June 7

Keep working on EXCEL. Tomorrow a few of you will begin reviewing for the Final Exam.

June 3

A reminder that there will be a two hour final exam in this class on Tuesday, June 15. You will be expected to type a business letter, make a table and do some EXCEL calculations.

Today please continue with EXCEL work.

May 31

I am imprisoned at the District Office on Juniper Street. An all-day meeting. Imagine your dullest class. Imagine you have this class all day with only two short bathroom breaks and one 45 minute lunch. Imagine endless PowerPoints of charts and numbers and vocabulary you don't really understand. That's what I face today.
So do your brochures or EXCEL spreadsheets. Ask Mark or Ken or Angelica or Mohammed for help.

May 26

Same as yesterday. Be sure to check in with me as you work your way through EXCEL as I have some helpful hints that will make the work easier.

May 23

No change from yesterday except that a couple of you are ready to do the last part of the EXCEL work:
Pages 345-346 129B, 129C, 129D (3 worksheets). Let me show you a couple basic things about doing calculations.

May 23

You should be nearly done with your brochures. Those of you who are working on EXCEL will probably get to do some computations (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing) today or tomorrow.

May 20

Next Unit is Spreadsheets:
Page 338 126D
Page 339 127B (go to my pickup area and find file CD-127B)
Page 340 127C, 127D, 127E (go to my pickup area and find file CD-127C)
Page 341 127F (do worksheets 1, 2 & 3)
We'll continue on to pages 342-345)

May 18

A few of you will start the next unit today: Reports. You will learn how to do an MLA report, something you will use in your English and History classes.

Everyone else work on brochures.

If you have not finished all your slide presentations by Friday you will receive a Progress Report grade of D or F.

May 16

Brochures and the last of the presentations.

May 12

Anyone who has not sent me your presentations yet may get 75% credit by doing so today or tomorrow. We will continue to do presentations and brochures today.

To avoid a C- or lower on the next Progress Report you must have finished all slide presentations by Friday. That includes the Youth Culture and After High School presentations.

May 10

For those of you doing the brochures I have samples of improved brochures from other classes to show you. You can also get helpful information from:

May 9

More presentations. Those finished with slide shows should move on to the Brochures Unit.

May 6

Same as yesterday.

May 4

A few students began the next unit, Brochures, today. The rest of you have until tomorrow to present you "Me, Myself, & I" slide shows for full credit.

May 3

We'll do "Me, Myself, & I" presentations.

We will begin the next unit, brochures, tomorrow for those who have completed their slide work.

April 29

I'd like to do several "Me, Myself & I" presentations today.

April 27

I'd like to begin the first "Me, Myself & I" presentations today.

April 26

Continue with slide shows.

April 25

Continue with Slide Shows.

April 22

A reminder: these are the assignments in the Slide Show Unit:
1. copy the slides on pages 462-465 (PRESL3)
2. Coaches Conference, pages 489-490 (HOOPS)
3. Youth Culture (presented to me)
4. After HS Education (a group presentation before the class)
5. Me, Myself & I (solitary presentation before the class)

April 21

Continue presentations. I will give you the instructions for the last slide show ("Me, Myself, & I") today.

April 20

Continue presentations.

April 19

Let's learn something about the kinds of after-high-school opportunties there are out there. We'll have our first presentations today.

April 18

Might we have a couple group presentations today? Most of you should be working on your PowerPoints or your Google docs (group) presentations. We have two more to do: 1. On www.prezi.com you will do four slides on any subject that you think will interest the class. You will present this in front of the class. 2. And lastly you will do something called "Me, Myself, & I", about yourself. You will use PowerPoint, Google docs or Prezi, whichever you feel would work best.

April 8

continue with slide shows. We'll start with group presentations in front of the class after the break.

April 7

Continue to work on whatever slide show you are doing.

April 6

Those of you who finished the first PowerPoint yesterday will need to make your speeches to me today. Next on the list is to learn how to use the Presentation software at www.googledocs.com. I will give you the instructions. I will also be going around to talk to selected students about your grades.

