Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is about application software productivity tools for educators. I learned about topics including operating systems and various types of software such as, application software and productivity software. The operating system is one type of system software that "contains instructions that coordinate all of the activities of the hardware devices in a computer". Common versions of operating systems include Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Vista, and Macintosh Operating System or MAC OS. Application software contains programs formulated to accomplish specific jobs for users. It can be used as a productivity/business tool, assistant to graphics and multimedia projects, support to school and professional activities, help for home and personal activities and as a communication facilitator. Productivity software was developed to help people become more effective and efficient when performing everyday duties. Applications like word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation graphics, personal information management and software suites are all productivity software.
I learned a lot about Microsoft Word since publishing my last blog. The newsletter assignment was very helpful because it taught me how to use various functions in Microsoft Word that I didn't even know existed. For example, I didn't know that you could apply a background to your entire document without stretching a text box out to cover the entire page. I can use a lot of the things we did in the newsletter in my classroom when communicating with the parents. I already planned t do a weekly or biweekly newsletter anyway and now I've learned techniques to make the process go faster and more creative. When doing the practice test I found it "interesting" I guess to learn all of the real terms of things even though I doubt that I will be using them in casual situations because most people wouldn't know what I'm talking about. Some things were confusing to me because I had to first try to figure out what the question was asking and then find the translation of my idea of the answer within the choices.
I guess I can discuss something that most people may not know about me. I participate in Jumpstart Tallahassee along with other FSU students. In this program I spend a minimum of ten hours a week at Innovation School of Excellence where I work with four-year-old students. The program is basically designed to help children in underprivileged situations by giving them attention that they may not receive otherwise. We provide one-on-one assistance, small group interactions and classroom assistance and I thoroughly enjoy participating. I find it helpful because it gives me experience and helps me to be sure that early childhood education is the career that I want to pursue. We also do various community service activities. On MLK day, for example, we helped build a playground for a local elementary school. I would highly recommend that others participate because not only do you get to help out the community and educate, but it's also a great way to get serv script hours and you will receive a $1000 scholarship for 300 hours of service as well as become eligible for other scholarships.