Course Syllabus for Advanced Desktop Publishing

Teacher: Mr. Weigold, Room 214

Summary:
Welcome to Advanced Desktop Publishing! The primary purpose of the Advanced Desktop
Publishing class will be to develop skills that allow students to engage in the development of a
professional publication. Managing a project of this magnitude requires many skills, teamwork and a
fair amount of time outside the classroom. Our goal is to make it fun and rewarding for everyone
involved.
General Expectations:
1. Students should be seated, have all the materials they need, and ready to begin class on time.
2. It is the student’s responsibility to make up assignments. The student should look on the
assignment board or ask the teacher on the day they return and ask what they missed.
3. Every document that is turned in should have the date, period, and student’s name written in the
appropriate places.
4. Any suspicion of copying documents/assignments done on the computer or written will result
in a zero and disciplinary actions according to the school handbook.
5. Students will use the computers according to the rules stated in class/ in the school handbook
and will only use approved websites and software applications.
6. Students are to treat everyone with respect as well as people’s property.
7. The student is expected to follow all classroom and school rules and respect the technology and
equipment in the room.
8. Stay in your seat during class as well as quiet while others are talking.
Consequences:
First Offense: Warning
Second Offense: Meet with me to discuss issue at hand
Third Offense: Parent phone call and development of a behavior plan
Fourth Offense: Disciplinary referral
Required Material:
• Pencil/Pen, Notebook, Folder
Assessment/Evaluation:
Students will be assessed by different means throughout the school year. Students will receive a
responsibility grade that is calculated by semester and is out of 120 points. Each day a student can earn
up to 3 responsibility points. If a student receives over 120 points for a semester the points will be
calculated into their total grade as bonus. Reasons why you would not get points for the day are as
follows: absence, did not bring required material, are not paying attention, disrupting the class, or are
not working during class. As well as the responsibility grade for the class the student will be graded on
several other assignments. All points will be different depending on the assignment
• Photography Assignments
• Cover/Theme Assignments
• Attending assigned events to capture photos and interview coaches/players
• Writing captions, checking spelling, tagging pages
• Completion of pages accurately and on time
 o Page checks (about 1 week before pages are due) – make sure on track 60%
photo/captions
o Design skills and Deadline sheet grades
• Helping manage photo shoots
• Other jobs that the teacher assigns
• There will be a Mid-term and final exam which will be page deadlines
• Extra credit can be achieved through going above and beyond during assignments and when
taking pictures or doing tasks for the teacher (must be approved first)
Resources:
1. The Business Ed Drive and Yearbook Drive will have various files you will need.
2. Yearbook Avenue will be where we design our publication
3. My page on the school website will have resources and information.
4. Google will play an integral role in this class with getting information and sharing files.
5. During the course Mr. Weigold will show video clips and videos in order to enhance learning.
Some videos may be rated PG or PG-13.
Google Classroom Etiquette:
1. Due dates are posted in classroom
2. Documents must be submitted in the proper format (Google doc, Google sheet, google slide)
3. Documents must be named correctly as noted in the assignment
Content/Requirements:
Students will be assigned individual sections of the publication:
• Each student is responsible to procure their own photos for their assigned pages.
• Each student is responsible to complete their assigned pages prior to printing deadlines.
• Each student will do their best to follow the guidelines of the current year’s publication theme.
Students will be assigned tasks during the daily operations of the publication, i.e. helping with student
portraits, visiting homerooms, selling business ads to local businesses, creating posters, sorting
publications for distribution, and visiting Jostens for a plant tour.
Skills Needed:
• Photography
• Photoshop (photo editing)
• Page Layout (spacing, organization, etc.)
• Creativity
Projects:
• Cover Creation
• Publication Theme
• Senior Sections
• Special Events
• Student Portraits
• Special Sections
o Academics
o Sports
o Faculty
 o Fine Arts
o Clubs
o Spring Events
o Indexing Students
o Senior PDA’s and Business Ads

Questions: At the end of the semester the student should be able to answer these questions.
1. What does changing the aperture in a camera do? What about the ISO? What about shutter
speed?
2. Why is it important to pick colors that go together on a page?
3. Why are deadlines important in any large task?
4. What lens is best to use during sports events?
5. How do you edit pictures correctly?
6. Why it better to take more pictures first and delete later?
7. Why is important to have a common theme when making a professional publication?
8. What careers are available to you with a high school diploma? An associate’s degree? A
bachelor’s degree and beyond? Why is it important to know what is required in a future
career?
9. How does learning about cameras and formatting a publication help you get a degree?

Standards: National Business Education Association set standards:

Information Technology: I., V., VII., VII. 1-14, XVII. 1-3
Outcomes:
• Students will be skilled at taking quality pictures
• Students will increase their ability to edit photos
• Students will be knowledgeable of organizing and spacing a professional publication
• Students will have produced an outstanding professional publication

Students: Please feel free to ask me any questions you have about the rules, the syllabus, or the
class expectations that I have for you. I am here to work with you.
Parents: Feel free to contact me with any remaining questions or concerns you have about your
son/daughter or the class in general.
I am excited to work with you this year!
Mr. Weigold – Business Teacher