Thank you Grade 12's of 2011

I would like to openly thank all 31 of 35 learners who attended today's Winter School. I am well aware that you have compromised on holiday time and a few of you even their precious holiday jobs. I was in the same boat. For this I give you all a virtual (blog) hug and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

Greetings, Mr B.

Enjoy your holidays, I am satisfied with what we have accomplished this year. Take my advice and attend the afternoon classes of TERM 3 and CAT will not be one of your nightmares at the end of the year. This is a promise. Good Luck and rest a while, I am sure going to relax.

CAT Winter School 27 June 2011

On Monday 27'th June we came together in the CAT lab and we received all our assessment work of the second term to review and file in our portfolio's. We then had a lecture from Mr Barkhuizen about the final phase of PAT. We had our PAT1 and PAT2 results and rubrics handy to guide us in this final stage. We had lovely home baked Muffins and coffee/tea during the break, but most of us worked right through until 13:00. We almost completed our Report for PAT3 and we will be submitting our work at the end of the first week of the new term. We will be working in class and in the afternoon of the first week. It was a highly successfull day. We had a visit from our dear principal, Mrs Africa and she encouraged us to use this Winter school to our advantage. A group of learners thanked Mrs Barkhuizen for the lovely treat and we hope to see more of these delicious treats in class during our last term at Goodwood College.

CAT Winter School 27 June 2011

Working through coffee break -Nurjaan Marais

Enjoying the activities: Lorenzo and Mario

Sun shining outside, we work hard: Kaylyn Leukes

Getting to grips with the final Report: Tracy Mulder

Explaining, team effort: Tauriq and Mikaeel

Grade 12 CAT's I am proud of you

It is sooooo easy? Concentrate, focus Raeez.

Term Assessment: Friday 20 May 2011

Grade 11 and 12 learners are going to be assessed on Friday 20th on this term's practical work. This is our internal assessment day (test day) and all CAT learners must be at school. You will be writing one of your choice subjects on this day and later during the day, do a practical in the CAT lab. If any learner is absent on Friday 20th it must be communicated to your register teacher and accompanied by a medical certificate/court letter/visit from the parents. Your CAT teacher will provide you with a summary of the term's skills that will be tested on this day. The main focus for Grade 12 is going to be about Integration and Data Base skills and newly aquired Excel skills. The main focus for Grade 11's will be Word skills and Mail merge in specific, First encounter with ACCESS 2007 and importing text files to Access Data Base.

Ons skone "Prinses"

Mevrou Africa, ons beeldskone skoolhoof by Lizel van der Westhuizen van Esspresso, die oggendprogram. Baie geluk.

Calendar Alert

We have 15 working (school days) before the June Exams. Consult your teachers about projects and work to be submitted.

Reminder: During the June Exams the 2nd, 16th and 17th of June 2011 our school will not be open.

Winter School 2011 for NCS Grade 12 learners.

Grade 12's. This is an invite to all, but a reminder to my CAT Grade 12's. Please spread the word.

We will be running a 4 day Winter School programme for Grade 12's. Time slot: 27 June to 30 June 2011. This is only a notice and you will get a formal invite, with time slots from us. Plan ahead. We have the following dedicated teachers that will run this venture: Mr Davids, Mrs Neethling, Mrs Coetzee, Mr Smit, Mr Adonis, Mr Barkhuizen. These learning areas will receive special revisional lectures and extra attention. Although no new material can be presented in such a program, we will be dealing with unique challenges and common problems from the June Mid Year exams. Consult with these educators please.

This is our CAT blog and I invite you to enjoy Coffee, Tea and my home baked muffins on the day we discuss PAT 3 (The Report). Sign up and Term 3 will be a breeze!

PAT phase 2

It has been a rat race with all holiday's (holy days). Thank you Grade 12's for dedicated work on: Electronic forms, Importing it to ACCESS 2007 (although it is new territory for you) Our 441 lab is one big challenge, but we will survive.  We are at the moment working on our Survey skills. E-mail addresses, submitting of electronic survey. Converting it to text files and then you download it and import text files. As discussed in class, you email one form to 2 friends and they email it back. From then on it is a "simulated" completion of at least 18 respondants. Establish your Survey Data Base. Grade 11's you will need this guidance for Pat 2.

