge of how to use Rafflecopter. Feel free to enter my giveaway so that you have a better chance of winning the big  prize. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are you a no-reply blogger?

I absolutely love to receive comments on my blog. I always take the time to read every single one. I appreciate the kind words and I've learned some great new ideas. I love to respond to every single comment, too. And I do, but, only if you are not a no-reply blogger. Most people don't know whether or not they are a no-reply blogger. If this is the case for you, hopefully, my little tutorial will let you know. 

First, what is a no-reply blogger? Well, if you leave me a comment and I read it through my email and then I go to reply to your email, if your email address reads noreply-comment@blogger.com, you are a no-reply blogger and I cannot reply to your email. In this case, all you need to do is follow the 6 easy steps below and you will instantly begin receiving replies back to many of the comments that you leave on everyone's blogs. 

That's it! Most bloggers will agree that it is good blogging etiquette to have an email address associated with your blog. There are so many times that I want to email someone back and I can't. 

If you don't want your main email address flooded with emails from bloggers or if you don't want anyone to know your main email address, then you can create an email account just for blogging. The email in your profile can be different than the one you use to sign into your blog. 

Feel free to to share this information on your blog, too. The more people we reach, the less no-reply bloggers they'll be!

If you would like to use this post as a test to see whether or not you are a no-reply blogger or whether or not you added your email correctly, you can leave a comment and I will reply back to you...as long as you did it correctly. :) Good luck to you!