Standards: Standard III

Task Appropriate Tools in Problem Solving

Use task-appropriate tools to synthesize knowledge, create and modify solutions, and evaluate results in a way that supports the work of individuals and groups in problem-solving situations.

Reflection

With the Internet at our finger tips, it is such an exciting challenge to gather and evaluate information in order to organize it into a meaningful lessons or presentations. As educators we have the opportunity to model this behavior for our students while working as an individual, department or cross curricular team to deliver meaningful instruction in our classrooms.

In the global market place, it is also a challenge to prepare students for higher education and the work force. Students need to have critical thinking skills in order to determine the appropriate tool for a task, synthesize the knowledge they gather and present their finding in meaningful and effective mediums. It is also imperative that we prepare students to work in groups as well as individuals. It requires special social skills to work as an effective team member and contributor. As technology teachers, I believe we are ready for the challenges of preparing students; and we can model and instigate appropriate usage of technology in the classroom.

Artifact #3

Caption 3

Indicators: Standards I, II, III, IV, V, 7.1s, 7.2s, 7.3s, 7.4s, 7.5, 7.6s, 7.7s, 7.8s, 7.9s, 7.10s, 7.11s, 7.13s. 7.14s, 7.15s, 7.16s, 7.17s, 7.18s, 7.19s, 7.21s, 7.22s, 7.23s, 7.24s, 7.25s, 7.26, 7.27s, 7.28s, 7.29s, 7.30s, 7.31s, 7.32s, 7.33s, 7.34s, 7.35s, 7.36s, 7.37s, 7.38s, 7.39s, 7.40s, 7.41s, 7.43s, 7.44s, 7.45s, 7.47s, 7.48s, 7.49s, 8.1s, 8.15s, 8.17s, 8.19s, 8.20s, 8.22s, 8.24s, 8.25s, 8.26s, 8.33s, 8.40s, 8.41s

Artifact #3

Descriptors: Desktop Publishing, Digital Graphics, Elements of Design

Title: Desktop Publishing Unit/Lesson Plans

Course: TATC 104 Desktop Publishing

Date Created: February 2003

Source: The Non Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams

Media: Microsoft Publisher 2000, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Dreamweaver MX

Description: The unit/lesson plan involved picking one of the following publication styles: newsletter, brochure, letterhead, flyer, greeting card, envelope, invitation, business card, announcement, report and manuscript. I chose to develop a unit/lesson plan for students to create a brochure for a school club, organization, department, course or team. The requirements of the unit/lesson plan are listed below:

• Objective of the unit or lesson
• Teacher tools and supplies list
• Concepts and TEKS applications
• Sample product of lesson
• Terms utilized in lesson
• Procedures used in instruction
• Assessment tool

The plan should cite the sources used along with hardware and software requirements. The sample desktop publishing product was formatted as a universally assessible file such as rtf or pds file for publishing.

Rationale: I chose this artifact because the unit on brochures assists students in picking task appropriate tools to create a brochure for a school club or organization. The students must interview the club sponsor and possibly club members in order to design a brochure. Students must decide which software tool is most appropriate to develop a brochure. Once the brochure is created, it is evaluated by the club sponsor using the Completed Brochure Form.

In the brochure unit students have to use problem solving skills to create a brochure that meets the needs of the club or organization. Assignments are more meaningful to students if they are developed for a specific real-life purpose or problem.

Implications for future: After creating a unit/lesson plan on brochures, I realized that the same lesson plan could be used in all the other Technology Application courses. Students could create a web page, animation, graphic or video for a school club or organization to meet a special need at their campus. If students' projects will be used by other people, they are more likely to do a better job on their project.

Reviewers Comments, Names & Titles: Excellent - I'm submitting this to the Hall of Fame! What a great presentation You also did a very thorough job of creating great student materials too. Way to go!
Kayla Steiner (TATC Instructor)

Great job, Mary-Dawn. Very clean, easy to read and attractive design. I particularly like the screen shots of the drop down boxes you used on your student page (if you did that with screen shots). Very clean image how you did it. As usual, you did an excellent job of covering the points and showcasing your work!
Thelia Lisle (TATC Participant)

The layout of your page is wonderful. I am always impressed by how you set up your pages. The look is very professional and the content is fantastic! I love the way that you had the two pages with the information outlining what needs to be covered and when. The student's page is such a great compliment to the teacher page that it seems that you took much longer than we had to work on this activity. The only suggestion that I have for the page is to change DeskTop to Desktop. I'm not sure if you ment to have the T capitalized at the very top of the page. Great work!
Diana Saenz (TATC Participant)

Date Reviewed: February 6, 2003

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