The original 2015 instructions for this segment were pretty vague, so during the pilot year I wrote more specific assignments. These assignments were later included in the 2016 update. I find the directions in the new update to be a little tough to follow, so I am including the work I did here and will add updates if I create any.
Internet Worksheet
After doing the Career Connection assignment (with magnets) on Day 1, which was a Friday, today I started the Internet portion of BA. I started by going over the students Jordan District email accounts and how to access them, how to send an attachment, and how to save a file to Google Drive. Then we went over the provided PowerPoint about how to search effectively, which was excellent. I did revamp the Internet Scavenger Hunt assignment a little, combining it with a very similar one I used to use. It has mostly the same questions as the one in the provided lesson, with a few added ones to make it a bit more fun.
internet_scavenger_hunt.docx | |
File Size: | 24 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Word Processing Options
Option 1: Career Report
Career Research
I felt like the instructions on the report were kind of vague, and I wanted to incorporate Word a bit more into their report. So I created this worksheet--the first side is exactly like the one from the packet and they research the career. However, I felt a list of careers and Business and Marketing would be helpful for them to choose from, so on the back side is a list of careers directly from Utahfutures. It will make it a lot easier for them to search.
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Career Report
The directions on this assignment were INCREDIBLY vague to me, and I wanted to be more exact. Plus, I wanted to turn this into an "Introduction to Word" kind of assignment where we cover a lot of basic features in the program. After the kids fill out their research worksheet (above) they follow these instructions below. You can teach it either as a class or let them work on their own--whatever works for you. There are step by step instructions (written in 2013, but it should work for 2010) and an example of a finished report at the end. I also made a video. I tried to put all the formatting parts at the beginning so that if students do not finish the writing portion (which to me is the most time-consuming and least important) they can still get full credit for getting all formatting correct. I have allotted two days for this assignment, including the research worksheet above, but it might take more.
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I'm not gonna lie. This report assignment did NOT go well. Asking 7th graders to read information on a website and then transport that knowledge to a TYPED essay is, apparently, next to impossible for the bulk of them. It's first quarter and most of them can't type anyway, and this is a level of thinking that is pretty challenging AND TIME CONSUMING. This thing took FOREVER. So next quarter I will do something a little different. Watch for it when I get it posted.
However, I did write a PowerPoint assignment--last minute since I had a sub--that I felt was a lot better. Next quarter I will do a Word assignment that is more structured where we do a newsletter on careers and learn how to format in Word. We will follow that with the following PowerPoint assignment, which gives them that freedom to to look up a career and type in the information, but is less time consuming because it's in PowerPoint and not Word. This is all well within the parameters set in the original lesson plans, which asks the students to create Word and PowerPoint documents about careers but gives very little in the way of substance and requirements. |
Career Newsletter
With last quarter's lesson not going too well, I decided on a re-write. This is the new one. As a class, we open up the starter assignment and go through the instructions, altering the assignment in Word until they have created the Career Newsletter. There is a lot of information in the Newsletter that is great for careers and discussion, but having them go get it themselves is too time consuming and utterly impossible for many students, and the time/learning ratio isn't worth it. I have taught this for like two years now, and it goes well. Some classes are harder so I skip steps. But usually we finish it in 1 1/2 class periods.
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PowerPoint Options
Career PowerPoint
I've done this two quarters now, and it's worked out great. It's a good overview of PowerPoint but doesn't take too long. The kids make a simple hyperlinked report about three careers they study on UtahFutures.
career_study_powerpoint.docx | |
File Size: | 632 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Excel Options
I wanted to incorporate more Excel into this unit, so I started teaching the Payroll Clerk assignment written by Mike Wood and Jeff Hinton. This assignment is included in the official download from the state. But I actually made a few changes to it.
1. I spent time before we started introducing Excel:
3. Then they practice using autofill with numbers,days of the week, months, dates, and times. With the female names in column F, I show them how to widen a column. They will need that for the assignment.
4. Next I teach them how to add algebraically. And yes, I use that term. In N1, add =15+98. Only has one answer. Then try adding =L15+M15, which has infinite answers. Then drag it down. I just teach the concepts of autofill and why it's better to use the variables instead of typing in the numbers by hand.
5. Then we begin the assignment on the assignment tab. There are full instructions on the instruction tab. Its very similar to the original, but I added more names, changed the formatting a little, and made it so it can all print on one page instead of two. I also added conditional formatting so that if they do it right, the answer in L12 turns peach so they know all numbers are correct.
1. I spent time before we started introducing Excel:
- Columns and Rows, cells, names, ranges
- Cautioned them not to scroll forever wondering "how far it goes" and waste time. I demo this, scrolling far away, then press the space bar .Then I show them in print preview how that's like thousands of pages.
- Differentiate the different cursors--white plus sign highlights, 4-sided arrow moves and black plus sign is a fill handle.
3. Then they practice using autofill with numbers,days of the week, months, dates, and times. With the female names in column F, I show them how to widen a column. They will need that for the assignment.
4. Next I teach them how to add algebraically. And yes, I use that term. In N1, add =15+98. Only has one answer. Then try adding =L15+M15, which has infinite answers. Then drag it down. I just teach the concepts of autofill and why it's better to use the variables instead of typing in the numbers by hand.
5. Then we begin the assignment on the assignment tab. There are full instructions on the instruction tab. Its very similar to the original, but I added more names, changed the formatting a little, and made it so it can all print on one page instead of two. I also added conditional formatting so that if they do it right, the answer in L12 turns peach so they know all numbers are correct.
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