Session 18: Documents 3: Real Documents

At a glance: pupils add tables, pictures, page layout settings, headers, footers, page numbers and page breaks, then make a formal letter, an event poster and a two-page programme for a Tech Club Open Day, and save each one as a PDF. · Time: 90 minutes (adjust the timings if your period is shorter) · Workbook pages: 6

Learning outcomes

By the end of the session, pupils can:

Insert a table, add rows (Tab in the last cell), and format the header row and borders; insert a picture, resize it from a corner without squashing it, and wrap text around it.
Set margins, orientation and A4 page size, add a header, a footer and automatic page numbers, and start a new page with a page break (Ctrl + Enter).
Lay out a formal letter in the Ghanaian school format, an event poster and a programme (order of events), and save a document as a PDF.

Before the session

Put one or two pictures pupils may use in Documents > BIH_Practice > Images on every PC: the school crest (with the head's permission), the BIH logo or a simple drawing of a computer. No photos of pupils without consent. Keep a copy on USB.
Check every PC's word processor and that BIH_Practice > Notes exists. Open Word on one PC and check Layout → Size: if it starts on Letter, show pupils the A4 fix (or set the default: Layout → Margins → Custom Margins → Paper → A4 → Set As Default).
Check that saving as PDF works on each PC (Word: File → Save As → PDF; LibreOffice: File → Export as PDF; Google Docs: File → Download → PDF).
Test the Page Layout Studio 3D lab on the projector PC and one pupil PC; keep the offline pack on USB.
If you can, bring a real printed programme (speech day, wedding or funeral brochure) and a formal letter on school letterhead to pass round.
Write the date and the Open Day details on the board (for example Friday, 27th November, 2:00 pm, the ICT lab, the same Open Day used in Skills Lab 3). The event can be real or pretend.

Running order

Time	Activity	Workbook	What the mentor does
0–10 min	Typing warm-up	–	Pupils open the typing trainer and do their 10-minute warm-up.
10–18 min	The typing shop at the junction	Page 1	Pass round the printed programme. "Which parts can you already make? Which can't you make yet?" Point at each part of Figure 18.1.
18–30 min	Tables and pictures	Page 2	Live on the projector: insert a 3 × 4 table, Tab in the last cell, shade the header row. Insert the crest, drag a side handle (laughter), Ctrl + Z, then a corner handle. Show Square wrap.
30–40 min	Page layout, headers, footers, page breaks	Page 3	Switch to landscape and back; show Letter vs A4; double-click the top margin; Insert → Page Number; Ctrl + Enter.
40–48 min	The formal letter and Spot the 5 Mistakes race	Page 4	Read Figure 18.5 together. Teams race to find Esi's mistakes: 3 team points for the first team with all five, 1 point for every other team that finds five.
48–55 min	Page Layout Studio 3D lab	Page 5	Demonstrate the first mission, then pairs do the rest as a warm-up.
55–82 min	Lab Mission: the Open Day pack	Page 5	Circulate. Suggested pace: letter by 65 min, poster by 73 min, programme by 82 min. Give 1 team point for each document saved as PDF.
82–86 min	Show and tell, then review	Pages 5–6	Three pupils hold their posters at the front (or show them on the projector). The class says what they saw first. Pupils answer page 6 alone.
86–90 min	Self-assessment and sign-off	Page 6	Sign off pupils who meet the evidence below.

Key ideas and how to explain them

The typing shop: everything a print shop makes (letters, posters, programmes) is built from a few tools pupils now have. That makes it a job skill, not just a school task.
Tables: rows go across, columns go down, cells are the boxes, the header row names the columns. Tab in the last cell adds a row; this is the single most useful table trick.
Corner, never side: a corner handle keeps the picture's shape; a side handle squashes it. Squash a face on the projector and pupils will remember for ever. The same rule returns for slides in Session 23.
Wrap text: In Line with Text treats the picture as one big letter; Square lets words flow round it. If a picture "won't move", it is probably In Line: change it to Square.
Measure before you cut: set A4, margins and orientation before typing, like a tailor measuring cloth. Letter paper (American) is the usual cause of "my print is cut off".
Header and footer: anything typed there repeats on every page. Page numbers must be inserted, never typed, so they stay right when pages move.
Page break: Ctrl + Enter means "new page here". Pressing Enter twenty times breaks as soon as anything above changes.
Formal letter (Ghanaian school format): writer's address top right, then the date; the recipient's address on the left; salutation; subject line in capitals and underlined (after the salutation); body in short paragraphs; closing, signature, full name and role. "Dear Sir/Madam" goes with "Yours faithfully"; a named person ("Dear Mrs Owusu") goes with "Yours sincerely". Block style (everything on the left) is also correct; follow the English teacher.
PDF: a "printed page in a file". It looks the same on every device and nobody changes it by accident, so it is how you send a finished letter or programme. Keep the .docx for editing.