March 5

Time for you to create your own slide shows. You will do 4: 1. On PowerPoint on Youth Culture. I will give you the directions. You will make this presentation to me only. 2. A presentation on Google Docs on Post High School Education. A group presentation before the class. 3. A presentation on www.prezi.com on National Poetry Month. A group presentation before the class. 4. And, finally, a presentation on one of the systems above called "Me, Myself & I", which will introduce you to the class. You will do this alone in front of the class. Each presentation will have it's own rules, which I will give you.

April 4

I'll need to work with each of you on this last slide assignment. I want to be sure you all know: 1. Slide transitions 2. Animations 3. Animated gif's

April 1

If you finished the blue slides yesterday it's time to learn three new concepts: 1. how to animate bullet points and pictures 2. how to add transitions to slides 3. how to use animated gifs Turn to page 489-490. Create those four slides; BUT.... Animate each bullet point Add transitions to each slide Use two animated gifs instead of the pictures you see in the book. I'll explain how to do these things. For animations go to the Animations Menu and select Custom Animations: now look to the right of your screen. For transitions go to the Animations Menu and look at the icons top, right of your screen For animated gifs you will need to do an internet search: "animated gifs"

March 31

Those of you who have typed both MLA documents will begin a new unit today: Slide Shows. You will learn three types of programs: PowerPoint; Googledocs; and Prezi.com. Today turn to page 462. On that page and the ones that follow you will find six slides for you to create. You'll need the proper template, called "High Voltage". To find this template go to the Yellow Star; Heverly; WOSH; 2nd period. I can show you a few basics to get you started.

March 30

Same as yesterday.

March 29

Now that you have copied an MLA document out of the book, let's see if you can type one from scratch. Go to page 286 and type the Document 3. Save as LastNameMLA107B3

March 25

Same as yesterday. I'll circulate and look at your MLA reports.

March 24

Something new today: MLA reports.
If you have finished your stationery and tables then go to page 227 of the book and type the outline.

Then turn the page and Insert:Header
Insert: Page Number
Put your last name.
Exit the header
Type the rest of pages 228-229 except the Works cited.
Call me over and I'll explain the works cited.

March 23

Tomorrow we start the next unit: MLA reports.

For today keep working on stationery and tables. Do Lessons A, B, C.... in Microsoft if you are caught up.

March 22

If you are totally caught up please go to MicroType and do Lessons A, B, C, .....

Everyone else get stationery done and keep plugging away at the list of assignments. See to your right for the list.

March 21

Same as Friday. I'm going to try to go around and see where everyone is on the work using that list of assignments I gave you.

Try to get your stationery done today.

March 18

No change from yesterday. I may give the fastest students some extra credit work to allow time for the slower students to catch up.

March 17

Those few who have finished pages 90-93 now may try these:

The table on pg 95
Table 3 on page 98
Activity 5 on page 418 (ignore the instructions on the left side; just make the table as you see it)
Activity 2 on page 406. (ignore the instructions on the left side; just make the table as you see it)

March 16

No one has yet finished the tables (though Jameisha is close) so let's keep things simple. No changes from yesterday.

March 15

Same as yesterday.

March 14

A few of you will begin Tables today. Most of you will continue with letter writing.

Don't start this unless you've done all the Letters!!

Page 90-93 teaches you how to do tables. The key thing to know is that you begin with the Insert Menu: Tables. Call me over for explanations.

March 11

Something new: Stationery

If you have done all six letters (pg 83, 84, 86, 216, Celebrity, & Cargo) then I'd like you to design your own stationery. Here's how it's done:

--Open a blank WORD document.
--Set your top margin to 2 inches
--Go to Insert: Header: Edit Header
--You should see a blue line. This is the border of your stationery. Look at the ruler on the left side of the page. Estimate two inches. This is the maximum allowed for your stationery.
--Above the blue line put your name (very large) and your address; your phone number; your email address; a drawing, picture or photo that represents you.
--You may, if you wish, put your address and phone in a footer at the bottom of the page. To do this find Go To Footer at the top of the page.

I have several books with examples of stationery to show you. Please ask.

March 10

Two or three of you have finished the last two letters but everyone else is catching up so I ask today to continue with the same agenda we've had the past three days. My hope is that everyone will at least have the DEAR JULIE letter done by today.

March 9

Same as yesterday. Look at March 8 if you have any questions.