We honour 2 learners for adding value to our school.

We have 2 learners that excelled their normal school day activities and we would like to honour their achievements.

• Michael Robertoux [wresting WP and later this year SA's]
• Keble Hartzenberg [rugby Excelsior - "Man of the tournament"]

Congratulations. You make us proud.

Michael achieved WP colours in 2010 and will be attending National grading later this term.

Keble played rugby for Excelsior and went on a tournament and he was awarded: "Man of the tournament"

Welcome Grade 11's

We are proud to welcome the following learners that joined our blog.
They are:

• Brandon Cloete
• Luke Roberts
• Raymondo Jacobs
• Jacques Roelofse
• Chantelle Myburgh
• Damian Demas
• Danielle Brinkmeyer
• Michael Robertoux

As you could see one needs an e-mail address to join a blog. It is essential to promote communication. A blog is all about communication. I would like you to comment on our week of establishing email addresses and the results or our current theory test.

Have a nice week.

Theory Assessment: First Term

Grade 12
Hardware: How to upgrade your computer. Text book.
Impact of ICT (Information Communication Technology) = New communication technology. Text book.
Assessment will be after our Theory-sessions. Time slot: After hours, because our lab time already poses a problem with the March Test Series time slots, we have double sessions on the test table. (Sorry)
Grade 11
Scenario based assessment. Read content according to specific scenario's.
Hardware/Software
Impact of Technology on work place (x-tra notes available from Mr B or Miss E)
Scheduled test with rest of school on Fridays.
(Pre reading and prep: E-mail with attachments, complete electronic survey and post back)
Have a nice week...work ahead...use lab time and finish the activities.

Thank you Grade 12's of 2011

I have been on a overseas trip and left you with detailed PAT activities. You handed in your PAT 1's and I am grateful. The rubric has changed since and it was for the better. I am currently updating our rubric and in feedback time, I will give you an opportunity to adjust those areas only. I have all your 1st submissions on CD and therefore I can view the changes (if any). Thank you for your dedicated work so far. (I am a little bit worried about some learner's school attendance.)

November handing over

Grade 11's or if you allow, my new grade 12's. It is the end of a very eventful year. Remember the frustration running Office 2003 and 2007 on the same network. The sacrifices our Khanya lab had to make due to server constraints. Well, resources need to be looked at in 2011.
With this update (long overdue) we salute our principal Mr du Plessis and wish him the best of times as he retires 10 December 2010. I also greet a very dear friend and colleague Dr Pam Miller that means the world to me and will always stay my mentor and ideal teacher. She could have changed the lives of students (and she did) but chose to stay hands on in teaching. She is also "retiring" from school, but is going to change people's lives in another venture. Why would I elaborate on a teacher you do not know? You do know her work. All her efforts in streamlining the PAT process, her association with Study Opportunities and her awe inspiring Power Point Presentations. Thanks Dr Miller.
We welcome our new (like in very new) CAT teacher Miss Alicia Esau. She will be teaching CAT Grade 10 and half of the Grade 11 classes next year. Miss Esau will be assisting me in the upkeep of this very important blog. If you are interested in a full intervention report on your progress in 2010, I will be posting your summary mark sheet breakdown in a document that you can download if you wish. (Obviously in pdf format so that you can't change it!!!)

Revision battle!

Matriculants
The last shift. Those who did not attend today's revision, the following: We revised all the data base formats. Input mask, validation rules, ...texts, to publish reports to Word and to analyse reports in Excel. This is a must to revisit. You have operational knowledge to revise in the chapter on Data Base. Hang in there. It is worth your while to ask your friends.

