Between Now and Break

15 days. That is all we have before break. But, we have a lot to do before then. We have just finished up the Hero Project. Students did a great job getting up in front of the class and presenting on the hero of their choice using Prezi. Next up is a Movie Project using a cool online tool called Animoto. Then we are going to finish up with advanced units in Word and Excel.  By that time, we will be ready for a break. :)

In Search of Heroes

What makes someone a hero? If you asked ten people you might get ten different answers. I am not talking about super heroes either. Students have just started the Hero Project in class and are asking that very question. Students are choosing famous people throughout history that might be considered a hero and researching them. Students will give a presentation to the class using Prezi, create a newsletter on their hero with Word, use Access to create a time line of important events in their hero's life, and finally create a works cited page in Word using the Sources Manager.

This is a great project that not only gets students up in front of the class to present (which they hate), but has them use the Flip video cameras to tell exactly why the person they chose to research should be considered a hero.

As always, check out our class Wiki to see your student's projects. But, you may need your son or daughter to help you log in.

Web Traveler, Photoshop Fun, and Office Again

Welcome back and thanks for checking in. My Intro to Computers classes have just finished their Web Traveler Project. Students had $7000 and seven days to take the trip of a life-time. Once they chose their destination, they had to research it and complete a number of tasks using Office 2007 software tools such as an itinerary, budget, slide show of vacation pictures, and a database of Websites used. If you would like to look at your student's work, have them log into the Wiki and show you their finished work. If there is no grade listed for your student, it is late and they are working on it outside of class. Call me with concerns.

We are beginning our second tour through Office with units in Word (writing term papers), Excel (more formulas, functions, and charting), PowerPoint (animation and sound), and Access (merging data with Word).

Finally, we just finished a quick unit in Photoshop where students learned to add color to black and white photos as well as get rid of red-eye and zits. Students posted pictures of themselves on the Wiki showing the "Sin City" method of coloring certain aspects of a picture. Check it out.

Thanks!

Welcome Back!

Students, parents, and fellow staff members: Welcome back! Summer is done and we are in the second week of school. I am teaching three sections of Intro to Computers this fall so if your student is a 9th grader, chances are good that they might be sitting in my class. We are starting off the school year with a lot of pretesting. Students have taken pretests in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and vocabulary. Our goal of all this pretesting is to find out where students are currently in their computer knowledge and then compare it with final exams to find their growth in this class. That is our goal at least.

After that, we are diving into MS Office 2007 with units covering Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access. Along with that, we will be learning vocabulary units on networking terms and common acronyms and extensions.

I am hoping to update this blog every two weeks, so hanks for visiting, stop back again, and here's to a great year!

Finish hard!

That is the message I am trying to send to students in my classes. Finish hard! You can see the finish line. It is already May with June in sight. Don't let up on your school work. Don't slack. Follow through on the good work you have done so far in class. If you haven't done so well this last month of class is a perfect time to make up some ground and get your grade back in order. Finish hard!

Students in my programming class are just beginning the Game Project and will be spending the next three weeks on it. My Desktop Publishing students are just finishing up a project on creating Teacher Stationery and will move on to the fabulous Concert Tour Project when finished. Both projects are worth a lot of points so ask your student how their project is going.

Thanks.

Heading into Spring Break!

Thanks for visiting. Student in my classes have been working hard this semester and we are coming up quickly to Spring Break. In my Desktop Publishing classes, we have been learning how to use Adobe Illustrator CS 4. More specifically, how to use it to create logos. We have created a number of logos using various "cool" effects such as reflection, glossy vector, 3-D, and more. Have your son or daughter show you their work on the class Wiki. We have also been talking about font choice and the different ways that one can use contrast with type. This week we will be having Lisa Martin from Ad Solutions visit as a guest speaker to talk about the process of logo development. Students will put their skills and knowledge together to create personal logos, as well as logo redesigns for the Big 10 Conference, the Detroit Lions, and the Sparta Football summer camp t-shirts.

Programming students have been working on the "Faces" project. It is a cumulative project covering everything covered in class so far and a few new things such as sound, video, menus, and printing. As we finish up this project, we will move on to a unit on Looping structures. This will in turn lead into some animation which is always a favorite.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, please drop me a note at todd.toporski@staff.spartaschools.org.

Thanks!

2nd Semester Off to a Great Start!

The second semester here at SHS is off and running. Successfully! I have made the transition from teaching three classes of all freshmen to teaching three classes of all upper-classmen. My Programming class is working on Unit 2, which deals with the use of variables and constants. We have made switch from Visual Basic 6 to VB Express 2008 which you can download free at home. While it is very similar in some respects, it can also be very different. I probably have more problems switching than the students. (Insert the can't teach an old dog new tricks joke here.)

My Desktop Publishing (DTP) classes have completed a Photoshop review and are learning how to use a vector graphics drawing program by Adobe called Illustrator. In addition, we have been talking about the five Elements of Graphic Design as we get ready to study logos.

The Mad Dash to the End of the Semester

Welcome back to school and Happy New Year!

We have two and a half weeks to go in the semester and lots to do. Students will be finishing this class by learning how to make Websites with programs such as Weebly or Wix. They are great tools for creating fantastic looking Websites without knowing all the ins and outs of HTML code. While we are working on our Personal and Career Websites, we will also have the counselors visit our class to schedule for classes for next year. Finally, we will finish up with final exams. The final exam for this class is completed on SAM 2007 and will cover Word and Excel. You can try the practice exam at home or school in a few weeks.

Thanks for checking it!