March 8

First priority: make sure you've covered all 20 lessons of MicroType
Second priority: do the letters on pages 83, 84, 86, & 216.
Third priority: do pages 55-58 & 319-322.
When all of that is done I have two more letters to complete this unit:

a. You will write a letter to a celebrity asking for an autographed photograph. This means you will need to do some searching on the internet for an address for your celeb. I can help. (Save as LastNameFirstInitialCELEB).
b. You will write a letter to the school newspaper, The Cargo. (Save as LastNameFirstInitialCARGO).
On these letters you will need to decide whether to use the Personal Business Letter style on page 83 or the Modified Block style on page 216. In general the PBL is slightly more formal.

March 7

For those few of you who have finished pages 55-58, 319-322 and the three letters on pages 83-87 here is the next work:

On page 216 you will find another letter. It looks mostly like the ones you've done so far. But this letter--which is used more for personal letters--has a few basic changes:

1. Indent paragraphs. It doesn't show this on the page, but we do that here.
2. Set a left TAB at 3.25. Tab over. Insert the date.
3. Now type the letter.
4. When you get to Sincerely, set a TAB at 3.25. Tab over. Type Sincerely,
5. Skip three lines.
6. Set a left TAB at 3.25.
7. Type Derek Alan, Manager as it is in the book
8. Don't type tj. Type your reference initials.

This is a MODIFIED BLOCK letter.

March 4

I need to figure out who is doing so badly in the class that I must give you a progress report. I'm only required to do this for anyone with a C or below. So today I'll try to figure out who is in that category.

If you are far behind in MicroType (say only on lesson 8 or 10) then I'll probably send home a report.
Most of all, are you using the HOME KEYS and using proper technique? Anyone who can't use the HOME KEYS automatically gets a progress report.
If you have only done MicroType but not any of the other work, that is a bad sign, too.
To get a C at this point I'd like you to have finished MicroType and done some of the other work.

If you are totally caught up to date please go to MicroType and type Lesson A or B.

March 3

No change from yesterday. Finish MicroType, work on pages 55-58, 319-322 & those three letters.

March 2

A few of you did the letter yesterday. I think I have three that are approved. If I have approved your letter then you can move on to more letters:

Page 84, Activity 28B (save as LastNameLTR28B1)
Page 86, Letter 2 (save as LastNameLTR29B2)

Each letter is a separate file.

If you haven't finished all 20 Microtype lessons that takes priority. I've decided I should add that to your grade so there will be points for finishing those lessons.

March 1

I'm caught in a dilemma. I want everyone to have the time to learn all the letters properly...but I want to get started on letter writing, too. SO:

Finish Microtype up to lesson 20, that's your first priority.

But if you've finished that we should start letters, so turn to page 83 and type the letter you see there. This is one of the rare times when I'll ask you to print. The way this works:
-you type the letter
-you print it and show it to me
-I mark it up and show you what to fix
-you make the changes and print another copy
-if you have it 100% correct then you move on to the next letter
-if it isn't 100% correct you fix your mistakes and print again....until it's 100% correct

See to your right for the rules

February 28

If you haven't finished up to lesson 20 in MicroType please concentrate on that today and tomorrow. I'd like to get everyone finished with all the keys (except the numbers) by Wednesday. Then we'll all begin work on the first big unit, Letter Writing.

Also finish the lessons on page 55-58 and 319-322.

If you have finished all that please go to MicroType and learn your numbers.

February 18

Same as yesterday except that if you finish 319-322 please work on the numbers on MicroType.

February 17

Many students are still learning to type so we won't be able to start on the real meat of the course until a few days after the vacation week.

So for today please start on page 319-322. There are 13 activities meant to teach you various skills.

February 16

I'm in an all-day meeting.

Please continue with the work on pages 55-58.
Also keep working on Microtype, letters and numbers.

February 15

At least in dictation you've attempted all the letters now (we did z, the last letter yesterday). So I'd like you to try our first real assignment of the semester.

BUT KEEP WORKING ON MICROTYPE. I'm not grading them but, for the sake of your proper typing technique, I need you to do all 20 lessons on letters PLUS the lessons on numbers. So, for a while, most of you will be doing regular assignments at the same time you are continuing with MICROTYPE.