Revision Task 2: A typical Question 2 (Part One)

Question 2: Word processing issues Part 1

Working in the header or footer of the document. LOOK at the header and footer toolbar and ensure you know what you can do with it.
Look at the word menu called Insert and investigate what all the features are capable of changing. For example: Insert and then Auto Text, go look at these. A lot of learners cannot insert the page number X of Y, because they do not use insert, auto text.
To insert a date that updates automatically when you open the document.
How to insert a picture and Word Art and to group them together so that they move as one object, how to get text in front of the picture and to get the picture to act as a watermark/washed out background image.
Paper size, landscape or portrait, the width of the header and footer, margins and check out the TAB, layout in the Page Setup menu.
Text: Paragraph spacing, paragraph alignment, paragraph indent – all of these under menu item Format, paragraph.
To copy and paste special objects into a word document. For example to copy a portion of an Excel spreadsheet to a word document and then to choose paste special and tick the radial button that says: paste link and the two documents will be linked to update when the Excel portion changes.
Everything we have taught you about tables since Grade 10. Cell sizes, borders, line thickness, alignment of text in cells, alignment of table on paper, cell shading, merging of cells, deleting and adding of rows or columns, formatting of graphics in a cell.
Tab settings – tabs with leader dots, decimal tabs, tabs in tables etc.

Revision Task 1: A typical Question 1 (check list)

Know the different file extensions (Excel = *.xls; Power point = *.pps) You will be expected to copy or move files from a certain application to a different folder.
You must be able to arrange files according to their attributes: date modified or the type of file or the name of the file.
Files have different attributes. In the first case you must open the document and click on the File menu item and the following properties dialogue box will appear and you can type information in. This information will appear in a yellow tool tip when you move the mouse over the file.
You must be able to make a word count. You can be asked to open a word document and declare how many words are in the document. Select all the text and go to Tools, choose Word Count.
Save as text file.
File compression. On the network it will be a Zip file, but you also get win.rar
Read-only and hidden properties. Right click on the document name and choose properties. Tick the box they ask for.
Remove or add password protection. Go to Tools and choose options and in the dialogue box choose security and in the first box you will find a password or you need to put a password in.
Cut and move means the same if you paste it in another folder. Cut and delete means the same if you do not paste it.
Read-only attributes will not be tested in the exams due to the fact that data is burned on a CD and then all file types become Read-only.
Shortcuts can be tested to files or folders, ensure you know how to do it. Read carefully where the shortcut must be and where it must point to.Screenprints must be done by the key and we do not get zap grab in the exams.

Check your Report before you submit...

These checkpoints also available in our PAT folder on common drive:
At this point, you will have to check if you have done all that is required for phase 3. Also, ask a peer to check these. Introduction - Your own words, not task description copied, refer to research Context of investigation? The intro must invite the reader. Clear overview? Is it forced or does it introduce your main question Body: (Does it have the following?) Headings and sub-headings? Do they appear in the Table of contents? Organisation of the body: Sequence?
Supporting evidence? Unity? (related info together? Coherence? No duplication? New knowledge and insight? Graphics / images. Do they have footnotes to discuss their purpose? Support text?
Correctly placed? Captions? Conclusion: Must be in your own words looking back at the research, the research process and the applications you have used.

Now - check your POWER POINT PRESENTATION
Presentation Readable? Good taste? / suitable to target audience?
Not too busy? Outlines are used? Slide structure? Title slide?
Menu or table of contents? Introduction? Body? Conclusion/findings?
Font? Alignment / styles? Colour? (No templates or black backgrounds please)
Background? Graphs / graphics / images ? Multimedia effects? Action buttons / hyperlinks / hotspots? Integration? Transitions / animations? Spelling and grammar?

Come on!!! It is almost over. Hang in there!!!

PAT 3 - The final countdown

Like all things, the matric farewell is also something of the past. Only the photo's and the memories will linger for a while. PAT 3 is now the main buzz word. Problems that I spot from questions are as follows:

• Aimless copying of previous phases.
• Writing of the report with no rubric on the desk.
• Forgetting basic word processing aspects, like page numbers, drop caps, columns, tables, graphics, cross referencing, footnotes, styles for the headings, styles for sub headings.
• Use your survey's Excel and Access findings in your report.
• Tackle each paragraph with the same pattern, I suggest you end every paragraph with a text box. Write your findings or new knowledge in this text box and acknowledge when you have used something as is from the internet.
• When using graphics you can use a footnote to describe the use of that specific graphic and at the same time acknowledge the web page you got it from or the person if that information is available.
• Do the Power Point and the Report similtaniously and that will ensure that they are in the same sequence. The Power Point is a summary of your whole report.
• Use hyperlinks in your report and power point slide show - it proves that you have researched the topic.
• Allow a fellow learner to read through your report and view your Power Point. This can seriuosly impact on your final mark for the PAT.
• Good luck with your handing in on Friday.

