Hi Shelia,
>Most of your stuff looks good. I do think, as Ron has pointed out, that
>it is a bit LONG. How much instructional time are you going to have? You
>may have to prioritize and cut some of it out.
  I agree with both of you, it's not the kind of thing that will be
  built in a first year. It's that stage of planning when I try to think
  of everything I can  so I can do two things: 1- get an idea of what
 the overall view might look like and  , 2- have a large picklist to try
 out and see what works and what doesn't as applications begin. The more
 detailed the ideas develop here this summer, the easier the planning
 will be (I hope) this fall.
>-> Students should be able to use Mac, DOS and Windows computer
>-> environments:
>Is it really necessary that the students learn multiple OS environments?
>I wouldn't think that is necessary. What type of computer lab set up do
>you have? While I personally like a DOS environment and feel comfortable
>in it, most persons nowadays who only use their computer for
>applications seem to have little need for understanding DOS command line
>OS. I would pick either the Windows or Mac, depending on your hardware
>and software, and stick with that. Too much variety could prove
>confusing for some of your students.
    It's a danger. I think it will depend on how the groups rotate, the
    length of time they have in , say the dos environment. It seems to
    be something that some kids really want to learn (at least in the
    4th grade I had to teach some by demand) Perhaps everyone doesn't
    want to know dos, but , it ought to be something that I can offer
    as needed. But aren't people less technophobic after they learn dos?
>->   1 - using the basic dos commands (copy, format, cd, md
>-> ect) in the correct syntax  to set up and use a variety of
>-> software, within the structure of the path .
>->   2 - use filenames and extentions to recognize and create
>-> executables , texts, pictures, letters , ect
>A lot of this seems awfully technical for 6ht grade. I'm sure you have
>some kids for whom this will be a breeze, but will all of them be able
>to handle this? If a kid can format a disk in either Windows or Mac,
>copy from one directory (or folder or disk) to another, move files
>around, understand the hierarchical nature of the folder or directory
>system and delete, move files as appropriate, that should be sufficient.
    I think you just prioritized this for me, but, the dos environment
    is an important one for the machines we have to work with so those
    basic commands are needed. I hope it's not too technical, but I'll
    surely be ready to flex if it doesn't work well.
>You are really looking for them to learn how to install system software
>or something by the end of this class, right?
   installimg software is easy for them to learn, for sure, Dangerous
   too, kids can eat up alot of hd and memory 
>->   3 - using compression/decompression commands (pkzip ect)
>-> to maximize the use of disk space and to access shareware/freeware
>-> software.
>Good utilization of compression software sounds important.
 It has been in my own computer experience, though self extracting
 files seem to be becoming common now.
>-> Keyboarding
>Keyboarding is an entire semester course at our high school. How much
>time are you going to devote to this with the rest of the stuff you have
>planned?
   Begining in the 3d grade these children have been exposed to
   keyboarding, in the last quarter of that year they do about 4 weeks
   of it focusing on the home row , In 4th grade they had keyboarding for
   15 minutes a day, from September untill the conclusion of the letter
   key lessons in December, ( then they begin using the word processor)
   In the 5th grade they review keyboarding skills in the first semester
   and hop right into the word processor. I'm thinking that the sixth
   grade will need some kind of review, but I'm not real sure how much
   time is needed. I hope not much.
>-> Word processing
>Word processing is important, but the depth to which you list it there
>seems a little excessive (given time constraints). My kids (ages 7 & 10)
>are learning a bit about word processing at home when they do school
>work. But they certainly don't know how to do all the stuff you suggest
>(nor do I!). Have you ever taught computers before? How many kids do you
19 0r 20 usually, and I taught the 3d and 4th grade programs stated
    above, We've also explored a lot of software that is content studies
    oriented.
>have at one time? You might have to be going around from computer to
>computer helping kids out who don't understand the correct key or
>mouse-click sequence. My experience in teaching proper use of the
>graphing calculators in math class is that I always plan twice as much
>as I'm able to cover in class, since I am slowed down by
>trouble-shooting student difficulties.
     I tend in that direction too, overplanning is much more productive
     than underplanning don't you think?
Peace
Bob
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