Unit 3 Print PublishingChapters 9–12Model Lesson Plans

Chapter 9

Print Type

MULTIMEDIA AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT

Lesson 1pages 92–96

Objective

Students will learn the importance of typography in print publishing.

Prepare

The following materials will be helpful in presenting this lesson:

  • A transparency, projection, or drawing of Figure 9.3 (Figure 9_3,available on the MIM Web site)
  • Type Sampler.doc (available on the MIM Web site). Before showing this file to students, open it and make any font or style changes needed if your computer does not have the same fonts and styles as the computer on which the file was created.
  • Rulers or charts that can be used for measuring type size (required for Enrich activity)

Focus

Ask students to suggest types of documents that a business might desktop-publish, beginning with those mentioned in the Career Profile on pages 90–91. Write each document on the board. Ask students to list advantages of desktop publishing for companies. Answers might include control of content, quicker production, and lower costs.

Teach

Explain that desktop publishing is an exciting and useful discipline that integrates many of the skills students have been learning in this course. Almost any type of publication, from a simple flyer to a book with a complex and engaging design, can be produced on the desktop. Newsletters, advertising materials, reports, brochures, programs, and announcements are just a few of the many types of documents that businesses frequently produce in-house.

Desktop publishing skills are valued, and the occupation of desktop publisher itself is greatly in demand. In 2003, it was one of the ten fastest-growing occupations in the United States. This unit will give students the skills they need to produce professional-looking desktop-published documents.

Introduce your desktop publishing software. Have students load it and show them how to start a new document. Spend some time going over the contents of the publication window and the different ways of accessing commands (e.g., menus and toolbars). Emphasize similarities between DTP software and procedures and features of other software students have used.

Explain that, although text may be keyed in DTP software, it is usually keyed in a word processor and then placed or imported into the DTP program, where it is formatted.

Type Fonts. Explain the typesetting terms presented in this section. Write each term on the board as you discuss it. Explain and demonstrate how to key text and choose different fonts.

Point out the serifs on a serif font. Show students that a sans serif font does not have these extensions. Have students look through the list of fonts in their software and identify serif, sans serif, script, grunge, and display fonts if available. Ask students to suggest types of documents in which some of the fonts might be used. Allow students to spend several minutes keying text in different fonts and changing the font of keyed text.

Type Size. Explain and demonstrate how to change type size in students’ software. Use Figure 9.3 to show how type is measured, from the top of an ascender to the bottom of a descender.

Typestyles. Ask students to name the typestyles available in their software (bold, italic, etc.). List these on the board. Ask students when some of these styles might be used.

Some authorities, such as the Modern Language Association, still prefer underlining rather than italic for titles in lists of Works Cited. You may wish to check on with what other teachers at your school are requiring for paper submissions in their classes.

Have students close their document without saving it.

Apply and Assess

A type sampler is simple to create and is an excellent tool for helping students appreciate the range of typography options available in their DTP software. Have students prepare a one-page sampler that includes items like these:

  • An example of a serif, sans serif, script, grunge, and display font
  • A word or two in the same typeface keyed in several different type sizes (e.g., 6–, 8–, 10–, 12–, 14–, 16–, 18–, 24–, 36–, 48–, and 72–point)
  • Words set in different typestyles (e.g., Bold, Italic, Underlining)
  • Text set in the same type size but different typefaces

An example of a type sampler that you may wish to show your students is available on the MIM Web site.

You will need to instruct students on how to save and print their samplers. Move about the room as students work, assisting them as needed and assessing their mastery of the concepts presented.

Reteach

Have students work in pairs to develop a word bank on the computer of the desktop publishing terms introduced in this lesson, as well as any terms encountered in their reading or class discussion that were unfamiliar to them. Students should define each term in their own words, consulting a dictionary if necessary. One good online dictionary is available at

Enrich

Give students rulers or charts that can be used to measure type size (that is, that use points). Show students how to change the measurement system in their desktop publishing software to picas. Have students use their rulers or charts to complete Use Your Knowledge activity 3 on page 103.

Close

For the next lesson, assign students to read the remainder of the chapter. Ask them to bring in newspapers and magazines that they can cut up.

Chapter 9

Print Type

MULTIMEDIA AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT

Lesson 2pages 97–101

Objectives

  • Students will learn the spacing options available for print type.
  • Students will learn the punctuation of desktop publishing.

