WELCOME TO TECHNOLOGY!!!
Dear STM Upper School Students and Parents,
Welcome back to the St. Thomas More computer lab. This will be the start of my fifth full year at STM. One of the hallmarks of this program is to adapt to the changing needs of the students. This year will be no different.
This year we will again restructure the technology program to keep up with the changing need of the students. For the 2009-10 school year 8th grade students will be required to take the North Carolina Computer Skills test using a newly designed on-line assessment tool. Our goal is to prepare and take the new version of the test sometime in the fall semester. Last year almost all STM students passed the NCDPI computer skills test.
Below is an overview of the curriculum per grade level:
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8TH
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NC Computer Skills Test, High School Typing Assessment Prep (35 WPM), Intro to Movie Making
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7TH
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Intermediate Skills in Typing (30 WPM) and MS Office, Intro to Animation/Game Design if time permits,
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6TH
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Foundational Skills in Touch Typing (25 WPM), MS Office.
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New for this year we are linking the technology curriculum with core subjects. The technology program will focus on primary technology skills, while the core teachers will incorporate curriculum based lesson plans. Following a foundational review of technology, core subject lesson plans will provided to technology students that incorporate elements of technology. These lessons will be graded by subject level content by the core teachers.
The Technology website is located at the following address: http://school.st-thomasmore.org/technology_6-8 . Basic information regarding grading policies as well as other information can be found there. On the Technology class home page, there is an additional link on the right hand side of the page for downloads, additional lesson activities, and test preparation links. This additional site is due to the restrictions of our new web software and is located at the following address: http://www.st-thomasmore.org/School/Classes/Technology/.
For those parents who are new to St. Thomas More or the Upper School, my days of instruction are M-Th. Friday’s and weekends I work as an independent computer and web consultant. If you have any questions or for any reason you need to contact me during the school year, please feel free to email me at mthrom@st-thomasmore.org or call the upper-school at 919-2241. If it is a day or time that I am not at school, please feel free to contact me at either Mike@officeagility.com or (919)593-1961.