Week 8 Microsoft Publisher: Using desktop publishing programs to enhance your classroom activities. Project #6 MS Publisher

To do this week

1. Why Publisher?

If teachers are ringmasters in a circus of daily decision making, then there is no question that organization is a critical survival skill. One way that teachers commonly bring order to the chaos of instruction is to label everything ¡ª from the classroom door to student cubbies, reading corners, homework trays, coat racks, equipment lockers and so on.

Microsoft Publisher is representative of a class of software applications designed to create these labels, signs, flyers, cards, nametags, posters, newsletters and other desktop publishing (DTP) documents that help teachers organize their classrooms and resources.

Why Publisher instead of Word Processor? Although Microsoft Word is an immensely capable word-processing application, it is less suited for creating desktop publishing documents that require precise layout control and object formatting.

2. Tecnical Skills Required for MS Publisher Project

You are expected to get a hang of the following technical skills for this MS Publisher Project:

1) Define desktop publishing and distinguish it from word-processing.
2) Demonstrate how to draw, move, resize shapes.
3) Demonstrate how to fill objects with color.
4) Demonstrate how to utilize WordArt and ClipArt.
5) Demonstrate how to set object layer ordering.
6) Demonstrate how to draw, format text boxes.
7) Demonstrate how to work with multiple pages

Get familiarized with the design of different products. Color schemes, font schemes, paper size (how printed hard copies look), and working with multiple pages also need to be learned.

3. Products: Learning by Doing

Only the Brochures product is required for this project. You are encouraged to explore and make other products using MS Publisher (Publisher can make many different kinds of products - greeting cards, ads, banner, labels, letterhead, signs, etc). You get bonus points if make efforts to make extra products.

Publish the products to your eportfolio website. And HAVE FUN!

3.1 Product #1 Brochures

Develop a brochure of classroom activities or school events (for instance, Math Night).

To develop a brochure, you need to decide the format and paper size for the brochure and have an idea how it will look when it is printed on paper.

Flash movie tutorial for creating a brochure (MS Office 2007) (created by Michael (7th Grade))

3.2 Product #2 Newsletter

Newsletter examples

Flash movie tutorial for creating Newsletters (MS Office 2007) (created by Michael (7th Grade))

Flash movie tutorial for creating Newsletters (MS Office 2003) (created by Michael (5th Grade))

3.3 Other products that you can make using MS Publisher - Explore and Share and Learn from Each Other

Explore other products that you can make using MS Publisher. It could be labels, signs, flyers, greeting c ards, name cards, nametags, posters, letterheads, award certificates, newsletters and other desktop publishing (DTP) documents.

4. Resources

4.1 MS Publisher 2003 Tutorial by Randolph-Macon Woman¡¯s College: 1.6 MB - 63 Page Word Document

5. Q & A

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Thanks go to Dr. Sophia Tan and her colleagu Dr. Joe Winslow from Coastal Carolina University for sharing their wisdom. Thanks also go to Randolph-Macon Woman¡¯s College for their resources.