EDOL 533 Week 3-- Word Processors and Desktop Publishing

Throughout the course of this week's lesson, I have been enlightened on a lot of different uses for word processing and desktop publishing software that I was unaware of. I have used word processors the majority of my life as both a student and now as a teacher for preparing and editing text. I am now aware that word processors can be used for much more than just a text-oriented task. One can use word processors to prepare signs, flyer's, newsletters, calendars, etc... Furthermore, the user also may access several pre-formatted templates with a certain design, but contains no text. The user may then just enter the text that he/she desires. Word processing software can perform some of the same tasks as desktop publishing software, but they cannot make some of the particular adjustments to a page as a desktop publisher can. Desktop publishers have the ability to include a custom graphic or clip art, one can easily arrange text into tables and columns, and one may create a fancy, colorful title using word art. All of these features make both of these processors very useful for the student and teacher.

I have not had the chance in my short years of teaching to take full advantage of all the uses that these software packages offer to the teacher. My first year of teaching I created a simple sign using Microsoft Word with no color or border, just plain text that I posted on my door to let students know that it was my classroom. I come to find out that even though I posted the sign on my door so all students could see, the majority of them didn't look at it anyway. I finally figured out that because of the lack of design and eye-catching appeal that I was unsuccessful in conveying the information to the students that was intended to. Because of all the stress that comes with your first year of teaching, I was unable to put forth the time needed to create a more attractive sign that would convey the message to nearby students. However, this past year I went back and recreated my sign using a word processor that hopefully would be more successful in catching the attention of my students.  In my new sign with the help of Microsoft Word I was able to create a sign that includes a bold, colorful title that would grab the students attention. I also added a border around the entire sign that was intended to direct the students attention to the conveying message. I also added a couple of images to the sign in hopes of making it more visually appealing. One needs to be careful about the use of images because I believe sometimes they can take away from the intended message because students get caught looking at the images instead of the text.

With the use of word processing software I was able to create a sign that was more visually appealing and also helped me to convey the intended information to my students. I have uploaded the image for you to take a look at.