Prepare

The following materials will be helpful in presenting this lesson:

  • Newspapers or magazines with examples of adjusted tracking or kerning
  • Newspapers or magazines that students can cut up (required for Apply and Assess activity—students were asked to bring them in, but you will probably want to have some extra)

Focus

Ask students to list some guidelines for desktop publishing that they learned about in the last lesson. To get them started, give them the example that both serif and sans serif fonts are considered acceptable for text. List their suggestions on the board. Then have students copy them into a computer file or notebook.

Have students save this file or notebook, as they will continue to add to it in this unit. At the end, they will have a set of practical guidelines for desktop publishing based on the unit content.

Teach

Have students open their desktop publishing software, start a new document, and access fonts. Ask volunteers to identify monospace and proportional fonts in the software, and have a student explain the difference. Tell students that they will likely use only proportional fonts at work. You may wish to mention that students will learn how to use margins and indents to align text as well as the tab marker.

Tracking. Explain and demonstrate the software’s tracking option. Allow students to try the option themselves and observe the effect of different tracking choices. Tell students that desktop publishers adjust tracking to make copy fit in the space available and to make pages end evenly and attractively. That is why there are some paragraphs in newspapers and magazines in which the letters are closer together or farther apart than in others. If you have brought examples, circulate them. Expanded character spacing is also sometimes used for special effect, in a heading, for example.

Kerning. Explain and demonstrate the software’s kerning option. Explain that kerning is most often used to make headings in large type sizes less “gappy” and therefore more visually appealing and easier to read. With today’s desktop publishing and word processing software, students are not likely to need to kern. Help students identify a ligature in one of their fonts.

Leading. Go over the definition of leading. Demonstrate how it is measured by drawing two horizontal lines on the board, one under the other, and printing a word on each line. The leading is the distance from the first baseline to the second. Tell students how leading is expressed. For example, if the type was 12-point and the leading was 24-point, the type would be 12 on 24 or 12/24.

Many DTP and word processing programs set leading automatically at 120 percent of the point size. Tell your students what the automatic setting is for their software. Explain and demonstrate how to change the leading.

You may wish to clarify that 24 points means a double space only when you are working with 12-point type. Double spacing is created by setting leading at twice the point size of the type you are using (11 on 22, for example).

Alignment. Explain and demonstrate the different alignment options in students’ software. Ask volunteers for examples of when these different kinds of alignment might be used. Figure 9.8 provides a good definition of justified text.

Punctuation. In keyboarding classes, students may have learned to use two spaces rather than one after end-stop punctuation.

Capitals. Make sure students understand the difference between up style and down style. These options have different names in different software programs.

Em and En Dashes. Go over the uses of hyphens, em dashes, and en dashes. Explain and demonstrate how to insert each mark in classroom software. Show students how an em dash helps indicate a sudden break in thought and how an en dash makes a range of numbers easier to read.

Em spaces and en spaces are often used to insert a set amount of space in a heading or between a heading and body text that follows on the same line. Explain and demonstrate how to insert these spaces. Emphasize that the purpose of all these marks is to make text easier to read and understand.

Apply and Assess

Have students complete Use Your Knowledge activities 1, 2, and 4–6. Students should have brought in newspapers and magazines that they can cut up; supply others as needed. You may wish to have students work in small groups for this activity. Move about the room as students work, assisting them as needed and assessing their mastery of the concepts presented.

Reteach

Have students work in pairs to develop a word bank on the computer of the desktop publishing terms introduced in this lesson, as well as any terms encountered in their reading or class discussion that were unfamiliar to them. If students started a word bank in the Lesson 1 Reteach, they should continue to add to it. Students should define each term in their own words, consulting a dictionary if necessary. One good online dictionary is available at

Enrich

Flexibility is highly valued by employers (“Good Business,” page 93). Discuss this topic. Tell students that they already demonstrate flexibility in their school and personal lives. Don’t they move from one class to another, adjusting their working style to the subject matter and to the expectations of different teachers? Ask for other examples of how students adapt to different circumstances at school and at home. Divide the class into groups and have each group develop a list of six specific suggestions on how to be flexible and adaptable in the workplace. If time permits, have the groups share their lists with the class.