Today please begin pages 55-58 in the textbook. You will be saving 9 separate files (on Activity 6 there is nothing to save). They will look like this:
LastNameWP1ACT1
LastNameWP1ACT2
LastNameWP1ACT3
LastNameWP1ACT4
LastNameWP1ACT5
LastNameWP1ACT7
LastNameWP1ACT8
LastNameWP1ACT9
LastNameWP1ACT10

Ask me for help!! Some of the instructions are confusing.

February 14

Today's practice is page 16, Exercise 7E: this is the letter z and the colon.
After today we have officially typed all 26 letters!
We have a handful of other keys to do before we begin the first real subject: correspondence (letters).

After a brief dictation I'll show you a few things about TABS.

February 11

Exercise 7C,page 15.

We'll do letters q and the comma.

February 10

I'm ill. Please have some understanding that I may not be able to do everything today.

Begin with Exercise 6E on page 14.
I'll dictate on the letters p & v.
Then we'll do some work with WORD.

February 9

Exercise 6C on page 13.

Do Microtype for the remainder of the period if I'm absent. If I'm here I'll do dictation.

February 8

Exercise 5E, page 12.

I'm getting sick and might not dictate today. I'll give you some work on page margins, orientation, columns and page breaks.

February 7

Exercise 5C on page 11.

We'll practice the letter w and the right shift key today, then learn a couple tricks on WORD. (hyperlinks and headers)

February 4

Exercise 4E on page 10.

We'll do dictation on the letters u & c today.

Then we'll practice with shading and we'll set a default font.

February 3

Page 9, exercise 4C.

I'll dictate about Left shift and the period.

We'll also look at text boxes and the show-hide button.

February 2

Type exercise 3E on page 8.
Continue with Microtype.

We'll do dictation on two new letters, n & g.

I'll show you a few more tricks with WORD.

February 1

Continue with MicroType, then type Exercise 3C on page 7. This will add the letters o & t to your repetoire.

I will give you some dictation today, then we will go over how to use pictures, symbols and wordart; and how to make them 3D.

January 31

Continue with Microtype. You can work at your own speed but PLEASE DO NOT RUSH. Trying to go fast will only wreck your typing down the road.

For in class work please type two exercises:
page 5, Exercise 2B. Save as LastName2B.
page 6, Exercise 2D. Save as LastName2D.

on the second exercise (2D) we will do some dictation today.

January 27

I finally have logins for all of you!!! Here's how you log in today:
In the top box put your last name and the first two letters of your first name.
SmithAn
In the second box put a zero followed by your student ID number:
014888
That's it. Once you use this log in you can save your own work and I can give you credit for it.

You should add the letters h and e today. They are practiced on lesson 3 of MicroType. I'll also do some dictation with you on these letters.

Most important is to stay with the HOME KEYS. I'll go around today and 'grade' you. This will be your first grade in the book. Twenty points if you can show me you are using the HOME KEYS.

Do Exercise 2A on page 5. Save as LastName2A.
After you type this exercise do this:
hit CTL:A
hit CTL:E
hit CTL:H
search for the word all
Now replace the word all with the word jell
Hit F12 and save again as LastName2A.
That's it.

January 26

Some of you will move on to Microtype lesson 3 today but that's not required. We are not rushing here. Take your time.
After Lesson 3 open a WORD document and type Lesson 1G on page 4.
Now hit CTL:A
How hit Shift: F3. What happens?
Now hit CTL:I
Save it as LastName1G. About 25 minutes into the class period I will be dictating some typing to you. You will do the dictation on the same page as this 1G lesson.

January 25

Try to do lesson 1 & 2 in Microtype today.
Sit up straight.
Letter B in front of your belly button.
Eyes on screen or textbook.
USE THE HOME KEYS.

Take your time; there is no rush.

At some point please open your text to page 4 and do Lesson 1H. When you finish hit F12 and save as
LastName1H

Now, before you leave this lesson, try this:
Hit CTL:A
Hit CT: B
What happens?
Now hit CTL: D
Change the font to Arial Bold.
Change the font color to red.
Now hit F12 and save again.
Now you are done.