Word Processors: A Tool for Teaching

Portfolio Page
Discuss when and why the various functions of word processors can be used
in teaching. Include in your discussion evidence that showcase your skills for:
o Highlighting
o Font Color
o Word Art
o Clip Art
o Drawing
o Tracking Changes
o Making Comments
o Replace (Cloze Quiz)
o Formatting
Explain and show why it is important to know various formatting
options in terms of:
Font size
Line spacing
Margins
Columns
Resizing Pictures (Be sure that all the original material is
still visible)
Text wrapping around the pictures
Etc.
o Other skills (Put a link to these other lessons)
Inserting Photos and Callouts (taught with the Digital
Photography lesson)
Using the replace function to make a close quiz (taught with the
Scanners lesson)
Merging Documents (taught with the Audio lesson)
Mail merge (taught in the Spreadsheet lesson)

Worksheet:
Using a computer with a LCD projector is a great way to draw a class together.
Teachers can show an exercise on the screen while students do the exercise in their
workbooks or on their own computers. To correct the exercise, teachers could have
students come up and mark the exercises on the teachers computer while the rest
of the student compare their answers to what is being done on the screen.
Highlighting can be used in various ways to draw attention to items. See what
ideas you can gain for your teaching by doing the highlighting exercises below.
Hint: choose a highlight color first and then use your curser as a pen to highlight
parts of the text you want.

Key words create unity in a paragraph. Highlight gold and all pronouns that refer to
it.

Gold
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics.
First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to
corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable for jewelry, coins, and
ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be polished and will
remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains
as untarnished today as the day it was minted twenty-three
centuries ago. Another important characteristic of gold is its
usefulness to industry and science. For many years, it has been
used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most recent use
of gold is in astronauts suits. Astronauts wear gold-plated heat
shields for protection outside spaceships. In conclusion, gold is
treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility.
Highlighting can also be used to show how paragraphs are put together. Highlight
the various parts of the paragraph below using the following key:
Title
Topic Sentence
First Main Idea
Second Main Idea
Conclusion

Gold
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics.
First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to
corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable for jewelry, coins, and
ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be polished and will
remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains
as untarnished today as the day it was minted twenty-three
centuries ago. Another important characteristic of gold is its
usefulness to industry and science. For many years, it has been
used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most recent use
of gold is in astronauts suits. Astronauts wear gold-plated heat
shields for protection outside spaceships. In conclusion, gold is
treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility.

In a 5-8 sentence paragraph, brainstorm several other ways the highlight

function could be used in teaching? Give specific examples.

Answer: Reading, mark important parts. Vocabulary words. Mark

mistakes.

Font Color can be used similarly to highlighting to draw attention or bring about
awareness. For example when teaching about topic sentences, font color could be
used to show that each topic sentence must have a topic and a controlling (limiting)
idea.
For each topic sentence, change the topic to red, and mark the controlling
idea with blue.

Example
Topic

Controlling Idea

Driving on freeways requires skill and alertness.

1. The Caribbean island of Trinidad attracts tourists because of its
calypso music.
2. Spectacular beaches make Puerto Rico a tourist paradise.
3. Living in an American college dormitory can be a stressful
experience for newly arrived international students.
4. Many religious rules developed from the health needs of
ancient times.
5. A major problem for international students is taking essay
examinations.
6. In my opinion, many television commercials for cosmetics lie to
women.
Adapted from: Writing Academic English, Pg. 24 pr. 2

What ways have you seen font color used in email, chatting (IM), or
blogging?

Answer: Draw attention to important parts or points. Differentiate

between conversions in a chat room. Beautify.

Pictures and Clip Art are useful to enliven a handout or support an idea.
Especially helping students make connections between new vocabulary words and
illustrations is beneficial.
Underline several key words in the passage below that you think would be good
vocabulary words for students to know. Then add appropriate pictures for support.
Make sure to format the pictures and text so that space is not wasted if the passage
was to be printed. (Hint: if your clip art is not going where you want it, you may
need to double click to show white space between your pages.
How Butterflies Got Their Colors
by Rachel Christensen, April 2003

Once upon a time there was a white butterfly who lived with her mom in
a tree. One day the mom gave the little butterfly a bath in the birdbath. After the
bath it was raining. They both went to get dry under a leaf.
Finally, the rain stopped and the little butterfly saw a rainbow. She wanted
to play by the rainbow. She flew up in the sky. She flew in and out of the rainbow.
Then the rainbow grabbed her and she got stuck.
She pulled and pulled. At last she got out. She flew home. On the way she
saw her reflection in the rain puddle. She looked like a rainbow. When all her
butterfly friends came to play with her, they wanted to look like her. They asked

her how she got her colors and they tried it. Now all butterflies are colorful.
WordArt can also draw attention to words or beautify a document.