Be a princess or a prince tonight!

Matric Farewell Function 2010. What a memorable year this one is going to be. Soccer World Cup and Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday on Sunday. To all my Grade 12 CAT learners. Enjoy tonight and come to my table. I am an excellent photographer and my Grade 11 learners will gladly write you a CD to keep. I know you always look beautiful and I am proud of you.

PAT PHASE 1 & 2 DISCUSSION

I have spent 3 days during the holiday to review the PAT's and again assess changes from Pat 1 to the electronic phase. I attached a review document and you can download it (this is a private affair and concerns Goodwood College learners only) if you are a visitor to our blog, stay away from this document it will bore you to death. Download: Discussion When you downloaded the document, open it and browse to where you see your name and read the comments I have made.
Good luck with the preparations for PAT 3.

Welcome back!

It is so exciting! Back at school for the 3rd Term and Friday is our matric farewell function. My wife and myself are always looking forward to this affair, because the learners always come up with surprises on such an evening. Good luck with your preparations and arrangements. In the meantime we will be analyzing our June papers and extra aid will be available for those learners who need it, after today's information session in class.

Thank You!

I wish to thank the following learners: Sergio, Danusha, Liyana, Nabeel, Tarique,Aidan, Ashwin, Janice, Christopher M, Thivashen, Renethe, Monique, Shanice, Tameron, Shiron, Lisa, Zandrea, Hendrik, Philzeen, Rafiq, Marthernic, Sanchia and Tamlinn for attending my Winter School Cat Session. I think you will most definitely benefit from our 3 hour session. I am proud of you. Enjoy the rest of your holiday!!!

Welcome to the faithful matriculants! 28 June 2010

I was very surprised to greet so many matriculants at school this morning. Allow me to thank everyone for attending. I am the first person to acknowledge the sacrifice you had to make to be here today. On behalf of the management of the school, we are monitoring your attendance and you will most defninitely reap the fruits of your revision during the holiday. Have a nice week!

A special word of thanks to the teachers: Mrs Neethling, Mr Davids, Mr Barkhuizen, Mr Smit and Mrs Coetzee for hosting the Winter School. We appreciate your efforts in helping the matrics revise and prepare for the prelim exams in September.

Mid Year Marks for Grade 12's!

I received an e-mail this morning requesting a summary of grade 12 marks to be handed in before 17 July 2010. This means that I have to finalize all marks during the holiday. All outstanding assessments must be discussed with me before the end of the term please. (9 June 2010)

Grade 12's, please note that the following assessment work must be in your portfolio's before you go on holiday:
Term 1: Theory test and Practical Task
Term 2: Practical task and June Practical Exam and June Theory Exam
Also: PAT1 and PAT2 plus your electronic folder on the Network drive in one folder called: SurnameNamePAT2010G12

At Last! Hyperlinked to Google Docs!

Phew! It was not tough at all. The basic ctrl+c and ctrl+v saved my day! The links to the google docs are longer than my arm! OK. You can now download the notes on queries. It is in a zip file and it also has a little practical data file if you want to test the theory.

Struggle with basic Queries!

I am marking Gr12 practicals and I am amazed at the typical mistakes they make. I have a few notes on queries and would like to encourage those who struggle with it, to look at these notes. (Just click on the word: notes and download the practical notes on queries.) Please feel free to comment, because this is a new blog, I really would like some feedback.

Winter Holiday Madness!

CAT WINTER SCHOOL FOR GC GRADE 12 LEARNERS
Grade 12 learners are all invited to attend our marathon winter school revision session. This will take place on 29 June 2010 at school. Bring along stationary and your text book please. You can register online at johanbarks@yahoo.com . Clearly indicate if you are attending the session or declining the opportunity. This will ensure that you will receive notes on the day.

Welcome

Hi everyone
The birth of our first blog for Computer Applications Technology at Goodwood College. It is my dream as subject coordinator to use this forum to reach all my "high flyer" learners in CAT at Goodwood College.

I am still new at blogging, but thanks to Google it is much easier than expected.
Till later
GC Cat's