CP4 (Computer Proficiency 4)
A required Spring course for all US History students at Nobles

Team taught by History teachers Don Allard, Libby Budinger, Michael Denning, David Ericson, LE Hartmann, Tim Kelley and computer teacher Steve Bergen.

C P 4
C U R R I C U L U M
S P R I N G
9 8

Week#1

We looked at a set of web skills to review from previous CP1, CP2 and CP3 classes: connecting to the web, searching for topics and for graphics, understanding web addresses, copying/pasting into NoblesNet, accessing and manipulating graphics. Students were then asked to NoblesNet to the CP4 Noteboard 10 choices from American History for their web page-to-be.

Week#2

We took a brief look at the Martin Luther King Laser Disc in the context of reviewing computer vocabulary: bytes, K, meg and gigabytes. Students picked one of their 10 web topics (avoiding conflicts with each other) and began to search on the web for related web links and graphic images. They were asked to copy and paste these web addresses into a note to the CP4 noteboard on NoblesNet for future use in their web page.

Week#3

We looked at the the excellent CD-ROM by Sunburst called His Name was Lincoln. These two CDs by Sunburst were narrated by Michael Moriarity (Law and Order), Chris Sarandon (Dog Day Afternoon, Picket Fences) and composer Peter Mansfield (Boston Pops, Symphony on Ice). The CD was written by Lincoln biographer James McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for History.
These two CDs contain 11 chapters about Lincoln divided into The 11 chapters plus the epilogue provide a rich overview of the Lincoln's life:
  • The Lincoln Family tree (1809-1831)
  • Lincoln's Springfield (1832-1846)
  • American Slavery (1847-1854)
  • The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1854-1856)
  • Lincoln goes to Washington (1860-1861)
  • The Cabinet Debate on Fort Sumter (1861)
  • The Cabinet Debates Emancipation (May 1861-July 1862)
  • Letters Home (August 1863-March 1864)
  • Lincoln and The Cartoonists (Feb 1864- Dec 1864)
  • The Republican Court (July 1864- April 1865)
  • Lincoln Comes Home (April 1865-May 1865)

    Week#4

    Students were given a quick review of HTML commands on a one page handout sheet. In the second half of the class, everyone started making their web page which needs to include information, web links and graphics. Books from Mrs. Nickerson are now available on a cart in the computer lab while we are working. Everyone was informed that completion of this web page (amongst other things) is part of the minimum needed to pass this course at the mid-term period of March 1998. Each web page will be edited/revised by the student's own history teacher for content and will be edited/revised by the computer department for HTML accuracy.

    Week#5

    We reviewed the specs for writing papers according to a standard Nobles format. This included header, title, 1 vs 2 spaces between sentences, embedded quotes, blocked quotes, footnotes and a few ClarisWorks spell-checking tricks. Students were asked to download a prepared file from the CP4 Courses File Server and write their predictions and/or thoughts about the Clinton/Lewinsky event in Ameican History and then turn in via file server so that we can add a new page to the "I Remember" section of our web pages. Before the mid-term, there will be an in-class proficiency test on all of these skills.

    Weeks#6-8

    Student work time to create the individual web pags. Specs for each page included 3 web links and 3 graphics.

    Week #9 (after Spring break)

    We looked at the two views of the 109 web pages. The outsider look contains the 109 web pages in A-Z alphabetical order with repetitions for topics that get placed in multiple orders. The insider look contains the evaluations and grouping by specific History teacher. We also reviewed access to the file server so that we could use the TimeLiner software by Tom Snyder. We discussed the four history-related newsgroups (Vietnam, WWII, Revolutionary War, General) that we have subscribed to within the CP4 Noteboard section of NoblesNet. We talked about the company called Tom Snyder Productions that makes Timeliner and is led by our famous Nobles grad, Tom Snyder! We looked at the skills involved in making a new timeline or loading one of the numerous timelines that have already been made. We reviewed the skills for sending internet e-mail to outsiders or telling outsiders your specific e-mail address on NoblesNet.

    Weeks #10-#12

    We resume hands-on class time with each student needing to produce the following files in the month of April:
    • A timeline file turned into the CP4 Dropbox section of the Courses File Server; this file should be stored on a local hard drive or floppy drive and should contain useful years or dates that relate to the web page topic. Once the timeline is made, we will be able to turn it into a "pict file" graphic using the COMMAND-SHIFT-3 trick. We will then be able to load it up into Photoshop or ClarisWorks 5.0 and save it as a JPEG file. The goal is to produce a graphic file that will be a companion to your text file. If your name is Bob Dylan and your teacher is Michael Denning, then the desired file should be called MDDylan.jpeg.
    • A note to an outsider sent via your Internet skills on NoblesNet and cc-ed to the CP4 noteboard. We are hoping that each student can find a topic in one of the four history-related newsgroups and write a thoughtful note to that outsider. In the note, we would like each student to introduce himself/herself and mention the web pages that we have produced on www.noblesweb.org; by sending a cc to the CP4 Noteboard, we will have a logbook of the 109 notes that have been sent. We are hopeful that we might about get about 1/3 of the outsiders to write back!

    Other planning ideas for future classes