In the exercise below, change words in CAPITAL LETTERS to

and add clip art

Word
Art

for support.

Symbols of Christmas

FIR
Santa then reached in his bag and
pulled out a and
placed it before the mantle. "Teach
the children that the
pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year round,
depicting the everlasting hope of mankind, all the needles point heavenward,
making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning toward heaven."

STAR

He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant

. "Teach
the children that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a Savior for
the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise."

CANDL

He then reached into his bag and

pulled out a . "Teach
the children that the candle
symbolizes that
Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are
reminded of He who displaces the darkness."

WREATH
Once again he reached into his bag and
removed
a and placed it on the tree.
"Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love. Real
love never ceases. Love is one continuous round of affection."

CANDY CANE pulled out a

Santa then reached in his bag and
and hung it on the tree. "Teach the
children
that the candy cane represents the shepherds' crook. The crook on the staff
helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol
that we are our brother's keeper."
In a 5-8 sentence paragraph, explore how using pictures and word art
could be useful in teaching. Give specific examples.

Answer: Captures attention. Expresses feeling. Vocabulary.

Drawing is useful when a teacher has an idea to create some original materials.
Check out this sample exercise that a teacher made to help students learn some
minimal pair words.

New in Town!
Directions:
1. With your partner, decide who is going to be the Newcomer and who is going to be the
Old-timer.
2 The Old-timer should hide his/her paper from the Newcomer, and decide where to place
the various shops on the map. Write the corresponding number in the small white box.
3 The Newcomer then asks for directions to the various places The Old-timer gives directions
according to the street names, being very careful to pronounce the names clearly. The
Newcomer should write the numbers in the correct boxes, keeping his/her paper hidden as
well.
4. When all the locations have been discussed, compare papers and see if the Old-timers
and the Newcomers papers match!
5. Then switch roles, and the new Old-timer will choose ten new boxes for the various
locations

Use the drawing functions found in Word to create an original exercise. Make sure
to demonstrate that you know how to:
insert various shapes
fill shapes with various colors
put a shape within a shape
use textboxes to put words between your shapes
use both vertical and horizontal text
Show only the text and not the text box
put a border or frame around your exercise
Original Lesson Drawing:

Drawing:
Direction:

:
Sh
ym
an
St

Wyman
Street

In a 5-8 sentence paragraph, list several other ways a teacher may use the
drawing features in a word processor. Give examples.

Answer: Visiual aids, help remember, directions arrows to point

the way. Help keep students attention. Mind maps for essay
planning.
Lin
N. Korea

Track Changes
Turn on Track Changes (Review, Track Changes). Combine the numbered sentences
using coordination (i.e. therefore) and subordination (i.e. fan boys). Then put them
all together into a paragraph. Dont for get to remove the numbers and indent the
first line.
The groom stood nervously waiting for his bride.
1. The church had been decorated with many flowers. It and had a wonderful fragrance.
2. While The the organ was playing, . P people were looking eagerly down the aisle.
3. Suddenly the music changed, and. Tthe bride appeared at the entrance to of the church.
4. The bride, who was a vision of beauty, held the arm of her father, who. He was smiling
proudly.
5. The bride's mother, who was dressed in a blue gown, was filled with bittersweet
happiness as she watched her daughter's entrance. The mother was dressed in a blue gown.
The young girls in the congregation sighed as they thought of their own wedding days.

6. The bride was graceful and confident, and knew she was the envy of all the girls. She was
graceful and confident.
7. She arrived at the altar steps and. She tripped on the lace train flowing behind her and
fell flat on her face!
Turn of Track Changes, but leave it so the changes can be seen (Final Showing
Markup).
In a 5-8 sentence paragraph, write about several ways track changes could
be useful in teaching a writing class. Give specific examples.

Answer: its easy see what was corrected on assignments or essay

revisions.

Comments
Use the comment function to help students correct these sentences.
1. Nowadays, many Korean students like to travel in roller blades.
2. Horses provided the best way to travel in the island of Samoa many years
ago.
3. In country side, A cultivator is very useful transportation more than car.
4. By 19th, there was another way to travel in the world.
5. The car is both advantageous and disadvantage.
In a 5-8 sentence paragraph, list several ways making comments could be
used.

Answer: Feedback on errors, complements, make suggestions like

to add more content.

Replace
Find a short story on the internet and paste it into a new Word document.
Then using the Replace function, change all the articles (a, an, the) to a
________. Copy it and paste it below.

