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Microsoft Office-Word, Excel, Access

          These three computer classes are all designed and run basically the same way.  Each of these semester-long classes consists of 40 pre-planned, printed lessons.  Twenty lessons (1-20) are to be completed during the first quarter of the semester; the other twenty lessons (21-40) are to be completed during the second quarter of the semester.  Some of the lessons have more than one printed part, which means some of the lessons have more than one grade per lesson.

          All of the lessons are distributed to the students in “packets.”  These packets should be kept in a notebook, along with the completed jobs that have been graded.

          A student is welcome to work ahead.  Once the 20 lessons for the quarter are completed, a student may work on the second quarter’s work.  Once all 40 lessons for the semester are completed, a student is welcome to treat this class as a study hall or may work on extra credit projects.  A student may NOT, however, use the class time to chat with other students or to leave the room for other purposes.     

          Since the class is more or less “independent,” bench marks are established to help students budget the time required to finish all 20 lessons within a quarter.  Obviously, the first 10 lessons for each quarter should be done by the time mid-term reports are due.  After mid-term reports, zeros are (temporarily) entered in the grade book for un-finished jobs according to a reasonable time line to complete the work by the end of the semester.  These zeros can be removed at any time before the end of the regular classes for the semester.  Their purpose is simply to calculate a grade for the weekly failing list.

          Most of the work in these courses requires a print-out of the finished job.  If all instructions were followed and all data was entered correctly, the grade assigned will be an “A.”  However, if there are typographical errors or if some instructions were not followed correctly, a grade of “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” is assigned.  Any printed job that receives less than an “A” on the first print may be fixed and reprinted for a better grade.  Realistically, therefore, no single grade for any project in these classes should ever be below a “C” (which is the average of an “A” and an “F”).  Some of the jobs do not require a print out, but rather consist of a worksheet of some kind.  These assignments are generally graded as any other objective assignment—a percentage of right answers.

          Extra Credit.  A student may choose to do extra credit projects after all 40 regular lessons for the semester are completed.

          Writing.  One of the assignments for each of these classes consists of a job where the student must use the program for some personal use—and then write a series of instructions (similar to those for each of the other jobs as supplied by the teacher).  This assignment is evaluated both on the quality of the project and the quality of the written instructions.