![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3508\/3918750275_70f4e0b018.jpg\" "\\"News")
<\/p>\nThe fall semester is in full swing.\u00a0 It\u2019s the third week which means it\u2019s time for the first big test.\u00a0 The topic happens to be word processing.<\/p>\n
Before we started using a word processor in class, we spent a little time talking about the types of documents real teachers create.\u00a0 Teachers don\u2019t write twenty page papers with end notes (unless it\u2019s for a graduate class).\u00a0 Instead teachers create tests, newsletters and maybe some forms or permission slips.<\/p>\n
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In elementary school, each of my kids brought home a weekly news letter with a couple of paragraphs of important information about upcoming events and a few pictures of students and projects from the week before.\u00a0 We received one every week for the whole year.\u00a0 That\u2019s about 36 newsletters.<\/p>\n
We talked about this in class and then we looked at the kinds of information which goes into a typical newsletter.\u00a0 We inserted pictures into our word processors, resized them and cropped them.\u00a0 Then we manipulated text around our pictures.\u00a0 The idea was to gain the understanding required to incorporate different kinds of media into a document quickly and easily.\u00a0 Teachers are all bound by one universal force\u2026 a limited amount of time.<\/p>\n
The shock came when we went over the first assignment and the students saw there were half a dozen different ways to complete the activity correctly.\u00a0 They are usually looking for that one \u201ccorrect\u201d answer and it tends to limit how they approach problems.\u00a0 I want them to understand the mechanics of the software enough that they can decide the most efficient way of completing a task.\u00a0 The only way to know that path is to explore.<\/p>\n
I threw them a curve ball on the test.\u00a0 I asked that the top and the bottom sections of the page be clearly divided by a dotted line so that a parent would know where to cut the page.\u00a0 This was the most missed item on the test.\u00a0 I saw many trying to insert a table and then make the top line dotted.\u00a0\u00a0 A few tried inserting a line and then changing the properties to a dotted line.\u00a0 Less than 10% of them did it the old fashioned way by typing hyphens and spaces\u00a0 – – – – – – -.<\/p>\n
The most creative was a variation of the old fashioned way.\u00a0 Three hyphens followed by a space and hyphen.\u00a0 Copied and pasted repeatedly it looks like this.<\/p>\n
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More than anything I was bothered by one comment from a student.\u00a0 \u201cI could think of a couple of ways of doing it.\u00a0 I tried the first and it didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 So I gave up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most problems can be solved more than one way.\u00a0 Trial and error is a great learning process especially when working on a creative piece.\u00a0 I have learned more from doing things the wrong way on my way to the correct answer than I could have ever learned by following someone else\u2019s step-by-step \u201cassembly line\u201d process.\u00a0\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t noticed, most assembly lines are manned by robots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The fall semester is in full swing.\u00a0 It\u2019s the third week which means it\u2019s time for the first big test.\u00a0 The topic happens to be word processing. Before we started using a word processor in class, we spent a little … Continue reading