Cloze Story:

Direction: Fill in the blanks with the appropriate article (an, the)
http://www.eslfast.com/eslread/ss/s004.htm

Christmas- A Holiday of Tradition

Christmas, observed on December 25, is a Christian holiday that celebrates _______ birth
of Jesus Christ. Christians of different denominations go to church on Christmas. Many
Catholics go to midnight mass. In _______ United States, however, _______ holiday has a much
more secular tone and is celebrated throughout _______ country. Many people, regardless of
their religion, put up and decorate a Christmas tree. _______ tree can be a real evergreen or it
can be _______ artificial tree. Lights, strings, tinsel, and even popcorn can be used to decorate a
Christmas tree. On _______ top of _______ tree is a star or _______ angel. _______ decorations
are usually red and green.
_______ purpose of a Christmas tree is to have a central location to place gifts. According
to legend, a jolly fat man with a beard, named Santa Claus, leaves presents under _______ tree.
Children in _______ U.S. often write lists of things they want Santa to bring them. Many parents
bring their children to shopping malls across _______ country to tell a man dressed as Santa
what they want. These children are often also photographed with _______ mall Santa as a
keepsake. On Christmas Eve many children leave milk and cookies for Santa. Of course it is
_______ parents that buy _______ gifts from _______ wish lists and even eat _______ cookies
and drink _______ milk.

Check out this Cloze Text making web site:

http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.html and paste your storys text into
it. Select interactive and one of the several options. Copy it and paste it
below.

Cloze Story from website: WORDLIST: A a

Christmas-- _ Holiday of Tradition

Christmas, observed on December 25, is _ Christian holiday that celebrates ____________ birth
of Jesus Christ. Christians of different denominations go to church on Christmas. Many
Catholics go to midnight mass. In ____________ United States, however, ____________
holiday has _ much more secular tone and is celebrated throughout ____________ country.
Many people, regardless of their religion, put up and decorate _ Christmas tree. ____________
tree can be _ real evergreen or it can be ____________ artificial tree. Lights, strings, tinsel, and
even popcorn can be used to decorate _ Christmas tree. On ____________ top of ____________
tree is _ star or ____________ angel. ____________ decorations are usually red and green.
____________ purpose of _ Christmas tree is to have _ central location to place gifts. According
to legend, _ jolly fat man with _ beard, named Santa Claus, leaves presents under ____________
tree. Children in ____________ US.. often write lists of things they want Santa to bring them.
Many parents bring their children to shopping malls across ____________ country to tell _ man
dressed as Santa what they want. These children are often also photographed with ____________
mall Santa as _ keepsake. On Christmas Eve many children leave milk and cookies for Santa. Of
course it is ____________ parents that buy ____________ gifts from ____________ wish lists
and even eat ____________ cookies and drink ____________ milk.

Formatting
The next 4 pages contain a handout a student made for her Hawaii TESOL
Conference presentation. When she found out that she needed to pay to copy her
hand out, she freaked because it would cost so much. Help this student save money
by formatting this handout so that it fits on one side of one page and is
still readable when printed. Think in terms of:

o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Font size
Line spacing
Margins
Columns
Resizing Pictures (Be sure that all the original material is still visible)
Text wrapping around the pictures
Etc.

ESL students views on syllabus Design

Formatted by: (Sani Fafai)
Are syllabi really the nuts & bolts of courses, or just
another handout from a teacher?
We believe and know a syllabus is an important
tool for teachers to explain course objectives and
procedures efficiently. However, what do students
really think about the syllabus? Through this survey, I

hope I can offer some thoughtful ideas and

information that we as teachers can consider in
making the syllabus more practical. And I hope that
this information can help us to understand our
students more. I surveyed twenty students in an EIL
intermediate writing class.
Question 7

Course objectives

All EIL students know what the syllabus is; however,

most students said teachers in their home country do
not give a syllabus to them
12

Grading scale

Explaination of the assignments

What is the most important element of the syllabus in

your opinion?
Even though the students look at the grading scale
first, they think all elements of the syllabus are fairly
important to them.

10
8
6

How much of your EIL syllabus do you understand?

10

4
2

8Do your EIL teachers follow the syllabus? (Schedule,

0
None

Half

All

Generally
our EIL students understand the syllabus, but some
do not understand it fully.

10

Schedule

6Course objectives, Grade scale)

4
2How often do you refer back to your syllabus during
the semester?

Do you think the syllabus helps you to reach the

course objectives?

How useful is your syllabus?

Most students said the syllabus is useful and guides

them to reach their course objectives.

No Sometimes Yes

The students think the teacher follows her syllabus

and the students sometimes refer back to their
syllabus during the course.
Through this survey I conclude most EIL students are
aware of the syllabus and rely on it. The syllabus is a

Question 6
Teacher's information

assignments

method for teachers to communicate the objectives

and other information about the course to the

Grading scale

Other

students. Moreover it acts as a stimulus to operate

the class effectively. A good syllabus can direct

What is the first thing you look at in the syllabus?

The grading scale is the first thing that the students
look at when they get the syllabus.

students to know the teachers expectations for the

course and reduces misunderstandings. Therefore,
the primary role of an efficient syllabus is to be the
nuts and bolts of the course.

Used by Permission 2007

Finishing Skills

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