Microsoft Office & Project Based DISTRICT 75 / PD TAKE AWAYS / JANUARY 9, 2014

It is always important to have a plan and an example of the final product when working with Microsoft Office. Start with a written activity, similar to the Coat of Arms worksheets, which helps students work out their ideas and allows for more time to focus on the computer skills. Also, remember to have saved copies of any file, templates, images or other resource students might need from the Internet incase the connection is bad or students are easily distracted.

• Use the Format Picture and Layout functions to create projects such as a coat of arms, fashion design, layered map, logo, family tree or infographic.

• Change the Wrap Text setting to Behind Text or In Front of Text. • Use Arrange or Reordering to move images back or forward to place the

images in the desired order. • Use Shadow, Glow or Reflection to enhance the image. • Use Insert Shape to create shapes, lines and text bubbles to describe the

• Use Hyperlinking to create a more interactive PowerPoint such as a community map, timeline, life cycle model, website design or family tree.

• Start with a white or black slide background and a blank slide layout. • Use the slide number or title to choose which slide to anchor or link. • Always place a ‘Home Button’ image to bring the user back to the first slide • Use Shift+Command+4 to take a Screen Shot on a Mac computer.

• A good introduction to Excel is with basic tables, functions and charts. • Columns (top to bottom) are ordered by letters and Rows (side to side) are

ordered by numbers. • When creating a formula start with the ‘=‘ sign and then click on your first cell,

then choose your function (+, -, *, /) and finish with a second cell. •To Copy The Formula just move the white plus symbol from the middle of the

cell to the bottom right corner of the cell and it will turn black, then just drag.

Planning Ahead…. additional resource on page 2

1. Clker is a great website for downloading images or clip art. They are in the .png format which often means the image will not have any background or boarder. This feature makes for a cleaner looking product when layering. If you are using Google Images add the extension .png or .gif to your search for similar results.

2. You can find Templates for Word, PowerPoint and Excel at the Microsoft Office website. The templates can be used for teacher generated resources or a starting point/example for student activities.

3. The Buck Institute for Education has a number of free resources about Project Based Learning, including project rubrics, checklists and planning sheets. There are a number of articles and guides for getting started with project based learning as well as connecting projects to the Common Core State Standards.

4. If you are looking to learn or teach students basic Microsoft Office or basic computer skills go to the Goodwill Community Foundation or Internet 4 Classrooms website.

5. Two additional resources are Wordle or Tagxedo. Teachers and students can create word clouds using vocabulary words or text from books, speeches or websites. Once the word cloud is create, take a screen shot and insert it into a Word Document or PowerPoint Presentation.

6. Go to the following DropBox Folder for additional resources.

SHARE YOUR IDEAS & RESOURCES I want to know what you are doing in your classroom. So please share how you are using what you learned and any valuable resources other teachers may benefit from.

Mr. Bergeron

lberger3@schools.nyc.gov

Website Resources...

Just For Fun….Between creation and entertainment, Incredibox invites you to become the conductor of a group of human beatbox.The application allows everyone to express its musicality through a fun and easy to use interface, and to share original compositions to friends. Incredibox is an original idea created by the graphic design & mixed media studio So Far So Good.