Close

Assign students to prepare written answers to the Discussion questions on page 102,due at the beginning of Lesson 4.

Chapter 9

Print Type

MULTIMEDIA AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT

Lesson 3

Objective

Students will learn basic operations of their desktop publishing software.

Prepare

In this lesson, students will learn basic operations of their DTP software and features discussed in this chapter. Decide whether you will guide them through a tutorial or have them complete one on their own. Plan to teach or reinforce students’ knowledge of these features:

  • The publication window, including layout guides, menus, toolbars, and tools
  • Document setup choices (margins, orientation, page size, number of pages, etc.)
  • Methods for navigating a document and changing the view
  • Inserting and deleting pages
  • Placing or importing text
  • Fonts, type sizes, and typestyles
  • Leading
  • Text alignment
  • Paragraph spacing
  • The Undo command
  • Indents and tabs
  • Em dashes, en dashes, em spaces, and en spaces
  • Print Preview and printing

This may be more material than you wish to present in a single lesson. If so, you can spread the tutorial over two class periods and omit the Lesson 4 flyer activity. If your students are using the optional Activities book that accompanies this text, you may wish to assign a software-specific tutorial from the book instead.

Focus

Ask students to list some guidelines for desktop publishing that they learned about in the last lesson. List their suggestions on the board. Then have students copy them into the computer file or notebook they started in the last lesson.

Teach

Explain and demonstrate how to use the software’s Help feature. Encourage students to use Help to answer their software questions and to learn more about features. Guide students as they learn about the basic operations of their software, or assist them in accessing and starting a tutorial.

Apply and Assess

If students are working independently on a tutorial, have them complete it as directed. Move about the room as they work, offering assistance and assessing their understanding of the software features.

Reteach

Provide instruction to small groups or the entire class on software features as needed. Or pair students who have mastered a particular aspect of the software with students who are having trouble with it.

Enrich

Assign students to choose one of the Further Exploration questions on page 103 to complete.

Close

Remind students that their written answers to the Discussion questions on page 102 are due at the next class meeting.

Chapter 9

Print Type

MULTIMEDIA AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT

Lesson 4

Objective

Students will prepare a flyer.

Prepare

The following materials will be helpful in presenting this lesson:

  • Examples of different typefaces, perhaps prepared as flash cards, that you can show students (required for Focus activity)
  • Examples of flyers
  • Magazines, journals, print ads, and other materials that you can distribute as examples (required for Enrich activity)

If your students are using the optional Activities book that accompanies this text, you may wish to assign a software-specific project from the book instead.

Focus

One way to help students become more aware of differences in type is to have a type identification contest. Show students examples of different typefaces. See if they can identify them as serif, sans serif, display, grunge, etc. Repeat this activity throughout this unit as time permits. Eventually students may be able to identify actual names of typefaces.

Teach

Explain that a flyer is a document that is usually posted or distributed (e.g., handed to people or mailed). Its purpose is to inform the reader of an event, product, or service. Flyers are usually advertisements.

If you have brought examples of flyers, display them. Ask students what they think makes a flyer effective. Elicit that a good flyer is well designed, is easy to read, and contains all the information the reader needs but not too much information.

Before students undertake their flyers, go over features they learned about in Lesson 3 as needed.

Apply and Assess

Have students produce a simple flyer to promote a school or community event, choosing fonts, type sizes, typestyles, leading, paragraph spacing, and other features. You may instead wish to choose an event and provide students with the text the flyer must contain.

If time permits, have the class identify the most successful flyers and the specific features that contribute to their success. Post the best flyers on a bulletin board.

Reteach

Have students work in pairs to develop a flyer containing the following information:

Event: A 10K marathon to raise money for the American Heart Association

Date: The first Saturday of next month (students should insert the exact date)

Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Place: PresidioPark

For more information: Contact Joel Mulcahy at 555-0138.

Other: Water, juice, and bananas will be provided, and there will be a pizza party after. Both walkers and runners are welcome.

Enrich

In small groups, have students examine how type is used in some of the magazines and other print materials you have collected. Does the type help present the message or detract from it? Encourage students to express their observations using terms they have learned in this chapter. For example, was the wrong font chosen? Would a sans serif font have been better? As students work, move about the room, assessing their mastery of the concepts presented.