The 3D lab

Page Layout Studio puts the Open Day poster on an A4 page on a drafting board, with a ribbon of buttons in the side panel. Its three missions are: (1) Insert the Order of Events table, add a row, then make the top row a header row; (2) Insert the club logo, make it smaller with a corner handle and wrap text Square; (3) Make it a one-page poster: Landscape, Narrow margins, a header and a page number. On the projector, demonstrate mission 2: the logo arrives far too big, so first drag a side handle on the page so the class sees the round badge squash into an oval, press Undo (Ctrl + Z), then drag the gold corner handle. Pairs then do missions 1 and 3. In mission 3 a red "spills onto page 2" bar appears if the picture is still too big for the landscape page: ask "what must get smaller?" Use the lab as a 7-minute warm-up: every mission is a step pupils repeat in Word on Page 5.

Common mistakes and quick fixes

Pupils often…	Try this
Press the Spacebar many times to push the address right	Select the lines and press Ctrl + R (Google Docs: Ctrl + Shift + R). Show the dots with the ¶ (Show/Hide) button so they see the spaces.
Squash the picture with a side handle	Ctrl + Z, then drag a corner. In Word, Picture Format → Reset Picture (arrow) → Reset Picture & Size also helps.
Cannot move the picture	It is In Line with Text. Picture Format → Wrap Text → Square, then drag it.
Type page numbers into the text	Delete them and use Insert → Page Number → Bottom of Page.
Get stuck in the header (the page looks pale)	Double-click the main text, or click Close Header and Footer.
Get a blank or extra page in the poster	Ctrl + Shift + 8 (Show/Hide ¶) in Word; delete the empty paragraphs at the end, or make the picture smaller.
Save the PDF and think the .docx is gone	Open the folder: both files are there with different icons. The .docx is the one to edit.
Write "Yours faithfully" after "Dear Mrs Owusu"	Named person → Yours sincerely. Sir/Madam → Yours faithfully.

When things go wrong

No internet: Word and LibreOffice Writer work offline, and the pictures are already in BIH_Practice > Images. Google Docs pupils move to an offline PC.
Not enough PCs: pairs: one types the letter while the other plans the poster on paper, then swap for the programme. Each pupil must do at least one document at the keyboard.
A PC freezes or the power goes: Ctrl + S after every step. If time runs out, the programme is the one to finish next time; the letter and poster are the priority.

Answer key

Spot the 5 Mistakes (Page 4). Accept any five of these:

The writer's address is in the wrong place: it should be at the top right, before the salutation.
There is no date.
There is no recipient's address (The Headteacher, the school's address).
The salutation is wrong: "Dear Headmaster Kofi" should be "Dear Sir/Madam," (or "Dear Mr/Mrs [surname],").
There is no subject line (for example USE OF THE COMPUTER LAB FOR A TYPING RACE).
The language is too casual: "hey", "pls", "!!!", and missing capital letters (Saturday, the first word of a sentence).
The closing is wrong: "Your friend, Esi" should be "Yours faithfully," with a signature, her full name and role.

What Should You Do? (Page 6)

A: Press Ctrl + Z, then drag a corner handle instead.
B: Press Ctrl + Enter to insert a page break.
C: Change the orientation to Landscape.
D: Yours faithfully,

Written Review Questions

The computer counts the pages for you, and the numbers update by themselves if pages are added, removed or moved. Typed numbers end up wrong and must be fixed by hand.
A PDF looks exactly the same on every phone and computer (fonts and layout don't move), it opens without Word, and it can't easily be changed by accident.

Lab check (Page 5): the letter is A4, portrait, 1 page, with all 8 parts; the poster is landscape, 1 page, with a picture resized from the corner and Square wrap; the programme is portrait, 2 pages (cover, page break, Order of Events table with a shaded bold header row and at least 6 events), with a header on both pages and page numbers 1 and 2. All three are saved as .docx and PDF in BIH_Practice > Notes.

Support and stretch

Needs more support: give a half-typed letter (addresses and salutation already there) so they focus on layout. For the programme, give the 6 events on a card so they only build the table.
Finished early: in Word, select the table header row and tick Layout → Repeat Header Rows, then add 25 rows to watch the header repeat on page 3. Or design a certificate in landscape with a page border (Design → Page Borders). Or try a second picture with Tight wrap.

Evidence for sign-off

The pupil shows the three documents in BIH_Practice > Notes, each as .docx and PDF: a letter with all 8 parts in the right places, a one-page landscape poster with an unsquashed, wrapped picture, and a two-page programme with a page break, a formatted table, a header and page numbers. They found at least five of Esi's mistakes.

Safety and wellbeing

Use the school or club address only: pupils must never type their home address, phone number or a parent's details into practice documents. Use only pictures from BIH_Practice > Images (or ones pupils drew themselves); no photos of classmates without their permission, and no pictures copied from websites (Session 27 covers pictures you may reuse). Ask before printing anything, one copy per pupil at most. If the Open Day is real, check the letter's wording with the teacher in charge before it goes to the headteacher.