Quote from apstechgoddessQuote from Denise Payton...I am new to teaching "computers" this year. It has been over 20 years since I have taught computers, which has changed a lot. I am in a high school setting, with no curriculum or pacing calendar (this year).
This year in my Computers 1 class, I am teaching them Microsoft Office. We are currently working on PowerPoint. Since there isn't any set curriculum I have been having to come up with everything. At the moment I'm trying to find a final project they can do for their semester final. Lots of research. Next semester we will work on Excel and Publisher.
The reason for focusing on Office instead of Google apps is that Office seems to what the industry uses in our area. However, we are a google school, and I do use Google Classroom. As of matter of fact, I am totally paperless this year.
If you have any suggestions that might help me with resources for this class, I would greatly appreciate it. I have been attending just about all of the webinars, and have joined SimpleK12.
You can find training, lesson plans, and project ideas on Microsoft's Educator Community site - https://education.microsoft.com/.
Denise, I teach the same content and totally understand your dilemma! Over the years I have been using a number of different resources in my classroom to engage my students with the state standards of VA to prepare my all male population for certification. Here is a list of the resources that I 'm currently using for MS Office 2013:
http://www.pearsoncustom.com/us/MSOffice2013/
(online)
http://www.pearsonlearningsolutions.com/school/ms-office/index.php (textbook)
http://www.aeseducation.com/
(lesson plans, online interactive content)
www.bepublishing.com
(workbooks, online content)
www.bepublishing.com
(www.EduTyping.com - keyboarding curriculum)
www.gmetrix.net
(assessments)
www.certiport.com
(exams)
Let me know if this helps Denise. If you have any question feel free to send me an email and I will be glad to assist you any way that I can! I will also connect with you on SK12!
Ladisha Lee
Timber Ridge School
Winchester, VA
Twitter: @llee1002
lee@trschool.org (wk)