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In the classroom
Misconceptions
Two thoughts:
- Considering the software, the major misconception is in pupils understanding
of the difference between document-based word-processors and page-based
DTP programmes. These are two different approaches and you need to ensure
that you can explain the difference clearly - and the benefits and drawbacks
of each.
- Considering the topic, the major misconception is of what a newspaper
looks like - as opposed to say a newsletter or magazine. Have a look
at the products of this
session and consider whether they look like newspapers - and what changes
would (in some cases) have to be made to ensure that they do. It is
worth looking again at Lai Chings' work (see Classroom examples below)
as an example of how to make this explicit to pupils.
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Classroom examples
One important feature of newspapers is that the look
like newspapers - not like magazines or leaflets. Lai Ching Lin devised
an interesting exercise to help pupils understand this, and make sure
that what they produced did look like a newspaper. She got her class to
place blank text boxes on an empty Word page and then compare the look
of this page with some newspapers that she had brought in. You could try
this for yourself. Download the
starting file and then add, move and resize text boxes until you feel
that it looks like a newspaper.
Another popular use of Publisher in the classroom
is to produce three-panel leaflets. Anne Iruobe did this last year in
a sequence of four lessons. Here you can see the worksheets she used to
explain the task and one which
explains some of the features
of Publisher. You can see the homework
sheet she produced and the plans for the second,
third and fourth
lessons of the sequence.
See also the 'Communicating
Information' page at DigitalBrain's London Grid for Learning site.
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Teaching point
In this task, a number of different jobs needed to
be done. These can be done efficiently - or the whole group could watch
while one person was typing. How did the group organise these? How would
you ensure that the pupils in a class organised themselves (or were organised
by you) so as to make most effective use of their time? What are the advantages
and disadvantages of planning for different pupils to do different kinds
of activity?
When pupils organise themselves for this kind of
activity, one pupil often 'takes charge' telling the other members of
the group what they are to do. In this case, the less able members of
the group are often given mundane tasks and are therefore unlikely to
have the opportunity to meet the learning objectives for the lesson. Is
it possible to organise groups to mitigate this?
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Other Resources
The DfEE Schemes of Work
You should look
at the following units of the DfEE schemes of work:
Key Stage 2: unit 2A, Writing
stories; unit 2B, Creating
pictures; unit 3A, Combining
text and graphics;
Key Stage 3: unit 3 Processing
text and images.
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Books/Papers
'Children writing words and building thoughts' by
John Jessel, in 'Using Information technology effectively in teaching
and learning' edited by Bridget Somekh and Niki Davis (Institute library
reference Loyx SOM).
Chapter 3 of 'Computer Based Learning: potential
into practice' edited by Jean Underwood (Institute library reference Loz
UND).
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