Title: Simple text processing

Date: May, 2007 REF No: 3.21, 3.22, 3.33

Contributers: Usha Viswanathan and Srinath Perur

Std: III

Reviewers:

Brief Description: Covers elements of text editing such as undo, cut, copy and paste. Also deals with formatting text by changing fonts, and the size and colour of text.

Goal: To introduce students to text processing using a computer. Conceptually, this lesson also illustrates the similarities and differences between performing a task manually and on the computer.

Pre-requisites: Familiarity with keyboard and good mouse control

Duration: 3 sessions

Reference: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/word_processing.htmlhttp://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/dir-040/_5897.htm

Detailed Description:

What is text processing?

Text processing or Word processing is the use of a computer to manipulate text. Examples of word processing functions include entering, editing, rearranging, sorting, storing, retrieving, displaying, and printing text.

A word processor enables us to create a document, save it, display it on a screen, modify it and print it. Word processors that support only these features are called text editors. Most word processors, however, support additional features that enable us to manipulate and format documents in more sophisticated ways. It allows you to change fonts within a document. For example, you can specify that text be shown in bold, italics, or underlined. Most word processors also let you change the font size and even the typeface. A spell checker is another utility in a word processor that allows you to check the spelling of words typed in. It will highlight any words that it does not recognise. Additionally, the word processor contains features that help the user in the process of editing. Some of these are cut, copy, paste to allow easy manipulation of text, and the undo feature which lets us cancel changes made to a document while it is being edited.

It is likely that most teachers are familiar with a word processor such as MS Word. The corresponding application on the Edubuntu platform is the OpenOffice Writer, and is very similar in usage to Word. Should the teacher require guidance about text editing, the following tuturials about Writer will be useful:

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• http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/office/oowriter/index.html

• http://linux.about.com/od/linux101/a/desktop10b.htm

• http://schooltechperson.org/staroffice/tutorials/writer2/ contains a tutorial in pictures

We now very briefly cover the elements of Writer that will be used in this lesson.

How to format text in OpenOffice Writer? Some simple formatting changes we can make in Writer are as follows:

• Change typeface (A typeface is similar to a handwriting: for example, this is Arial; this is Times New Roman.)

• Change font size (Makes the text larger or smaller.)• Change font style (Puts the text in italics or bold or both.) • Change font colour (This is red, this is blue.)• Change background colour (The background is currently white. It can be changed.)

For example, consider the following line: “Hello! My name is Suppandi.”Following are some of the ways the same text can be written:

• Hello! My name is Suppandi.

• Hello! My name is Suppandi.

• Hello! My name is Suppandi.

• Hello! My name is Suppandi.

Writer can be opened on the Edubuntu system by clicking Applications->Office->OpenOffice.org Word Processor. The following figure shows the screen after opening the Writer application in Edubuntu.

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The Formatting tool bar helps us to format the text which we type in. Using this toolbar we can change the font, size of the font, style of the font, etc. These functions can also be accessed from the menu bar Format -> Character.

The following figures show the different tool bar shortcuts available for formatting text, and can be applied after using the mouse to select the text to be formatted.

Simple editing with Writer

As part of the standard tool bar, there are shortcuts for cut, copy, paste, undo and redo as shown in the figure below.

We use cut to move text from one place to another, and we use copy to move the text while keeping the original text in its place. Select the text required to be cut or copied using the mouse, and click on the appropriate shortcut to cut or copy the text. Then place the cursor when the selected text must appear and click on the paste shortcut. As their names suggest, undo and redo are used to undo and redo recent editing actions.

Lesson Plan:

Text processing can be introduced as an activity analogous to writing. The similarities between the two can be discussed first, and then the differences. Ideally, this should be demonstrated on the computer. If a projector is not available, the class can be divided into smaller groups for the demonstration.

