I teach a group of high school students, grades 10 through 12, in a Desktop Publishing course. This is the first year we've offered desktop publishing as an upper level elective in more than 5 years. My goal is to teach the necessary skills to empower our students to become career focused, goal orientated, and lifelong learners. Through creating and manipulating text and graphics in real world business scenarios, my students are able to dream about possibilities beyond our school walls. Not all of my students believe they have the opportunity to go to college, but with a course such as this, the possibility is extended to them as they stretch their imaginations and view each completed project as a victory or accomplishment. A critical piece of the course is to enable students to create a portfolio of their work whether it is for college admissions or for a job application.
My students are learning about color, typography, business sets, brochures, newsletters, magazines, and graphics but do not have a color printer to print their work. Colors that are rendered on screen are not the same as colors that are printed on paper. The concept of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) and setting their computer monitors to the print standard of CYMK settings as opposed to the web standards of RGB settings is lost to my students as no color printing capability exists. We do not have access to a color printer at any time during class.
A laser duplex color printer will bring 21st Century technology to the classroom. In addition, a supply of replacement toner cartridges will ensure that it remains a sustainable resource. There is nothing more disappointing to my students than to create a beautiful newsletter or graphic and then not be able to bring the project to fruition by printing out their work for display. Each project they complete remains incomplete due to the lack of printing and is a small defeat to them and for the overall course objectives. Part of the South Carolina state standards directly addresses student learning objectives in the realm of print and color theory but we are unable to fulfill them. Students are also unable to put together a work portfolio for college admissions or for a job application.
Access to a color printer will fulfill students' classroom learning experience and then extend their learning as they are able to make real world connections to print media available to them in the community. They will be able to compare the quality of their work to actual business sets and show off their work to other students in the school. Your assistance will result in a victory for every student instead of the defeat they experience at the end of every project. Lastly, they will be able to put together a high quality college admissions portfolio or work portfolio based on the body of their work.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Barrow and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.