101 Things You Didn't Know About Word

Introduction:

You know the adage that 'We only use 10% of our brains actual capacity.' The same holds true for our word processing software. These programs are capable of doing so much more than just the basics, we just don't know how to find it or we're not aware of all its capabilities.

Microsoft Word, as well as other types of word processing software, has many functions and options that we don't use in day-to-day word processing. This activity will have students find and work through some special features that are hidden or not commonly used in Microsoft Word.

Procedure:

The links below are for Microsoft Word. If you do not have Microsoft Word, you will have to find another web site for your word processing application. Using any search engine type in "word+computer tips" except use the name of your application instead of Word.

This activity will have each student being assigned 2 - 4 computer tips to research, figure out how they work, create a presentation and present it to the class. Prior to the start of this class, the teacher will have to look through the list of computer tips and find the appropriate tips for the class level or ability.

Some examples of some tips are:

• Making special characters like the copyright symbol, the degree symbol, and the little square check box found on surveys and applications

• Navigational shortcuts and table of contents

• Password protecting your word processing documents

• Let's not forget about math - exponents, fractions and other math symbols

• Watermarks, desk spikes, drop caps, thumbnails and more

Once students have their computer tips to research you can set them free to research it on their own using Google or another search engine or direct them to the links below:

If the above links are dead try "word+computer tips" in any search engine.

Evaluation:

The links below are rubrics for class presentations.

Extension:

Keep all of the students' research, print it off and make a reference book to keep in the lab for other classes or students to use. This can be a valuable resource to both teachers and students in the future.