• Text processing is like writing using the computer

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• We use the keyboard with the computer like we use pencil with paper• When we write with a pencil, what we have written appears on paper; when we type on

a keyboard, what we have written appears on the monitor

• We can open a book at a later time and read what we have written; similarly, we can open a saved file and read what we have written on the computer

• While writing with pencil, we can use an eraser if we make a mistake. In a computer, we can use the delete key

• When we write in a book, we can change the size of the letters, or underline words that are important; on a computer, we can similarly underline, or make text bold or change the font size

• On the computer, the font is like a handwriting, but it can be changed• Just like we can change the colour of the pencil we are using, we can also change the

colour of the font

All the above mentioned functions -- typing, using delete, saving a file and opening it, changing font size, type and colour, underlining and rendering the text bold – must all be demonstrated:

1. Prepare a poster to show the class. (Or you can also you the one at the end of this lesson)

2. Show the poster and ask the students to identify the different ways the text are written, for example change in colour, style, underlined, etc.

3. Now explain different font styles such as bold/underline/italics that we can apply to a given text. The following figure can be used to make the point easily: A kid who is stout can be compared to a 'Bold' letter, and a kid who is leaning can be compared to a letter in italics.

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4. Now open a word processor application, type in some text. Now apply the different styles like bold, italics, etc. Care should be taken to apply one style at a time so that the kids don't get confused.

5. Now play with colours, like highlighting and changing the background/ font colour.6. If possible now let the kids play and explore the possibilities themselves. They could

experiment with writing their names in various ways.

(This is a suitable point to close the first class on text processing.)

So far, we have focused on text formatting, and all that we saw had a rough equivalent in the case where paper and pencil are used. Now we move on to text editing where we see features that are difficult or not possible to accomplish with pencil and paper.

• Copy and pasteGive an example that the students can identify with. If we want to write 'I will not talk in class' one hundred times, show how this can be done easily by typing the line only once and using copy-paste a few times. Make sure to show the icons for each function, and also the menu option (Edit->Copy). Let them learn to do this by themselves.

• Cut and pasteType in a poem or rhyme that the students know, but with some stanzas in the wrong

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order. Now show how cut and paste is useful for putting the stanzas in the right order. Next allow them to do it themselves.

• UndoDelete a couple of stanzas from the poem or rhyme used for the previous example and show how if this is done by mistake, it is possible to get back the text using the undo function.

Show that the cut, copy and paste functions work across different files too. So, we can copy a part of one file into another file. While demonstrating these functions, familiarise the students with both the corresponding icons and the menu entries, and emphasise that they perform the same function.

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Nursery Rhyme

Baa Baa Black sheep

Baa, baa black sheep,Have you any wool?Yes sir, yes sir,Three bags full.One for my master,One for my dame,One for the little boy,Who lives down the lane.

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Work Sheets

1. Label each figure with the different font styles (given) that you feel are most appropriate:

( Bold, Italics, Regular, Underlined)

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2. Match the following tool bar shortcuts with their functions.

3. Tick the correct one.

Tool bar shortcut to make a letter 'Bold'

Tool bar shortcut to underline a letter

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4. Match the shortcuts to their functions

Undo

Paste

Cut

Copy

Activities

In Lab

1. Ask the students to type the following. Then let them change the text to their

favourite colour.

Hello!

My name is (your name).

I study in Class III.

2. Ask the students to show different toolbar shortcuts in a word processor

application.

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3. Type the number 5 in a large size in OpenOffice Writer. Then ask the students

to make it 55555 without using the keyboard. [Hint: Use the mouse to copy and

paste.]

4. Type out:

Apple Orange Banana

i) Ask the students to use Copy-Paste so that the line is repeated

three times as follows:

Apple Orange Banana

Apple Orange Banana

Apple Orange Banana

ii) For the first line, ask the students to change the font colour of each

word to the colour of the fruit.

iii) For the second line, ask the students to highlight the black text

with the colour of the fruit.

iv) For the third line, first highlight with the respective colour, and

repeat the same for the font colour too.

[ The final effect should be as seen in this figure:

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]

5. Type RATS in a large size in OpenOffice Writer. Then ask the students to

change this to STAR without using the keyboard. Once they do this ask them to

change STAR to STARS. [Hint: Use the mouse to cut and paste or copy and

paste.]

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